Verge Issue 7

VERGE

ISSUE VII

​ ommy Tiernan ​on his improvisational streak ..... Bestseller Cathy Kelly presents her PhD in People ... A Gamer’s Christmas wish-list T Aslan talk drugs, disease and disputes ..... Cork Film Festival reviews ..... Neil Delamere stands-up to water charges and more .....

Editor’s Letter Diverged The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Eoghan The Lord of the Rings film series captured the public’s imagination and almost single-handedly reinvigorated the fantasy film genre, with many rejoicing at its continuation through The Hobbit films. Though the reception to the first Hobbit film, An Unexpected Journey, was decidedly mixed (as was the decision to split the relatively slim book into a trilogy), The Desolation of Smaug was an immense improvement. The series is now expected to go out with a bang this December with the release of the final film in the Middle Earth saga, The Battle of the Five Armies. Ho ho ho!

Gifts for the music lover – Robbie

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Keep Calm: It’s nearly Christmas!

Claire Fox “Verge is for the entire college year, not just for Christmas,” at least that’s what I’ve been telling my friends who have decided to pick up the magazine for the first time, due the promise that Issue 7 is one of festive-filled madness.

While the Verge team, or The Avergers as l like to call us, wanted so very badly to call this edition of the magazine a ‘Bumper Christmas Bonanza’, our dear Editor-in-Chief feared this would be misleading due to the page number remaining the same length as every other issue and quickly put an end to the idea. But hey, at least we tried!

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spread the joy of season’s greetings a little earlier than usual, especially with exams creeping at every corner!

Bob Geldof obviously feels the same way having donned his charitable cap once more in launching Band Aid 30 in the combat against Ebola. While many feel it’s time for the Boomtown Rats’

frontman to let go of his wish to “let them know it’s Christmas Time,” I am a firm supporter of the cause! OK the reworked lyrics may not be as catchy as the original and the Adele debacle may have gotten a lot more publicity than the actual song, but it still doesn’t take from the fact that this is an act of kindness in the world.

What I also love about Band Aid is how it shows how the face of music changes each decade. Busted have been replaced

by One Direction, while Jamelia and Estelle have been swapped for the likes of Ellie Goulding and Rita Ora – the only constant seems to be Bono!

So why not take a break from study, listen to Bob Geldof ’s latest rendition and have a cosy read of your latest copy of Verge. With interviews ranging from Aslan, to Cathy Kelly and Tommy Tiernan, you are really spoiled for choice! And we here at Verge love nothing more than spoiling our readers!

Happy Christmas!

Verge Editor: Claire Fox

Gaming Editor: Steve Barry

Film & TV: Eoghan Scott

Fashion Editor: Nicole Clinton

Music Editor: Robbie Byrne

Design: Kevin Hosford

Arts & Lit Editor: Molly Forsythe

Remember when Now 41 was as good as it got for the music lover at Christmas?

Thankfully, we’ve all progressed a little since then, meaning that 2014 has every genre of music nerd present covered. For those flush with cash, Daft Punk have just released their first live album boxset for a steep €75. Closer to reality, Soundtrack of My Life, a compendium pop’s history, makes for fascinating reading. Tech wise, why not invest in a premium Spotify or Rdio subscription to rid your friend of those pesky adverts? Still unsure? Well then, just be a lazy and buy a Ticketmaster voucher…

Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? – Molly After a hectic semester filled with an endless number of essays and exams, my Christmas reading material is sorted as the flamboyant funk legend (and possible extra-terrestrial) George Clinton’s memoir has just come out. Clinton, the selfproclaimed Dr. Funkenstein, is one of those amazing individuals whose career is entwined with pop music history. An amalgamation of sex, and drugs, and rock n’ roll (and some more drugs), Clinton’s autobiography is sure to be an absolute riot and I, for one, can’t wait to dig my teeth into it.

