Verge Issue 2 by University Express

VERGE

ISSUE II

Fiona Shaw talks playing Medea ......... Greatest memories of Robin Williams ........... Sin City 2 review....... The need for Royal Blood ........ Electric Picnic’s Body & Soul .......... UNIT! CORPS! GOD! COUNTRY!.......... Interview with Louise O’ Neill ......... The Gaming Watchlist... Gothic Glamour ............ Style Gentlemen, Please!

Fiona Shaw. Illustration by Kevin Hosford

Editor’s Letter

Snap out of it

A Most Wanted Man

Claire Fox | Verge Editor

– Eoghan

aving spent my summer randomly Snap-chatting people and flinging icy buckets over my friends, the second week of college comes as somewhat of a wake-up call for me. We no longer have the flighty nature of Fresher’s week to hide behind; this week we might actually have to attend a lecture and, god-forbid, learn something. Maybe it’s time we took the Arctic Monkey’s words seriously and began to “Snap out of it.” Having begun this editorial by mentioning Snapchat, I might as well continue on the same social media topic. While some of you out there may have an overwhelming Facebook fetish stalking your ex’s photos from 2009, others may prefer uploading a plethora of ‘no filter’ photos on Instagram (please, nobody’s skin is that silky).

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Whatever your app of choice is, it seems that we have all become app-solutely obsessed with ourselves (see what I did there!?). Snow White’s step mother’s vanity wasn’t a patch on the self-worship we shower ourselves in every day. Don’t get me wrong, Snapchat and Facebook are great fun; but nothing beats real human contact. As friend of mine said a couple of weeks ago, ‘These people are just virtual friends’. Why be stuck in a virtual group chat, when you can be giggling your face off in a real group conversation with real people?

Diverged

Why waste a minute of your time staring square-eyed at a screen waiting for someone’s green-light to turn on, only to find out they were online 20 minutes ago? Just because the societies have packed their tables away this week, doesn’t mean they have disappeared. Why not this week try out Beginners’ Ballet or down some Hot Beverages? In this issue’s Film & TV section we speak of Robin Williams and his affection for the quote ‘Carpe Diem’, so why not log-out from virtual reality this fortnight and log in to real life.

In early February this year, the world lost one of its foremost character actors; Philip Seymour Hoffman. His workrate (and the sheer quality of his work, at that) was so prolific that, even seven months after his death, we are still being reminded of his immense talent through his many posthumous film releases. His latest is the film A Most Wanted Man, directed by Anton Corbijn and based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré. Though not his final film proper (that honour would go to his role as Plutarch Heavensbee in the two-part Hunger Games adaptation, Mockingjay), A Most Wanted Man looks set to be Hoffman’s dramatic swansong. It’s just a shame it had to come so soon.

The Disco Revival – Robbie As a prelude of sorts to Méadhbh Crowley’s Motown piece and my own Electric Picnic review, I pledge the benefits of 70s dance classics. Nothing breaks the monotony of an auto-tuned Calvin Harris party playlist better than the classic chucking Nile Rodgers riff coupled with the glorious disco-funk of Chic. Earth, Wind & Fire deserve an honourable mention. Likewise Giorgio Morodor, Michael Jackson and the Bee Gee’s, whose undervalued, but instantly recognisable beats are sure to spark even the dullest session into life.

The Electric Typewriter - Molly The Electric Typewriter is a website dedicated to the best American non-fiction writing and filmmaking of the past few decades. Articles and essays are handily divided into a wide range of categories such as crime, music, travel, etc. and a number of well-known writers are featured including David Sedaris, Hunter S. Thompson and David Foster Wallace among others. If, like me, you’re the type of person who trawls the internet for hours at a time in search of quality reading, this website can serve as a useful one-stop shop for all your journalistic needs. And the best part? It’s completely free!

Towerfall: Ascension – Steve

Editorial Team Contributors Verge Editor: Claire Fox

Cathal Dennehy

Film & TV: Eoghan Scott

David Richard Coleman

Music Editor: Robbie Byrne Arts & Lit Editor: Molly Forsythe

Laura Flaherty Méadhbh Crowley

Gaming Editor: Steve Barry

Colm Furlong

Fashion Editor: Nicole Clinton

Aoife Gleeson

Design: Kevin Hosford

Brian Conmy Sylvia Julius Marita Maloney

So you’re past Freshers’ Week and you’re just settling into the flow of college? What better way to get to know everybody than some four-player brawler fun!? Towerfall: Ascension is a couch-competitive game that is sure to get everyone laughing… and possibly strangling each other. Seriously, you won’t see someone’s true colours until you’ve played this with them. You may even feel the need to get as far away from them as possible. Towerfall is available on PS4 and PC, for around €15.

Burberry’s A/W 14 showcase - Nicole As the autumn chill creeps in, covering up becomes an inevitable fashion concern. However, thanks to Burberry’s A/W 14 catwalk showcase, this season there’s a new way to wear a thick, cashmere (or Penneys cashmere effect) scarf. To emulate the fresh take on the scarf, simply place it around the back of your neck, allowing the two end tails of the item to hang down over your chest and to flow down over your whole torso. Take a skinny belt and pull it around the scarf to cinch in the waist. Be creative by mixing and matching colours and prints and use the new style to spruce up any plain coat or cardigan!

Shaw on Medea One of UCC’s most famous alumni returns to talk about entrapment, killing children and the Beckhams. Eoghan Scott | Film & TV Editor

est known to the majority of readers as the shrieking and spiteful Aunt Petunia in the wildly successful Harry Potter films, for over 30 years Fiona Shaw has been steadily working on stage and screen, turning in acclaimed performances in projects as diverse as the aforementioned Harry Potter, Hedda Gabler, The Avengers (no, not that one; the 1998 one…) and True Blood. She has also turned her hand to theatre, directing on several occasions, most recently helming Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia on the 2013 Glyndebourne tour. The actress, who graduated with a BA from UCC in ’79, arrived here last week to act as a keynote speaker at a UCC Conference on Euripides’s famous play Medea, a role which she has played to rave reviews across the world. In person she is far removed from the cruel aunt who forced Harry to live in a cupboard under the stairs in those wizard movies that were kind of popular a few years back, appearing as an intelligent, thoughtful woman and speaking with unbound enthusiasm on the subject of the play, which is clearly close to her heart. Though the play Medea was written and first performed over 2,400 years ago, Shaw was keen to stress that as an actress there are always new ways of interpreting such a complex character, whereupon each new performance can bring its own hidden depths and dimensions. “We performed it over in Boston where a man actually died while watching it... So it must have had some sort of effect – something must have happened!” Being essentially the story of a scorned woman who avenges her husband’s betrayal of her by slaying their children, you could hardly be blamed for seeing Medea as the villain of the piece. Not so, says Shaw. In her view the character is far more sympathetic than that and the performance of the play serves to sell this. “In a way it is an act of seduction. Every step of the way the audience is agreeing with Medea in the argument, which she obviously doesn’t know the end of at the beginning. She says: ‘He’s done this,