Cards Against Humanity – Steve Now, this is a stocking filler that every crude humoured, sarcastic, sardonic and possibly plain rude person would love to see. Cards Against Humanity is a card game that can be played by pretty much any number of people, where a black card with a question or blank space is filled by a response from each player from one of their white cards. These range from black humour to potentially mentally scarring. It’s also a perfect way to really get to know your family members when they call around for Christmas. Yes, I’m talking from experience.

Simply Red - Nicole Perhaps it’s rather obvious to endorse red at this time of year but have you ever heard that sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one? Red encapsulates and expresses the festive cheer and atmosphere, and its striking appearance means you can avoid fussy accessories. While some are unjustifiably afraid of the bold colour, there’s no reason why it can’t suit everyone (even redheads!) as there are numerous shades to choose from. If you’re looking to invest in something timeless, a red coat adds a touch of class to any outfit and will be on trend every Christmas.

Will the real Neil Delamere Please Stand Up? Eoghan Scott speaks with comedian Neil Delamere before stepping on stage for his blazing gig in UCC An hour before he is set to step out in front of a sold-out Boole 4, Neil Delamere is sat backstage (yes, there is a ‘backstage’ area in Boole 4) with a bottle of water, going through his lines one last time before the show.

With the loud, relentless chatter of hundreds of excited college students coming from the next room, it’s only too easy to imagine anybody being wracked with nerves ahead of such a gig. However, Delamere feels that those days are behind him.

“I definitely used to get nervous when I was starting out. There were gigs in the past where you’d say your best joke to the audience and nobody would laugh.

“One day someone gave me €50 for a gig and I thought that was great!”

“If you have a bad gig, where nobody laughs, it’s better if you’ve had some good gigs behind you just to tide you over and maintain your confidence, especially at the start of your career.”

Yet, despite now being one the most recognised names in Irish comedy, performing in front of crowds has not made him less humble.

“I just kind of stumbled into it really, like most people do. I did a small bit in university at open mics and such… and just gradually got into it.”

It was never quite a calling for Delamere, even from a young age, but an aside he enjoyed nonetheless.

“I was just doing it casually. I never really saw it as a career at the start; it was just something that I enjoyed. And then one day someone gave me €50 for a gig and I thought that was great!”

A part of standing on stage involves offering opinions in some form, and with every Tom, Dick and Harry talking about Irish Water, Delamere is certainly no different (with a little bit of encouragement).

“The water charges could’ve been handled a lot better by the government.

I think they really didn’t expect it to have quite the reaction that it did, they figured it would probably just pass by with all the fuss dying down after a while, but this seems to be a case of the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“It’ll certainly be interesting to see what the fallout will be.”

He does admit, however, that from a comedian’s point of view, big-issue topics such as the water charges are always a benefit in some shape or form; “extremes, in many ways, are good for comedians because they provide a lot of material to work with which is different and current, regardless of one’s opinion on the topic itself.”

Since he started out, the comedy scene has changed quite a bit, with a large growth over his comic career.

“There are more comedians out there, for one. The thing about Irish comedy is you don’t have to be a beanie or chinowearing type of guy. You can just look like a normal person and the Irish audience will laugh at you if you’ve got something to say.”

And, though he’s a big fan of the Irish comedy scene, he admits to preferring the more low profile and intimate side of things.

“The good thing about Irish comedy though is that there are a lot of comedy clubs out there. These are almost better than venues because at venues you know what you’re going to see. At a comedy club, you don’t know what to expect, which makes it more special I think.”

He’s especially proud of the amount of Irish talent in the comedy scene: “When I was starting out, I really liked Dylan Moran – he’s really great. Also, Tommy Tiernan is great at what he does. There are just so many great Irish acts out there right now.”

Delamere is best known from his time as a regular panelist on The Panel, the long-running RTÉ show that ended in 2011. He still has fond memories of the show and credits it with more or less

launching his career.

of other projects on the horizon.