I can’t go there. I’ve now killed his wife and I’m going to be murdered, and so are my children.’ You can hear the chorus say ‘There is one thing you can do.’ “So it’s about entrapment, and it is more relevant now too – never have we been in a world which is more in that precarious state than we are in now. Every day in the paper you might read a story about somebody killing their children and you can be well sure there’s a story behind it, because nobody sets out to kill their children. “Nobody wants to kill their children and the terror of the play comes from people’s fear of a woman who would do such a thing.” As Shaw sees it Medea is simply a woman forced to confront a terrible situation and failing under the pressure. The plays themes run startlingly close to the reality; “When I played her, people said to me ‘I would hate to have you babysit my children,’ but it has nothing to do with that. “It is an aspect of the human mind being looked at and it’s terrifyingly real actually. In fact, after more than 2,000 years of science the one thing that has not changed is the one thing that we discover through the Greeks and the Greek renaissance – that vengeance continues despite the intervention of a thing called democracy. “We are indoctrinated with the apparent success of democracy, but

what actually goes on is vengeance, vengeance, vengeance. You can’t run a society on vengeance though; you can only create a society where we have nominal punishments instead of valid punishments for every cruelty that happens.” Shaw implies that the viewer is in some ways implicit in Medea’s actions, empathising with the character for much of the play. “Medea deals with this domestic passion, that overrides everything else and what we do with it, because on one hand we romanticise it.” Fiona and Director Deborah Warner, with whom she collaborated on their 2001 production of Medea, looked to an unlikely source when putting their version of play together. “We watched a film on the Beckhams for this.” (Me: “The Beckhams?” Shaw: “Yes, those Beckhams!”) “They are a couple who were raised right up in society and that’s very much who we thought Medea and Jason were. Jason is hailed almost as a sports hero and he is welcomed everywhere. And that’s as far as it goes with the Beckhams, thankfully!” She makes the point that both couples are simply two different sides of the same coin. “So you have a couple who are very famous; but just suppose something went wrong there and one of them was kicked out of the country. You’re into a public humiliation, as well as private anguish and the consequences for public

figures in these situations. “In Medea’s case she is humiliated because her husband is going to be married and she has been told to leave. Why? Because the King says the marriage doesn’t really count. Very quickly you get on her side without knowing where her actions might lead.” The play bears many parallels to the modern age, and this can be seen in a lot of contemporary theatre and literature. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is another play which is so praised for being banter between a husband and wife as they sort of eat each other alive - that spark of wit between husband and wife. How foolish women find men and how foolish men find women. “In Medea those things are right there at the beginning – we actually found it very funny and the audience found it funny. Then, of course, it quickly stops being funny and things go very wrong... but there is no implicit wrong in Medea. She is simply an aspect of the darkest part of human entrapment.” Having been a student in UCC herself and knowing first-hand what that entails, Fiona’s advice for any student wishing to break into the world of acting is quick and to the point: “Go to a drama school and be trained. It’s a long a complex road that requires dedication, more than you know... But the rewards are great.” It’s simple, really.

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The greatest of memories:

FILM & TV Cathal Dennehy

he 11th August was a sad day indeed as the world mourned the passing of comic legend Robin Williams. Like the loss of just about anyone, it’s a terribly sad situation – but what was very significant about this occasion was the response from both the public and the entertainment industry in general. Countless celebrities paid tribute to Williams, among them Conan O’Brien, Billy Crystal and a particularly heartfelt Jimmy Fallon.

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It’s fair to say that many of us reflected a little when we heard the news, remembering how big a part of so many of our childhoods Williams played. Just think, how many films that you watched as a kid starred Robin Williams? Films such as Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire and Hook are fondly remembered by almost everyone of our generation. So as a tribute to his great talent, here are some of my favourite memories of Robin Williams performances:

Robin Williams. Unlike so many films we enjoyed this much as kids, it can still make you laugh today and behind the literal mask of humour is a genuinely quite touching story of a man trying to reconnect with his children.

apparition may seem like so many other characters in animation, but the first time we all saw the Genie, it was like nothing else we’d ever seen in Disney films. The performance established the precedent for the very Meta style of humour that would become popular in the 2000s. Films like Shrek owe a huge debt to the self-referential nature of the character and it also started a trend of celebrities in voice-over work that has become the norm today. Overall this remains one of his most celebrated roles, and it’s easy to see why.

Hook

Dead Poets Society One of his earlier dramatic roles sees Williams play inspirational high school English teacher Mr. Keating. It was this film that introduced many people to the phrase ‘carpe diem’ or seize the day. Williams’s Keating is the quintessential intellectually stimulating teacher, encouraging his students to discover the power of words and to explore the possibilities of the English language. He can make us think, laugh, cry and even stand on the table, hand on heart, and utter the immortal quote: “O captain, my captain.”

People often see Steven Spielberg’s story about a grown up Peter Pan as a disappointment. To look at it cynically, it is quite colourful and, in ways, childish. However to look at a film like this cynically is missing the point. Peter Pan is, after all, about a boy afraid of growing up, and Robin Williams is absolutely perfect as the boy who did grow up after all. Williams always had a sort of manchild quality about him, so it’s fitting that he switches between the responsible adult and the eponymous lost boy. Against a wonderfully dramatic Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook, Williams shines and delights in a film that sees the wonder in the way a child sees the world.

style of humour with more serious issues, dramatic elements and some real pathos. Which is why Robin Williams’s performance in Good Will Hunting works so well. He’d played dramatic roles before, such as Good Morning Vietnam and The Fisher King, and those films utilised his boundless energy and the now famous ‘spark of madness’ of his. However it’s refreshing to see how much restraint the makers of Good Will Hunting had after casting a comedian like Williams and that they had the vision to see the dramatic possibilities he could bring to the role. Williams’s character, like everyone else in the film, feels like a real person. We fully understand and believe in his problems, his fears and worries for the titular character seem entirely genuine, and he absolutely nails what may be the best scene in the entire film – I’m speaking, of course, about the “It’s not your fault” scene. Today, after all these years, especially after his tragic passing, his work still holds up. It’s just as fresh and fun, exactly as energetic and still as enjoyable as it was when he first burst into our lives.

Robin Williams, you will be missed.

Never for a second does the film feel forced or contrived and the entire cast, especially Williams, play it with restraint and poise.

Aladdin Mrs. Doubtfire In many ways, this film encapsulates the basis of many of Williams’ screen performances: goofiness, sentimentality, humour, of course, and a touch of poignancy. What generally sets this film apart from others similar to it (like the sickly sweet Patch Adams or plain ridiculous Bicentennial Man) is that it manages to marry all of these elements in a very satisfying way.

What can you say about Robin Williams’s role in Aladdin? He gave us a classic character, one of the funniest and most energetic performances in animation. It was possibly the funniest thing he did on film and the Genie epitomizes the phrase ‘stole the show’. Not only was it a fantastic performance, it had a long and significant impact on animation that is still felt now. For children today, the pop culture spewing, mile-a-minute talking

Good Will Hunting It’s often a belief of certain filmmakers and comedians that drama and comedy are basically opposite sides of the same coin, that they perfectly balance one another. Scorsese understood this as his The King of Comedy is essentially a comedic version of Taxi Driver.

July 21st, 1951

It’s for this reason that comics such as Bill Hicks and Lenny Bruce were so successful, as they blended their own

August 11th, 2014

Rodriguez serves up another FILM fun-size portion & David Richard Coleman reviews Sin City - A Dame To Kill For

obert Rodriguez is at once both a kindred spirit to Quentin Tarantino and his opposite.

lacks the freshness of its predecessor, it at least deserves credit for offering up more of what we loved the first time around.

The two became friends early on in their careers, bonding over a mutual adoration for the low-budget, car-crash thrillers, spaghetti westerns and monster flicks of the 60s and 70s. Both directors have made paying tribute to these movies a central part of their styles and even combined their talents to recreate the experience in the underrated classic Grindhouse.

Like the first film, this one takes three non-related storylines from Miller’s series and jumbles up the chronology Pulp Fiction style, with some stories taking place before the first movie and some after.

But where Tarantino takes the trashy clichés of the B-movie and elevates them to a kind of art form, Rodriguez instead wallows in their sleaziness with the gleeful abandon of a man to whom good taste means nothing. Whether or not you like his work depends on your willingness to do the same. In 2005 Rodriguez found a perfect match for his style in Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novels and broke new ground in digital filmmaking with his frame-forframe and line-for-line adaptation. No comic book adaptation has so perfectly captured the feel of its source material before or since. Now the pair have returned with the long awaited sequel and if A Dame To Kill For

A stripper (Jessica Alba) looks to avenge the death of the cop (Bruce Willis) who saved her in the first film by assassinating the evil politician (Powers Boothe) who tried to kill them both, while a warmhearted thug (Mickey Rourke) attempts to protect her. A cocky gambler (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) rides a winning streak to the biggest game in town, only to find himself in way over his head. And in the best storyline, a hot-tempered private eye (Josh Brolin) is manipulated by an ex-lover (Eva Green as the titular Dame) into killing her abusive husband, with lethal consequences. Also in the mix are Rosario Dawson, Christopher Lloyd, Ray Liotta, Juno Temple and Lady Gaga – actually a pretty average-sized cast by Rodriguez standards! These are all more or less stock noir

The Emmys see Netflix continue to flourish

support their favourite TV shows and actors/ actresses this year, earning the second highest viewership rating of the past 8 years.

Laura Flaherty

Love Song singer Sara Bareilles performed Smile during a touching ‘In Memoriam’ segment which honoured the many tragic losses the arts community has suffered this past year. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Walker and Robin Williams were featured during the performance.

he 66th Primetime Emmy Awards (the plain old Emmys to you and me) were held on Monday, August 25th, and I think it’s safe to say many predictions held true. Even though it was forced to deviate from the usual broadcasting time allotted to avoid conflict with the MTV VMA’s which were held the night before, 15.59m people tuned in to

As per usual an all-star cast of presenters was employed to dole out the awards, featuring faces from much loved television shows and films: Halle Berry, Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston and The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, to name but a few.

Unsurprisingly hit series such as Breaking Bad (5 major wins including Outstanding Drama Series), Modern Family (3 major wins including

storylines on paper, but their execution (literally in most cases) is anything but conventional. But that’s what made the original, and its source, so popular in the first place. Though its rambling structure occasionally feels haphazard, the commitment of everyone involved cannot be denied. The cast, especially Green, Rourke and Alba, all have a ball (except for Willis, who looks a bit bored), while Rodriguez gives it all he’s got , reprising his multiple roles as Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer, Composer and, given his reputation as a cook, perhaps as Caterer too! Outstanding Comedy Series) and American Horror Story (2 major wins including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries) cleaned up at the awards ceremony.

It’s clear to see from this and indeed last year’s Emmy awards that the popularity of Netflix shows is surging. Series such as Orange is The New Black (despite recent cancellation rumours) and House of Cards are doing exceptionally well in all aspects. As a network, Netflix scooped up an impressive 11 major wins, earning it third highest of the networks in the fields of acting, directing and writing, narrowly missing out to HBO and FX, both dominant networks in the awards stakes. As if this feat alone were not enough, it can be argued that much of the popularity of other network shows such as Breaking Bad can easily be attributed to the online super site as

As I’ve said before, Rodriguez is a director who uses his endless creativity in the name of joyfully absurd excess. Frankly, he can sometimes come across like a teenager who’s just discovered cleavage. Like all his movies, A Dame to Kill For walks along the threshold of good taste and not with the same surefootedness as his best works (Desperado, Planet Terror and the first Sin City). But once you buy into the fun of it all, you realise it doesn’t really matter. Approaching this movie in a critical state of mind is a futile exercise, so just switch your brain into teenage mode and relax!

people binge watch their favourite shows. The availability and budgetfriendly nature of Netflix is a huge factor in the site’s success and the success of its original shows. The profound success of Netflix originals such as House of Cards is found not only in its remarkably welljudged writing and casting, but also in the ability of the viewer to sit and watch episode after episode, if you so choose. Unlike television serials, you’re not left waiting for another week, just to be left at a cliffhanger all over again. (The Orange is the New Black season two finale is another story though, and I’m not quite ready to talk about it!)

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Far more than just Drum and Bass Robbie Byrne reviews Royal Blood. We needed Royal Blood. Sure, our world is ravaged by conflict spanning from Crimea to Persia, but everyone needs an escape from reality. Until today that outlet had vanished.

Cliché though it may be, rock in standard tune was dead. As Black Sabbath plodded along an endless string of stadium sell-outs, Led Zeppelin continued to bicker over reunion hopes, while the supposed modern day saviour of the genre, Jack White, churned out tepid country rock for those in beige trousers.

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As a musical entity, Royal Blood shouldn’t function. Stripped back to most primordial elements of four string bass and drum kit, the Brighton duo focus their two-pronged assault on the idea that sound amounts to more than the sum of its parts.

The culmination of this mantra can be found on the opening track and lead single, ‘Out of the Black’, where a drum and riff propelled with rifle-like precision leads to an intricate bridge and a stadium filler chorus. Learning from the mistakes of twopieces past such as Drenge and Deap Vally, Royal Blood are far more than mere instrumentalists. Suitably sexy with a whiff of mystery, Mike Kerr’s vocals operate on accessible melodies and dark underbellies. ‘Figure It Out’ opens a window to an obsessive relationship, while ‘Little Monster’ attempts to contain the LP’s most explosive chorus amid Kerr’s alpha male affirmation. The constant struggle between bass, drums and vocals reaches equilibrium on Blood Hands, where sparse hi-hats battle with Kerr’s pirouetting vocal delivery in a mesmerizing culmination of their formula. As the album reaches

its conclusion, creativity refuses to slow; ‘Careless’ channels late-era White Stripes, while ‘Ten Tonne Skeleton’s’ plodding riff thrills with dance-rock credibility. Herein lies Royal Blood’s greatest achievement. By using the bass to to the edge of its capabilities, the Brighton duo have handed coolness to an instrument and genre that so many scoff, doing what Jimmy Page did for guitar in the 70’s and Daft Punk with samples two decades ago – creating a fantasy world for daydream musicians who want to escape reality.

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The Essential Motown. Méadhbh Crowley

Recently I’ve been in a bit of a rut in terms of new music. I’ve listened to probably every variety of pop, rock, world music and everything in between and it was only when I watched the iconic film The Blues Brothers that I finally found a field I hadn’t explored before: Motown.

spanned seven decades, Verge unfortunately doesn’t have enough pages to cover every artist. Instead we’ve compiled the Top 5 Motown artists you need to hear.

When people think of Motown they initially think it’s a genre, but it is in fact a record label which was founded in 1959 by Berry Gordy Jr. Motown specialised in a type of soul music referred to as ‘The Motown Sound’. Crafted with an ear towards pop appeal, ‘The Motown Sound’ typically used tambourines to accent the back beat, prominent and often melodic bass lines, distinctive melodic chord structures and a call-and-response singing style that originated from gospel music. Pop production techniques such as the use of orchestral string sections, horn sections and carefully arranged background vocals were also used. Complex arrangements and elaborate, melismatic vocal riffs were avoided. Motown producers believed steadfastly in the ‘KISS Principle’; Keep It Simple, Stupid! While Motown’s illustrious existence has

Nat King Cole Born on St Patrick’s Day, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama, Nat King Cole was a musician who first came to prominence as a jazz pianist. In the course of his career he became the first African-American performer to host a variety television show. But in 1964 Cole discovered that he had lung cancer, of which he succumbed to just months later at his Santa Barbara home. Best Tracks: ‘Unforgettable’, ‘Nature Boy’, ‘Mona Lisa’.