“The Panel was great because it was the thing for me that lasted the longest. It

“I did a show on the Vikings a while back, which was great fun, and one on St. Patrick before; so in December we’ve a new show coming up called Holding Out for a Hero. We do some stuff on Granuaile and the Fianna – we actually came down to UCC for the series and got some opinions from researchers for that, so it should be interesting.”

“You can just look like a normal person and the Irish audience will laugh at you if you’ve got something to say” went on for eight years and acted as a real gateway for me into comedy. It allowed me to present the Just For Laughs show in Montreal and to do loads of other shows too. It was something we all really enjoyed and got a kick out of.”

Outside of stand-up, Delamere has plenty

As our 15 minutes with Neil Delamere draws to a close and he readies himself to hit the stage, there is really only one question left to ask: Does he agree that the UCC Express is the best student paper in Ireland? “It’s the best student paper in UCC anyway.”

Well, at least that’s something!

Delamere will be performing at the Cork Opera House on the 27th and 28th of March, with tickets available from €29. His new series for RTÉ 2, Holding Out for a Hero, will air in the coming months.

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Films. Music. Ideas…

Olivia Browne and Glenn Dunlea review the Cork Film Festival In a city that boasts a different festival every month, November will always be synonymous with the annual Cork Film Festival. A much-loved part of the city’s culture, the festival celebrated its 59th edition this year with over 185 events, including 65 Irish premieres and seven world premieres.

With a tagline of ‘Films. Music. Ideas.’, Creative Director James Mullighan explained that, although the festival originally focuses on film, this year a different approach was adopted.

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“The cornerstone of the programme is the global, cultural cinema repertory.

That’s so important that this year we are inaugurating a special ‘Spirit of the Festival’ award to help reinforce the notion of the Cork Film Festival as an international feature film festival.”

“I just think we have the power to eliminate irrational social panic” This award was won by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy of the Ukraine, for his film The Tribe.

“I believe it’s film’s job, firstly, to entertain,” added Mullighan; “however I learn most of what I do learn from going to the movies.

“This year we concentrate on the issue of mental health by inaugurating a special strand called ‘illuminate’, which consists of four presentations of films which have mental health as an issue.

The film is then followed by a discussion with the director and a mental health professional.”

Mullighan is an advocate for the role which film plays in inspiring conversations on important issues: “When I was your age, the newspaper would never write the word suicide; it was just code.

“Although society is getting better, we still have issues like bullying, eating disorders, schizophrenia and depression, which people shy away from because they don’t understand.

I just think we have the power to

eliminate irrational social panic.”

This year saw many blockbuster films grace the screens of Cork with the Irish premiere of Penguins of Madagascar, Disney’s latest blockbuster Big Hero 6 and new Irish comedy Stand By, among many more…

Ó Chúil Aodha Go hOileán Í (From Coolea To Iona)

have recognised the main plot and the direction in which the film was to go.

Although costuming and production design were exquisitely rendered, they didn’t quite make up for what was lacking elsewhere.

In terms of performance, David Thewlis was evocative as a shell-shocked veteran, but it was Caleb Landry-Jones’ turn as a slightly deranged soldier that stole the show.

Any film starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper sounds good. So a film starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, wearing Jazz-Age attire in the rustic surroundings of North Carolina sounds like a goldmine. Throw a bit of tension, drama and uncertainty into the pot and you’ve surely got a winner!

“An exquisite praising of the Gaelic temperament.” That was how an audience member described Ó Chúil Aodha Go hOileán Í, directed by Macroom native Dónal Ó Céilleachair.

This documentary tells the story (as Gaeilge) of Cór Chúil Aodha and their journey to the Scottish Island of Iona in celebration of the choirs 50th anniversary.

At the choir’s helm stands Peadar Ó Riada, son of famed Irish composer Seán Ó Riada. The idea of a pilgrimage to Iona was Peadar’s brainchild, in an attempt to build what he calls ‘Droichead na nGael’: a connection between Ireland and Scotland based on cultural heritage and language.

A lovingly crafted piece, this film stands as testament to the dedication of the choir and the talent of a young Irish filmmaker.

Queen and Country Before the screening of John Boorman’s latest (and more than likely final) offering began, Pat Shortt, a member of the film’s cast, gave a brief account of the time he spent on set. The most interesting point he made was that the film was originally to be called ‘The Skiver’, a reference to one of the many characters contained within.

After the screening I felt that something about the film just didn’t sit properly with me. The excessive amount of characters and sub-plots detract majorly and stand out performances from several actors do little to redeem this. However, had the film remained as ‘The Skiver’, one would immediately

Serena

However, for some reason, there is something about Serena that is lacking.

Shakespeare In Love It is difficult to believe, when looking at this film, that it has been 15 years since the release of Shakespeare In Love. It was refreshing to see this film where films ought to be seen: on the big screen, with details in costume design, production design, soundtrack, lighting and dialogue all becoming enhanced by the experience.

The screening was followed by a Q&A from Shakespeare In Love’s Oscarwinning composer, Stephen Warbeck.

Anecdotes about the creation of the soundtrack were interesting and often surprising.

For example, anyone familiar with the film will be aware of how integral a part of the film the score is, so to discover that the main theme was written before filming even began, and that the composer himself felt that the film worked even better without music, came as something of a surprise!

Based on the novel by Ron Rash, the film follows timber-tycoon George Pemberton and his ferocious, yet passionate wife Serena. George is irresponsible and impulsive and his enterprise is dangerous to say the least; with employees getting injured or even killed every couple of scenes.

Serena is determined and ruthless. She quickly proves that she is equal to that of her male counterparts, fully immersing herself in the running of the business.

This is where the film’s fatal flaw begins to seep in. It’s not so much that nothing significant happens throughout the film to constitute a plot, more so that so many dramas arise it becomes almost impossible to identify any continuous storyline.

Full of tension and suspense, Serena does entertain. However the hamartia clearly cripples the film in some regard as, despite filming finishing in 2012, it was shelved up until this year and will not hit screens in the US until 2015.

The Annual Verge Grammys Robbie Byrne and Holly Cooney list the best albums 2014 had to offer Electronic

Winner: Todd Terje – It’s Album Time The Electronic album is a fickle art.

While one earworm track may become an overnight sensation, maintaining that momentum across a sixty-minute span is a near impossible task. Todd Terje’s playfully titled album, It’s Album Time, does so much incredibly well.

The reclamation of a genre that was dismissed 18 months ago, Terje’s LP is all sunshine, electro-disco melodies, where live instrumentation meets analogue synthesisers in a cacophony of feel good brilliance. Admittedly, there are one or two snoozers, notably the Brian Ferry collaboration, ‘Johnny & Mary’, but this does little to quell the space-synth odyssey of ‘Oh Joy’, the Latin-infused ‘Svensk Sås’ or ‘Delorean Dynamite’, which tears through its five minute lifespan with a pulsing bassline and disco-synth grooves. In short, a delight.

Runners-up: Aphex Twin – Syro; Deadmau5 – while(1<2).

Rock

Brighton duo were the saviours of rock.

Many have since argued that employing bass as a lead instrument doesn’t simply mean the walls of rock have been torn down, and they’d be right; Death From Above 1979 were doing the very same a decade ago. Still, this drops the point that Royal Blood’s self-titled debut is a beast of an album. Riffs pour from every facet, while Kerr’s songwriting balances a fine line between radio playability and rock credibility.

Have riffs been as delicious since Rage Against the Machine? Rock melody and lyricism as dark but accessible since QOTSA? I don’t think so.

Runners-up: Death From Above 1979 – The Physical World; Weezer – Everything Will Be Alight In the End.

Indie

Winner: Glass Animals – Zaba While Alt-J get a huge amount of stick for being little more than hipster fodder, their influence on our present music scene has been incalculable, inspiring a slew of imitators. In many respects, Glass Animals plough the same field as Alt-J: their subject matter, abstract; their instrumentation, lush but sparse.