Boyz II Men Etta James Born in California in 1938, Etta James was a gospel prodigy. Her career began to soar by 1960 and she earned a Grammy nod for her 1973 eponymous LP. She died in 2012 and continues to be is considered one of the most dynamic singers in music. Best Tracks: ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, ‘I Just Wanna Make Love to You’, ‘At Last’.

In the mid-1990s Boyz II Men’s silkysmooth vocal delivery lifted the group to superstardom. Their record-breaking stints atop the music charts (‘End of the Road’ would set a record for chart longevity) placed them in the history books alongside music industry icons such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Best Tracks: ‘I’ll Make Love to You’, ‘The End of the Road’, ‘On Bended Knee’.

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang are an Ameri-

can jazz, R&B, soul, funk and disco collaboration who originally formed in 1964 as the Jazziacs based in New Jersey. They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a jazz sound, before transmuting into practitioners of funk and R&B in the late seventies. Today the band exhibit a modern electro-pop sound. They have sold over 70 million albums worldwide. Best Tracks: ‘Get Down on It’, ‘Celebration’, ‘Ladies Night’.

Marvin Gaye Marvin Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown Records with a string of hits across the 60s and 70s. In 1982 he became one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of its production company. However he was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., on April Fools’ Day 1984 at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Since his death, Gaye has been posthumously honoured by many institutions, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Best Tracks: ‘Heard it Through the Grapevine’, ‘It Takes Two’, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’.

Bigger invite list doesn’t destroy Electric Picnic’s Body & Soul Robbie Byrne “These vibes make us want us to go back to Temple Bar and have sex with a Leprechaun,” affirms Andre 3000 midway through Outkast’s headline set. While much has changed in Stradbally’s annual extravaganza, that offbeat eccentricity on which the festival built its now solid reputation remains unchanged, even when household names are invited to the party. 2014 marked Electric Picnic’s first year as a major player on the international festival scene. Capacity was increased to a record 41,000 in a move that also saw additional campsites, stages, acts and portaloos. Doubters claimed that the festival had sold its once bohemian heart to capitalism, dubbing it ‘Ireland’s new Oxegen’. How wrong they were… As Friday morning’s murky conditions clear to cyan sky, dance-rock stalwarts, Blondie, are among the first take to Mainstage with something to prove. A string of below par vocal performances, courtesy of Debby Harry’s tortured voice, had thus far plagued their summer tour so, expecting little, Blondie stuns many by taking the audience by a storm with a slew of hits, before finding a little time for some belly dancing before the set’s end. Not bad for a 70 year old. Always a home for the brightest edge of the indie spectrum, Foals are next to arrive – immersing the audience in the math-rock goodness of Holy Fire’s ‘Prelude’. In a career spanning set, the band protract each fan favourite to breaking point, adding beastly riffs and textures more akin to Rage Against the Machine than their funk-indie hit ‘My Number’ may have you believe. As the Pet Shop Boys prepare for a nearimpossible follow-up to Foal’s spinetingling performance, the party is just winding up courtesy of James Murphy. While motifs of LCD Soundsystem are audibly entwined throughout his set, the tracks themselves are more of the usual DJ standard where warbling bass accompanies afro-beat rhythms and the odd cheesy eighties number. Saturday morning smells of caked mud, dodgy breakfast rolls and regret as the curious explore the empyrean that is the Body & Soul arena. However it is Hozier who gathers the first large crowd of the day, showcasing his now adept songcraft with (another) new backing band. The Wicklow man’s staggering rise to fame is no more apparent when the audience repeat every lyric of an album that is yet to see light.

While Bombay Bicycle Club deliver a stellar setlist of intricate guitar and bass fretwork, most festivalgoers appear to be crammed inside the Electric Arena for the ‘Rather Be’ hit-maker Clean Bandit. Sorely missing writer/ keyboardist Jack Patterson, the remaining quartet compensate by needlessly dancing on stage like complete idiots to what is essentially a backing track ripped straight from their hopelessly dull Baroque House debut LP. An antidote is needed and it comes in the form of Scotland’s Paulo Nutini, who, with a compliment of stunningly talented musician’s, wins every heart, forcing even the sternest of heterosexuals to question their leanings. Older hits are moulded into fresh beasts, while tracks from his latest album are treated with passionate aplomb, culminating in the spine tingling brilliance of ‘Iron Sky’. An unknown entity two years ago when he graced the Body & Soul arena, Syrian wedding singer turned Arabian acidtechno mastermind Omar Souleyman is perhaps the highlight of a weekend for those with a love for the absurd. Commanding the stage with unnerving ease, tracks such as ‘Wenu Wenu’ and ‘Ya Yumma’ have the capacity crowd boogieing to the envious ears and eyes of every DJ. Unmissable. As dawn reaches its inevitable emergence, Chic become Saturday’s last arrivals. Ripping through Nile Rodgers’s discography at warp speed, the disco pioneers ramp up the feelgood factor to eleven. Mixing the old with the new seems to be the prevailing theme of a setlist that rekindled the captivated audience’s love for funk while showcasing the band’s breathtaking technical skill right into the early hours. Sunday morning saw a slowing of pace for the festival’s aching heads. Waterford’s In the Willow’s showcase their beautiful folk rooted harmonies on Body & Soul’s wacky Earthship stage to a sizable crowd, while The Wailers prove that there is life after Bob Marley with sunny reggae vibes and Rastafarian headwear; despite sauntering onto stage 30 minutes late. Sunday evening witnessed the weekend’s densest array of talent. Glass Animals bring the roof down in the Little Big Tent with their atmospheric brand of future trip-hop in what was to be the personal highlight of the weekend. Jungle travel light, leaving several band members behind to showcase their stunning selftitled debut.

While FKA Twigs is no-show, Flume more than compensates with a welltailored set of smooth electronica originals, including his breakthrough remix of Disclosure’s ‘You & Me’. As Lily Allen divides opinion on Mainstage while surrounded by, well, giant milk bottles, Icelandic singer songwriter Ásgeir timidly puts out his gentle array of indietronica numbers to a small number of fans, before thankfully avoiding a snoozefest by inviting the excellent Dublin Gospel Choir onstage. Contrary to the belief of every cartographer on the planet, Outkast have deduced that they are playing in “the city county of Dublin,” and not Laois, as they draw the Mainstage curtain. Their mammoth set is a mixed bag – hyperactive and disorganised, but somehow loveable. The classics come courtesy of those penned by André 3000 as ‘So Fresh, So Clean’ and the perennial ‘Hey Ya’ receive the most rapturous responses in a set that has just enough ups to compensate for the many downs.

September’s Gig Guide In the Willows Cyprus Avenue, Wednesday September 17th Tickets: €7 Waterford based alt-folk outfit In the Willows stop at Cyprus Avenue along their Irish tour. Their brilliant debut LP, out earlier this month, showcases intricate harmonies and soothing instrumentation.

Paul Van Dyk Savoy, Friday September 19th Tickets: €27.80 Grammy nominated techno DJ Paul Van Dyk returns to the Savoy for a oneoff Irish show. An illustrious career so far has seen the Berlin native work with the likes of Depeche Mode and Justin Timberlake, while topping the ‘The Words Best DJ Poll’ on two occasions.