But it’s what Glass Animals do with this influence that fascinates most. Zaba feels like it was created in the depths of the Amazonian jungle where tribal beats, echoed vocals and rich swathes of synthesized textures immerse the listener into an uneasy psychedelic trip.

It’s a warped beauty but one expected from a group who turned their back on neuroscience in favour of a career in music.

Pop Winner: Jungle On first listen, Jungle’s debut selftitled LP sounds as dull as wallpaper paste. Every track has a the same, plodding pace, while the combined vocal delivery of Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland sounds limited, if not monotonous. But abandon this album at your peril. Repeated listens revealed hidden textures and buried melodies that work to make the album more enjoyable on its tenth, rather than second listen. ‘Busy Earning’ evokes the R&B of Stevie Wonder at his best, while ‘Julia’ could easily be an early Jamiroquai cut. However, it’s the albums darker cuts which are its most enthralling; ‘Lemonade Lake’ is all ethereal synths and mirrored harmonies glistening in a moonlight glow, while ‘Accelerate’s’ clipped vocals drop the listener into the epicenter of the singers world. For a pop record to succeed it must transcend the boundaries of genre and taste and ‘Jungle’ does exactly this.

Runners-up: Taylor Swift – Pop; Mø – No Mythologies To Follow.

Soul & Funk

Runners-up: TV On The Radio – Seeds; Warpaint – Warpaint.

Winner: Royal Blood I may have gotten a little too wrapped up in September’s Royal Blood hype in Issue 2, where I declared that the

Paulo Nutini – Caustic Love It may have taken five years to complete

but Paolo Nutini’s third album was well worth the wait. Paolo, despite his incredible range and overtly sexy rasping voice, has never achieved the credibility of his peers, seen more as the pretty boy of acoustic pop music. With Caustic Love we see Nutini channelling the Motown sounds of Prince and Marvin Gaye and it is clear that he’s finally found his niche. From funk infused summer anthem ‘Scream (Funk My Life Up)’ to the powerfully moving existentialist ballad ‘Iron Sky’, Caustic Love is the album that has seen the complete transformation of what was once a teenage girl’s dream into Britain’s most reputable soul singer.

Runners-up: Charles Bradley – Victim of Love; Chromeo – White Women.

Rap & R&B

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Winner: Snoopzilla – Seven Days of Funk Jamaica almost destroyed the Snoop we all love. While Snoop’s Rastafarian reincarnation enabled him to smoke 80 blunts a day, his last effort, under the alias of Snoop Lion, was, well, a midlife crisis for everyone to see. So for Snoop D-O-Double-G, teaming up with longtime friend Dâm Funk seemed like the musical equivalent of strawberries and cream. ‘Hit the Pavement’ evokes outlandish eighties g-funk with a host of velvety synthesizers and programmed drumbeats, forming a comfortable backdrop to Snoopzilla’s smooth rapping style. ‘Let it Go’ eases the vibe thanks to a woozy bassline and Snoop Dogg’s trademark croon, exposing the former pimp as a tender soul. Ostensibly, it seems that little on Seven Days of Funk works as a straightforward R&B or gansta-funk, though for every triviality that fails, there is something that succeeds in its own peculiar way – it’s a guilty pleasure, in the most literal sense.

Runners-up: Prince – Art Official Age; Young Fathers – Dead.

The Third Policeman fuses darkness and light Méabh Ní Fhlanagáin reviews the Dramat performance The Dramat Society’s stage adaptation of the Flann O’Brien novel, The Third Policeman, tells the story of an unnamed man as he gets robbed by his partner, while the two are in the process of murdering an old man. In his quest to get his money back, the protagonist ends up in a twisted version of a typical Irish village; a place where policemen steal bicycles and a one-legged killer roams the countryside.

“The play doesn’t descend into darkness for very long but when it does, it’s at its best”

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The atmosphere of rural Ireland was effortlessly evoked through fantastic costumes, a minimalist set and colloquialisms like ‘quare’ that made their way into the quick-fire dialogue.

The real highlight of this rural scene was the policemen themselves, who have a child-like sense of innocence about them. This is best illustrated when one policeman shows off his collection of boxes – boxes that took him years to make and that eventually get so small as to be invisible - he grins as ethereal light from within those boxes shines on

his face. This innocence is eventually subverted when the police decide to hang the narrator; using the logic that if he has no name, then he can’t be truly alive, therefore it’s not really murder.

This scene was far more powerful than the first murder at the play’s beginning.

At least the first murder had a motive.

The police smile amiably as they prepare to hang the main character – it’s their casual air that makes this scene so striking. The play doesn’t descend into darkness for very long but when it does, it’s at its best.

Another masterstroke was director Mike Ryan’s bold decision to have three actresses play what appear to have been male roles. This choice pays off not just in Niamh Kavanagh’s stellar performance, but also as a means to balance what would have otherwise been a male-dominated stage.

enemy, Divney. While we find out later this was so he could keep an eye on Divney, it may also lead audiences to conclude that they were having an affair while also vehemently hating each other – a pretty comic image.

The only drawback of this, however, is that as Kavanagh’s character is unnamed, it may not be immediately obvious to the audience that she is in fact playing a man.

It’s hard to judge whether the eccentricity of the setting in The Third Policeman – a place where people can become “mostly bicycle” – could have been balanced by a more logical and linear plot or whether the dream-like sequences kept in tone with the rest of the play.

On the other hand, this misunderstanding does add an unintentional layer of comedy to the off-hand comment that the protagonist even sleeps in the same bed as his

Some ideas were extremely wellrealised, for example the idea that with every year your skin colour (dictated by the colour of the wind at the time of your birth) gets darker and darker,

starting at yellow, then from mustard to deep dark brown, until finally black, which means that will be the year you die.

Then again, some ideas felt contrived, like a brief detour to a room where you can find anything you can think of but nothing can be removed from the room.

This had thousands of possibilities that could have been played with, but was basically forgotten about.

All in all however, Dramat’s take on this tale was a successful balance between chilling darkness and utter whimsy.

The Third Policeman was thoughtprovoking, morbidly hilarious and, most of all, a true spectacle.

On Writing: Character Creation Colm Furlong examines the qualities of an effective literary protagonist When it comes to writing novels, plays or screenplays, nothing is more significant than character. While plot comes in at a close second, without a population in your piece with whom the reader can connect and empathise with, even the best plots are irrelevant.

Strong characters are the foundation of all good fiction.

What makes a strong character, I hear you ask? Is it someone who is physically strong? Someone who has no problem beating up all the bad guys? The answer to this question is no. This is not what makes a strong character.

The celebrated author Ernest Hemmingway believed that “a writer

should create living people,” and essentially that’s what characterisation is all about. Nobody wants to read a story with an unrelatable protagonist anchoring the plot. Instead we desire personalities that excite pity, hatred and even fear.

A strong character is made up of complexities. A strong character has flaws. A strong character has varying traits. A strong character has beliefs.

Strong characters can be heroic; strong characters can be weak. A strong character is a one who is real and imperfect. A strong character is someone like you or me.

characters of all time are often defined by their flaws. Sherlock Holmes may be a sociopath but he has legions of adoring fans. Carol Peletier (The Walking Dead) may let her abusive husband define her but her arc has seen her experience significant growth. Hamlet shows signs of madness, lust and various other flaws; yet he is one of the most iconic characters ever created.

Some of the strongest, most heroic

Strong characters are built of layers

and layers of strengths and weaknesses, good and bad.

A strong character can be a person of any gender; male, female, transgender, etc. They can be of any race or sexuality.

What matters is what they are made of and how they are written. These are the kinds of people we need to populate our works with; real people who all have a story to tell, who all have a history, who are all important.