Dreadzone Crane Lane: Thursday September 25th Playing true to the spirit of Electric Picnic, the real curtain closer comes courtesy of Ireland’s underground but sublime music talent. King Kong Company kick the final party off into the early hours with their high-octane blend of samples, disco beats and live instrumentation aboard the Salty Dog Ship. Inside Body & Soul Plutonium Dust prove to be the festivals surprise package. Succeeding where Outkast failed in getting the weariest of feet to move, the Dublin quartet’s relentless future-house and seemingly ad-lib vocal performance create a hypnotic atmosphere that has every onlooker puzzled as to why they are an unknown entity – somebody needs to sign them. As daylight reached its inevitable approach, Cork’s excellent dub-reggae collection Ruff Chuff Live Crew proved to be the perfect prescription to ready those still awake for one final snooze in what was the best Electric Picnic festival thus far in its short, but turbulent life.

Tickets: €12 Two decades after electro-dub pioneers Dreadzone hit our speakers, the BBC Radio regulars play a one-off Cork gig to celebrate the release of their 11th album amid the intimate surroundings of the Crane Lane Theatre.

Awesome Mix Vol. III Sleep Thieves Fresh from announcing a Cork Jazz Festival show on October 26th in Triskel Arts Centre, Dublin synthpop trio Sleep Thieves reveal to Verge their Awesome Mix Vol III. Marnie – The Hunter (Roman Nose Remix) Lyla Foy – Feather Tongue Metronomy – Boy Racers White Lies – The Power & The Glory (Bibio Remix) Hummingbird – Seals and Crofts Cults – I Could Never Make You Mine Age of Consent – Colours Got A Girl – Did we Live Too Fast The Faint – Help in the Head

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Arts & Literature Directed by James Skidmore, A Few Good Men came to the Everyman Theatre in late August in what was the second in the Keegan Theatre’s four-week, five-city Irish tour following a successful run in the US.

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The original American production garnered a glowing critical response, including rave reviews from The Washington Post and Time magazine. A Few Good Men was the freshman effort of Aaron Sorkin, writer of The West Wing, The Social Network and The Newsroom. Released in 1989, the drama went on to have a long and hugely popular run on Broadway. However, it is the 1992 star-studded Hollywood adaptation featuring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore that lives on in the public imagination today; due in no small part to Nicholson’s iconic line: “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” Inspired by true events, the play tells the story of a team of lawyers defending two young marines, Dawson and Downey, who are accused of murdering Santiago, a new recruit struggling with the demands of army life. However Santiago’s death is soon revealed to be an unexpected accident following a Code Red (hazing) gone wrong, leading to an investigation of the higher-ups.

Blog-eat-blog world Molly Forsythe The Inky Fool is a blog written by etymologist, author and all-round clever clogs Mark Forsyth – the brains behind The Etymologican, The Horologican and The Elements of Eloquence. Started in 2009, The Inky Fool provides tasty titbits of general knowledge on words, phrases, grammar, rhetoric and prose – thus arming you with a multitude of trivia to frequently dazzle (read: inflict on) your family and friends. The Inky Fool also serves as a wonderfully effective means of whiling away many happy hours online before the inevitable shturmovshchina (“the practice of

UNIT! CORPS! GOD! COUNTRY! Molly Forsythe reviews A Few Good Men Although written in 1989, Sorkin’s script remains surprisingly topical. The setting of Guantanamo Bay, now associated with torture scandals and human rights controversies, is the ideal backdrop for the thematic exploration of military conduct, violence and morality. The ambiguous morality of the world in which the play is set is further emphasised by dramatic set design. A large American flag is draped across the stage and for much of the performance is drenched in red light – bringing to mind the bloodshed of Santiago’s murder as well as highlighting the flagrant disregard shown by the conspirators for the democratic values as represented by the stars and stripes. By investigating Code Red culture, Sorkin’s play highlights how the military aim to transform men into machines with no thoughts, values or morals of their own, submitting instead to the military code of honour: “Unit! Corps! God! Country!” One of the ways Skidmore aimed to distinguish his production from the film version was to cast Iranian-American, Maboud Ebrahimzadeh, as the leading man, Daniel Kaffee. A callow and unenthusiastic young lawyer, Kaffee is a typical Sorkin hero – a wisecracking, fast-talking bright young thing who is too clever by half. working frantically just before a deadline, having not done anything for the last month”). Forsyth’s blog is a treasure trove of literary and linguistic curios from across the ages. Particular gems include an extract from Benjamin Franklin’s Drinker’s Dictionary (which has given me my new favourite term for drunkenness: “has made too free with Sir John Strawberry”), an entry on poop-noddies (to have sex rarely) and the word jumentous (resembling horse urine).

Ebrahimzadeh plays the role with sparkling charisma. Mark A. Rhea also delivers an electrifying performance as the hypocritical, bigoted and fascistic Colonel Jessep, a textbook villain. The ultimate showdown between hero and villain is an unforgettable scene of crackling tension and magnetizing performances. The weak point of the play is Brianna Letourneau as Joanne Galloway, Kaffee’s fellow lawyer and member of the defence. Galloway’s earnestness and unrelenting conscientiousness serves as a foil to Kaffee’s laid-back approach (another Sorkin trope) – leading to inevitable romantic tension between the pair. Letourneau plays the sole female character and at times fails to assert a strong presence among the macho men of the play. However you must ask yourself if this is down to the performance or the script? Sorkin is often criticised for underwriting female characters and that does seem to be the case here. Galloway’s part is severely diminished in the second half following a disastrous turn in court after which she disappointingly passes on most of the responsibilities to Kaffee.

glitters throughout and is delivered with aplomb by the actors. A Few Good Men is a dense script containing a whopping 30 scenes in total; however the set design makes clever use of space and levels to create a sense of dynamism – thus preventing the audience from drifting off. Skidmore’s production of this modern classic is a captivating and fresh interpretation of a which will have you on tenterhooks throughout.

As with all Aaron Sorkin works, the true star of the show is the dialogue. Ranging from witty patter between lawyers to momentous speeches, Sorkin’s dialogue of political speak and picking up Italian techniques for skiving off work. Each entry is written in his idiosyncratic style – witty, clever and at times fantastically filthy. While it may not be as exciting as sprunting (to chase girls around among the haystacks after dark) it most certainly beats gongoozling (staring at canals). You can visit The Inky Fool at

Another bonus is access to a vast array of historical insults that you can use freely without fear of getting punched in the face, for example a chubbingly bulchin (a fat boy). I have easily spent hours at this blog – watching Shakespearian versions of Pulp Fiction, deciphering the mysteries

Read more at uccexpress.ie

Only Ever Human Claire Fox “I attempted my first novel at 19, my second at 24, but it wasn’t until I moved to New York that the desire to try writing as a career began to take hold.”

yse myself and my behaviour. This is essential to be a writer as you need to have an understanding of people’s motivation and why they behave as they do.”

Like a lot of us out there author Louise O’Neill knew she had a novel inside her, but didn’t have the courage to unlock it, until now that is. With her debut novel Only Ever Yours receiving rave reviews form the likes of Marian Keyes, who dubbed it as “utterly magnificent,” it’s clear that O’Neill’s success won’t be just another one hit wonder in the crowded world of chick-lit fiction. In many ways O’Neill’s novel doesn’t even fall into the chick-lit genre. Its dark and sinister undertones make it as eerie and as haunting as a Hitchcock creation, rather than a predictable romance novel. Having suffered from bulimia and anorexia since her tender teenage years, Louise O’Neill has credited these heart-breaking experiences for inspiring her writing.