A Woman’s Heart Claire Fox speaks with bestselling author Cathy Kelly about writing, women and having a PhD in People. expressing gratitude journalism roots.

towards

her

“The plus that journalism gives you is that it teaches you enormous discipline as a writer because you have to sit down and work and it’s very Alice in Wonderland; as you open a door to another world, you see experiences which are vital for a writer.”

Kelly’s successful stint as an agony aunt would also prove to be a significant contribution to her work as a writer.

Answering queries from distressed readers on a weekly basis allowed Kelly to gain, as she calls it, “A PhD in people.”

“I decided to write about a woman running a hotel but knew damn all about running a hotel. It went nowhere”

“It’s very Alice in Wonderland; as you open a door to another world, you see experiences which are vital for a writer”

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features writer and agony aunt, Kelly admits that she always felt somewhat inadequate and not quite cut out for the hard-hitting world of news writing.

As a child, Kelly was a self-confessed bookworm, so it is of no surprise she has reached such dizzy heights of acclaim, both in the literary and commercial sense

“There were wonderful sides to it and wonderful people there, and lots of fascinating and amazing experiences,” says Kelly. “I think I was a hard news reporter at first. It’s very difficult and you’ve to be a particular type of person to do that successfully. I was probably too soft.

ince publishing her debut novel, Woman to Woman, in 1997, Cathy Kelly has become Ireland’s most successful female author. Having once outsold J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown, the 48-year-old is undoubtedly the nation’s sweetheart.

“I was a huge reader as a kid,” begins the mother of two in her warm-hearted tone. “There are very few writers who start and who haven’t been enormous readers.

“People who want to write have to read, because if you’re not a reader, it is very difficult to become a writer. It’s not impossible but it’s like saying; ‘I want to be a dress designer and never having seen a dress!’”

Having worked as a journalist for the Sunday World in the 80s and 90s, first as a news reporter and later as a

“By God, you worked hard at it in the 80s, because you couldn’t just leave your job and I felt it was my fault that I was not quite right.”

Upon expanding into more features writing with the newspaper, Kelly began to find her niche as a journalist, preferring to focus in on the feelings and emotion that went with the stories, rather than the cold facts.

“I became more comfortable with feature writing where I could write larger articles, focusing on the stories behind the news stories,” says Kelly,

Putting these life experiences and knowledge of the human psyche into practice, Kelly finally began working on her first novel. This wasn’t the first time she had endeavoured to stitch a story together, however.

“It was funny. I tried a couple times to write, but never what was in me,” admits the bestselling author.

“When I was 17, I decided to write about a woman running a hotel but knew damn all about running a hotel.

It went nowhere.

“In 1994 my partner said; ‘stop talking about it’. I’d been talking about it all my life. I’ll write what’s in me and what I like to read. You can’t think of the people you work with criticising it or you can’t think of your mother reading it; you have to write what’s in you.”

Three books later, Kelly abandoned her career as a journalist and became a fulltime writer in 2001, topping bestseller lists across the globe. With many critics declaring that Kelly’s success has been on a similar level to the late Maeve Binchy’s, the Dublin-born writer did provide an initial source of inspiration for her.

“The great thing about Maeve was that she was a genius and she made this thing look very simple. It was like a fabulous piece of tapestry but you couldn’t see the drawing at the back. She was a huge inspiration.

“When I started out with my first book, she had a big party at her house for writers and I was invited; I nearly died!” she laughs. “I felt like a complete charlatan. She was very warm and I’m a huge believer in female mentorship. It’s important that women do stick together and help each other.”

With her new novel, It Started With Paris, sure to be a stocking-filler in most households this Christmas, Kelly starts talking about the plot behind her novel and her inspiration for putting it together.

“I was half way through the last book, The Honey Queen, which has a character in it who is widowed. I thought it would be interesting to write about women who are on their own. So I thought of this idea with three characters; one of whom is a young widow with a son struggling to cope, one who is left by her toe-rag of a partner and finally, Grace, who is in her fifties and has just gotten divorced.”