“It has given me a deep well of past pain and frustration from which to colour my characters. Secondly, through my years and years of therapy, I’ve learned to anal-

This is certainly relevant with regard to the psychology of main characters Freida and Isabel who feature in Only Ever Yours. Living in a world where women are trained to serve men and become picture perfect brides, an atmosphere of competition and rivalry brews throughout the book. This sense of rivalry undoubtedly stems from O’Neill’s own experience of living and working in New York, one of the world’s most materialistic cities.

Having completed a degree in English in Trinity College Dublin and a postgrad in Fashion, O’Neill moved to New York to work for the famous Elle Magazine. During this period in O’Neill’s life her desire for perfection increased, thus giving fuel to her eating disorders. It wasn’t until sitting in a bustling Starbucks outlet watching a woman eat a muffin so easily that O’Neill began to question the distorted nature of the fashion industry and of New York City.

the author insists it was the best possible decision that she ever made.

“I didn’t understand why she seemed able to eat that muffin in such a casual manner, while I felt I was having an existential crisis at the very thought of it. Suddenly, an image flared in my mind. It was of a girl in a bikini and a bald woman in a black cloak, holding a red marker like a blade. The woman circled the girl, drawing circles around her ‘defective’ body parts while the classroom of girls shouted, ‘Fat, Fat, Fat’. It was incredibly vivid.

At the moment life is certainly looking pretty well for Louise O’Neill.

“I grabbed my notebook from my bag and I stayed there scribbling notes for what felt like hours. That notebook was the basis for Only Ever Yours.” Now in recovery from her battle with eating disorders, O’Neill has returned to her native Clonakilty home. Not many would trade the teeming New York streets for the West Cork landscape, but

On Writing

Having turned her back on the fierceness of the fashion industry, O’Neill attributes her recovery to the fact that she reads fewer magazines (probably not a great advertisement for Verge!). “When I’m writing I don’t think about what I look like. I don’t wear makeup and I basically live in my pyjamas. It’s not a pretty sight. I rarely read magazines these days and the less you read them, the less you want to consume, to buy; the less you believe that buying this dress or that pair of shoes will make you happy. “I feel like I’ve swung from one extreme of caring too much to the other of not caring at all, and hopefully I’ll end up somewhere in the middle.”

ond category. It works for me. I relish the imperfections; they show that there is always room for my writing to improve. Writing is my craft, and writing is all I want to do with my career.

Colm Furlong “Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don’t try to perfect as you go along, just get to the end of the damn thing. Accept imperfections. Get it finished and then you can go back. If you try to polish every sentence there’s a chance you’ll never get past the first chapter.”

– Iain Banks The above quote speaks volumes to me in terms of writing; not only in the sense of novels, but in general. Writing is by nature imperfect. It is in its purest form when it is at its most raw. Writing is a craft that is one of the finest forms of art. Each and every piece of writing in this world tells its own unique story. Each and every piece has its own unique voice behind it; and that is something that cannot be copied.

“When I moved back from New York I had expected to hate living at home again, but I fell in love with it, with the beauty of the landscape, the kindness of the people, the languid speed at which life is lived. There was so much space, not just in a geographical sense, but mentally as well. I felt like my mind was clear. I needed that to write.”

There are those writers who can’t extend their work beyond the early stages because they insist on instant perfection. Then there are those who simply allow the words to take hold and flow through

them. Every type of writer is equally deserving of their place among the writers of the world. From my experience, I fall into the sec-

“Writing is a gift to all it graces; I know I would not be here without it.”

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Get Into Gaming

The Walking Dead Aoife Gleeson Since the launch of the PS4 and the Xbox One last year, gaming has become a more talked about hobby than ever before. Advertisements are everywhere, sales are huge (the PS4 has sold more than 10 million units to date) and there seems to be a gaming console in every second person’s house. Video games are the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world right now, so when better to try them out?

However, despite its growing popularity, gaming is still quite a difficult hobby to get into from scratch. Maybe you’ve tried out some of your friends’ games and enjoyed them, but reasonably thought the cost of entry was too high. Since consoles range from €300 to €500, it’s not exactly a decision you make on a whim. And even with one, games cost up to €70, what do you do?

Take our advice to get into gaming without breaking the bank: Available on: The Playstation Family, Xbox 360, iOS, Android and PC Price Point: Season Pass: €20; Individual Episodes: €5. The Walking Dead may be an addictive TV show and an engrossing comic, but the best iteration, hands down, goes to the video game. Presented in episodic format, the game is set in the same universe as the comic, but the game follows completely different characters to Rick and his crew. You play as Lee Everett, a convict whose transport to prison is interrupted by the sudden onset of the zombie apocalypse. After rescuing a little girl named Clementine, whose parents are missing, Lee decides to take her under his wing to protect her and help her find her parents. The rest of the season follows their attempts to survive and the relationships

they develop along the way. What kinds of relationships you develop, and what kind of person your character is, are entirely dependent on your choices; conversations come with four options on how to respond to something a character said. Plus you have limited time to choose these responses, which makes you more honest in your interactions. Who becomes your friend and who becomes your enemy rests on your choices of how to treat them.

a character you like dies. Now, add the guilt of personal culpability. That kind of impact is hard to achieve, but The Walking Dead will leave you thinking about what kind of person you are, what your priorities are and how you might act when faced with the unimaginable. Both season one and two are available right now, with season two having just finished up. If you’re dying for the show to come back, definitely try out the game in the interim. I guarantee you’ll love it.

However the choices you make aren’t just interpersonal ones; the game also presents you with more weighty decisions along the way. Examples include choosing who to save when two of your group are about to get eaten, choosing whether or not to kill someone who poses a threat to your group and other intense decisions which you should discover for yourself. Imagine the emotion that you feel when

All in the name Brian Conmy outlines why Nintendo’s latest 3DSs are doomed At a recent Japanese press conference Nintendo announced two new additions to their 3DS family; revisions of the original 3DS and the 3DS XL. These revisions are being referred to as the ‘new 3DS’ and the ‘new 3DS XL’. While dates for a Western release have yet to be announced, the hardware is set to see release outside of Japan next year. A fourth and fifth entry into the 3DS family may not ordinarily be news to cause controversy, however a number of people have raised concerns about the new hardware and it’s easy to see why. Both new revisions feature a large increase in RAM, video RAM, vastly improved 3D screen technology, two extra shoulder buttons and an extra thumbstick; referred to as the ‘C stick’. If it’s not immediately apparent why these new features may cause problems for current 3DS owners, Nintendo spelled out what these issues could be in their press conference by announcing a re-release of Xenoblade Chronicles that’ll be exclusive to the new hardware. So despite the fact that these are not necessarily an entry into a new generation

of handheld consoles for Nintendo, they are fragmenting the 3DS market. This move could be disastrous in a number of ways. Firstly by limiting this and possibly future games to a select number of handheld console iterations, the market for sales of said titles is being immediately stifled. Secondly it’s possible that this could create a lot of ill will towards Nintendo by those who more recently shelled out for a 3DS XL or 2DS, only to have these vastly superior pieces of tech announced out of the blue. Finally, and more importantly, the naming of these handhelds is simply terrible. Imagine, a realistic enough scenario, a child tells their parents they want a ‘new 3DS’. First, the child will have to explain what makes this a NEW 3DS when they could have lately gotten a 3DS. Second, there’s the issue of when the parent goes to a store and is asking for one of these consoles; without a simple delineation between these and older hardware, explaining what exactly someone is after can be difficult and will certainly lead to a few problems in your local GameStop.

This is much the same issue Nintendo saw by naming their newest home console the Wii U. Anecdotal evidence has seen quite a few people theorise that the average consumer has no idea that the Wii U is a new home console and instead think it’s an add on for the existing Wii. Is this the entire reason for the Wii U’s lack of sales appeal? Certainly not, but it’s likely been a contributing factor. So in the run up to the release of the new 3DS and its XL counterpart, will we see a reversal of this naming convention to something slightly more logical? I, for

one, think a ‘Super 3DS’ sounds a whole lot better than what Nintendo have decided on. Then again, when has a Nintendo decision ever made sense?

The Watchlist Steve Barry presents 2014’s must-have games 1

Out October (3DS); TBA (Wii U)

Call of Duty:

Assassin’s Creed: Unity

Advanced Warfare

PS4, Xbox One, PC

I personally have very fond… well, maybe not fond memories of playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii with my brother to the point of utter frustration with each other. But that sibling rivalry didn’t stop Smash Bros. from being one of the most fun and funny fighting experiences on the market. The newest entry, on both of Nintendo’s current platforms is set to release in the holiday season of this year and yes, you will be able to beat up that pesky Pikachu as Mario. And a bunch of other characters. Even Mega Man.

PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Out November 13th PC Assassin’s Creed has had its origins on Out November 4th the PS3 and Xbox 360, but this NovemAfter the lacklustre Call of Duty: Ghosts, this year’s entry into one of the industry’s most successful franchises has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, Advanced Warfare is inspiring optimism in critics, retailers and players alike. Developed by a new team to the franchise, Sledgehammer Games, the first-person shooter sets out to switch up some common gameplay tropes and add in new features that will surely be as killer as the weaponry. Boasting a stellar setting and

ber will see the main series jump to the next generation. Starring a new protagonist, Arno Dorian, this entry will see leaps beyond those that you will make between rooftops. Set in the French Revolution in a time of turmoil for the Assassins and Templar Order alike, Unity will feature an improved combat and parkour system, as well larger crowds and an impressive looking co-operative system based in the main narrative. It is very clear that the Assassin’s Creed franchise has another epic tale to tell.

4 Pokémon Omega Ruby & Pokémon Alpha Sapphire 3DS November 28th

cast, including House of Cards’ Kevin Spacey, this is one to watch.

2 FIFA 15 PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, 3DS, PC, PS Vita, iOS, Android

You never really grow out of Pokémon, no matter how hard you try. And with the added nostalgia factor of these new entries being remakes of the Ruby and Sapphire that many of us may have grown up with on the GameBoy Advance, you may find yourself jumping back into Hoenn and facing off against the likes of Groudon and Kyogre once again. Using the same engine as last year’s well-received Pokémon X and Y, let your good memories of Hoenn run free and experience it all over again.

Out September 26th FIFA is the game that will never stop selling and this year’s iteration will be no different. The long-lived and insanely popular series will see its 22nd entry in the coming weeks. FIFA 15 will see the return of many leagues and the addition of the Italian Serie A. It will also include all 20 Premier League stadiums as a new feature, as well as an improved engine in EA’s Ignite, running on PS4, Xbox One and PC specifically. With goalkeepers gaining new intelligence and sales continuously improving, it goes without saying to watch out for FIFA 15.

5 Super Smash Bros. Wii U, 3DS

6 Far Cry 4 PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC Out November 18th After the incredibly critically acclaimed Far Cry 3, it is no surprise that we are getting an even crazier and zanier sequel this year. Set in the region of Kyrat, you will return to the strange Far Cry universe to hunt various dangerous animals, craft armour and weaponry and explore the vast mountainous landscape, while pulling off some interesting kills and gunplay as you do so. Plus it stars the now renowned voice actor Troy Baker as its villain, and as an actor who has played The Joker in the past, this adversary will be one to remember.

8 The Crew PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC Out November 14th. In a year where Ubisoft’s new intellectual properties have not been received well by the general gaming populace (see: Watch Dogs), I am certain that the publisher is looking to make a big splash in the racer market with their co-operative racer, The Crew. A game that will let you drive across the United States in an hour and a half of play time, as well as play with up to three friends in your – you guessed it – ‘crew’, it will certainly present an interesting shake up to the racing market.

9 The Evil Within PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC Out October 14th

PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC

What’s a list of games to watch without a good old horror? From the creators of Resident Evil comes a new twist on the genre featuring an almost powerless protagonist in a frightening world full of grotesque and horrible creatures. Plus it’s out right before Halloween so you can spend a solid two weeks hiding behind your couch.

Out November 21st

Dragon Age is a series that has seen many ups and downs in its short lifespan. Many loved the complex and enthralling RPG that was its first entry, Dragon Age: Origins, though the series suffered a blow to its popularity and critical acclaim with Dragon Age 2. Now BioWare are back and ready to prove the naysayers wrong with what is looking to be the biggest and most epic entry in the franchise to date. Featuring a choice of races, classes, weaponry, magic, armour and, of course, romantic companions, I personally cannot wait to jump back into the world of Thedas.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

7 Dragon Age: Inquisition

PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC Out September 30th Shadow of Mordor is an interesting creature in that it takes a lot from popular franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and the Arkham series. This game, that will bridge the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, is trying something new with an interesting rivalry and political system between the protagonist and the orcs as he attempts to raise an army against the dark lord, Sauron. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s certainly to look out for.

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Verge fashion presents

Gothic Glamour

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Photographer: Aoife Cheung. Models: Nicole Clinton and Hayley Clinton. Clothes styled by and courtesy of: Nicole Clinton. Shot on location in UCC

Predicting the fall Fashion L

ove it or loathe it, Autumn is definitely upon us, signalling the start of another academic year and saying goodbye to a long, beautiful summer. The commencement of a new year is a perfect setting for reinvention which means time to go shopping! Possibly the biggest hit on the runways ahead of A/W 2014 was plaid. It cropped up in designer collections everywhere from Victoria Beckham and Tommy Hilfiger, to Vera Wang and Marc by Marc Jacobs. It came in various forms, from sweater dresses, to silk shirts, to messenger bags.

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For the daring there is the bold plaid coat as seen in the Tommy Hilfiger collection. For something more subtle I would advise a nice thick scarf to wrap up in. Plaid is certainly the easiest and most convenient way to stay ontrend throughout the upcoming colder months. An unusual sighting on the catwalks this year was the theme of fairy tales

Sylvia Julius looks at the autumn/ winter 2014 designer runways to let us know what colour schemes to expect in the coming months. and forests. This theme was spotted on runways of designers such as Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Fendi and Valentino. From ball gowns to capes, this was certainly a popular theme. Understandably, it is a difficult trend to pull-off. However my advice would be to choose to implement the colour scheme for this look. Go for dark greens, earthy browns and dark blue tones to play with the fairy-tale trend this autumn/ winter. Making a splash this coming season are deep red tones such as brandy, cranberry and crimson. These colours can be seen across the numerous collections from designers such as Diane Von Furstenberg (full crimson suits) and Vivienne Westwood (dresses). Versace use one statement to complement another with bold red one shoulder dresses. This is a strong colour so use wisely; invest in a staple fitted dress or nice woolly jumper to stay warm during chilly lectures in the Boole. I would suggest that you pair it with plain jeans

The Fashion Clash Marita Maloney pits America against Europe in the battle for style supremacy

or leggings. However, in terms of fashion, summer hasn’t totally vacated us yet. While A/W wear is generally known for muted colours to reflect the greying skies, there were definitely lots of bright neon colours to be seen. From dresses to shoes, zesty Following a year on Erasmus in Prague and a summer spent in New York, I noticed the contrast in stylistic choices on either side of the pond. It is an opinion almost universally shared that Europeans dress better than their American counterparts. The more difficult part is to prove is why. Upon browsing the internet on this topic, I noticed that most people couldn’t explain the reason for Europe’s superior style aesthetic; it was a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ which elucidated the continent’s fashionable inhabitants. There was also an interesting comment left by one US native, who gave me pause for thought by succinctly stating that “Americans are just too concerned with what they’re wearing as opposed to how they’re wearing it.”

ichael Kors: a name quintessentially associated with the luxury and modernity that encapsulates what constitutes American fashion. Having recently become a billion-dollar brand, it would seem that his hold on the global fashion market shows no sign of abating. However Italian designer Roberto Cavalli is not one to share such a view

as in a style.com interview posted in December 2013, he gave his bold opinion on the Kors empire: “He’s not American fashion. He is international fashion made in America. The American women, they all dress the same.” And so, with this last comment, he reopened the rusty can of worms of the American versus European style debate.

This simple clarification is evident on the streets of American cities as many wealthy people brandish brash labels across their clothing, which may in fact be a contributing factor to Kors’s stratospheric rise to the Billionaires Club. In a country with a population of over 300 million, fashion for the masses is an inevitable approach taken by retailers, especially huge companies like Target, Gap and JC Penney. On the other hand, the European attitude to style is a more tailored, intimate approach to shopping, with smaller boutique stores carrying unique

colours were found in the collections of the likes of Christian Dior, Miu Miu and Prada. So don’t go throwing away all those neon bright summer dresses just yet!

brands that are less generic and more conducive to finding distinctive pieces. This is paired with a seemingly inherent ability to match certain items together, distinguishing one person from another, especially on Italian and French soil. However, the debate is not completely one-sided. European designers are increasingly seeking inspiration from all things Americana. This is celebrated in the fall issue of Style magazine, which revels in the spirit of the States and features renowned designer Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy exclaiming his adoration and respect for the freedom of expression and “the ease, the iconography” that is inspiring fashion around the world. It also must not be forgotten that men like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren revolutionised fashion when they introduced the sportswear aesthetic. The American versus European sartorial battle is one that will continually resurface, with the two battling it out in matters from currency strength to golf. In regards to the latter, this month sees the two entities compete in the Ryder Cup and, while I may not know much about their golfing games, when it comes to fashion, the Europeans get a hole-in-one!

Image Anatomy (Vol.1) Because a fashion photo is more than a pretty picture… Dissected by Nicole Clinton.

he cover of British Vogue’s May 2003 issue presents supermodel Kate Moss channelling music icon David Bowie with his signature lightning bolt face-paint digitally printed over her face. The cover is an example of the magazine’s regular utilisation of Kate’s ‘British-ness’ for displays of patriotism. The Nick Knight photograph demonstrates how a picture does not have to exhibit clothes to be saturated with style.

in the accompanying captions ‘Fashion’, ‘Music’ and ‘Art’. So if Moss represents fashion and Bowie music, then the art is where both subjects collide. Stage personas rely on fashion to produce an influential and unique ‘image’ to convey a creative vision that audible music fails to do alone. The colour scheme of the image illustrates a striking clash of the black and white photographic picture of Moss’s stunning visage and the vibrant red, blue and orange tones of the face-paint.

The visual displays a morphing of two iconic faces in British pop-culture whose influence inhabits the past and present simultaneously. Kate Moss could be described as the British fashion icon of the last 25 years while David Bowie is one of the most definitive and significant British music stars of the 20th century.

The way in which Moss’s hair is scraped back in a rather masculine style adds a spice of androgyny to the cover photo, a point that reminds the viewer of both Bowie and Moss’s reputations for meandering into the territory of the opposite sex. Bowie’s bisexual exploits and his penchant for decorating his feminine features with extravagant make-up permitted his musical persona to cross gender boundaries, while Moss’s ultra-slim frame embodied the grunge era’s rejection of traditional femininity and promotion of androgynous dressing. The captions further emphasises the issue’s objective in exhibiting an intersection between music and style. The description of the Moss feature, ‘Kate Moss in Vintage Bowie’, exudes this, but also the inclusion of the term ‘vintage’ evokes the post-Millennium obsession with the fashion of the second half of the 20th century.

Although Bowie does not physically appear on the cover, his presence is boldly plastered across the image in the form of his trademark make-up.

Perhaps this fascination with ‘vintage’ symbolises a sense of sentimentality about a lost world where fashion trends seemed more definitive, a lamentation about these distinctive styles that characterised the era during which they

The cover image perfectly personifies a sublime amalgamation of music and fashion, an intent that can be located

Fashion emerged. Both Moss and Bowie’s personas were born in that now mythical world, where grunge and punk reigned respectively. The rather paradoxical fact is that the only memorable trend of noughties fashion remains this preoccupation with vintage or retro. Unfortunately, the other trends that have surfaced over the last decade were (and still are) easily and uneventfully interchanged with the next bland instalment of staleness. Once the early millennium’s one-sleeved tops and low-rise jeans were over, it becomes near impossible to pinpoint a trend that defines the noughties and its citizens, hence the acquired fixation with the past’s style. If we are to revert to the theme of how fashion, music and art are interconnected, one could comment that the artistic side of both fashion and music is managing to still generate originality when almost everything has already been done.

Style Gentlemen, Please! Claire Fox, Verge Editor.

ince bursting onto the scene with his smash hit ‘Pass Out’ in 2009, Tinie Tempah has become the king of urban music in Europe. However it is not just Mr Tempah’s pulsating tunes that seal this kingly status, but also his sensational style; a style which is both original and charismatic without being too try-hard. Characterised by suave suits, statement geek-chic spectacles and, of course, that cheeky grin, Tinie’s style is always on form. While in the early years of his career Tinie’s style mainly consisted of baggy jeans and granddad Christmas jumpers, just as he has matured in age so has his fashion. In particular his coupling of sports-luxe items with tailored pieces has won him praise from style critics and is demonstrated extremely well in the outfit he wore to the Burberry Autumn/ Winter 2013-14 show. The thin collars of his Aztec-print shirt contrast well with the over-sized collars of his frock-style coat. Moreover his choice of skinny blue jeans and white-washed runners show how Tinie never shies away from his London roots.

What is special about Tinie’s style is his ability to glide flawlessly from casual wear to formal attire without even removing his trademark glasses.

The burgundy Dolce & Gabbana suit which he wore to the Elle Style Awards 2014 (where he picked up the gong for Best Dressed Male) displays his style savviness. The suit, with its crimson

metallic-esque sheen, shows off how Tinie’s daring personality is reflected in his style. The skinny trousers and on trend loafers loan the look a quirky edge and prevent it from having a Downton Abbey vibe, not that it ever could. Tinie is undoubtedly hot property at the moment in both music and style

quarters. While he is dominating the charts, his own label ‘Disturbing London’ is dominating the rails of stores worldwide. As Tinie remarks in ‘Pass Out’: “I’ve got so many clothes I keep em’ in my aunt’s house.” Whether that’s true or not, it’s clear that Tinie Tempah is one stylish being.

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