Having spoken at length about the plot of the novel, Kelly finally jokes; “They say you need to be able to explain your plot in 20 words for a Hollywood pitch, that’s why I’ll never have a film made!”

However, while for some being a dedicated author, wife and mother would be enough to keep them occupied, Kelly is also an active ambassador for UNICEF Ireland and speaks of her work with the charity passionately: “When I was a journalist, I was very interested in women’s rights. I wrote a lot about domestic abuse, poverty and prostitution. Getting a chance to work with UNICEF is a continuation of that work and a huge passion of mine.”

Kelly ends giving her last piece of advice to budding writers with her trademark of compassion: “Take care of your mental health. Don’t try and be the next ‘X’; be the next ‘You’ and take it from there.”

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Demystifying Tommy Tiernan Claire Fox speaks with Irish funnyman Tommy Tiernan about the risk and controversy that comes with comedy stage, almost irrespective of what other people thought about it, it felt to me as if something highly charged was happening and I got a great energy from that. My desire to keep doing it was almost separate from the audience’s response. But when they did laugh, whatever was charged became triply charged. It was a wonder to me.”

“I used to do this joke where the word career means when a car veers off the road and ends up in a field”

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Given that constant buzz, it is surprising that stage fright can still grip Tiernan after all the years of experience and copious awards that he has gathered.

“I still get nervous and I get really nervous nowadays when I’m doing television; amazingly nervous,” admits the 45-year-old, who first appeared on The Late Late Show in 1997.

“You’ve only one spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” This was undoubtedly one of the late Robin Williams’ greatest lines and one which resonates while interviewing the king of Irish comedy, Tommy Tiernan. Like Williams, Tiernan’s comedic style has been deemed off the wall over the years, but it is this madness in Tiernan’s material that makes him simply magic.

Having been in the business for nearly 20 years, Tiernan is quick to brush off the idea that he ever viewed comedy as a potential career path. In fact, for Tiernan, a self-confessed loather of the word career, it couldn’t be further away from his definition of comedy.

“I never really thought about comedy as a career. I used to do this joke where the word career means when a car veers off the road and ends up in a field,” laughs the Navan man.

It is evident that comedy is as natural to Tiernan as blinking an eye or taking a breath. It is a talent he was born with and is part of his personality. “To be able to earn a living from it was like being rewarded for walking; it came that naturally to me. It felt ordinary to be up on stage throwing ideas at people and for that to end up as a way of making a living was remarkable and a surprise, and a delightful one at that.”

Tiernan enjoyed acting in his teenage years and early 20s, an experience he shares with most stand-ups. Famous for his role as depressed priest Father Kevin Father Ted, Tiernan felt acting provided him with a buzz, but was nothing compared with the exhilarating feeling that stand-up injected in him.

“I flirted with acting but I never really felt I had anything special,” explains Tiernan. “Whereas, when I stood on

“In the beginning I always came offstage having forgotten all of the bad bits and only remembering when people laughed. One of my first gigs was about 45 minutes long and I’d say I came offstage intoxicated by the two or three times that I’d made people laugh. It was completely dubious in my memory to the bits that hadn’t worked. So I had that myopia from the beginning, not through any effort or mind training, to automatically cut out the negativity.”

This method of blocking-out all the bad feedback he had received while on stage was the reason for his immediate success as a stand-up comedian, and instilled him with a lack of fear.

Collecting his material from everyday situations and societal issues in Ireland, inspiration for Tiernan’s jokes comes from anywhere and everywhere.

“It comes from absolutely everywhere.

Even this morning I’m just thinking about tiredness and why everyone is so tired all the time and what’s wrong

culturally that we’ve become a tired tribe.

We seek energy through stimulants and exercise and I’m wondering what energy we cut ourselves off from that makes us so tired.

“So things that aren’t necessarily comedic but when you go onstage you try to make jokes out of the ideas. The pressure of the comedic environment and the pressure of the situation can make those ideas funny. So I don’t write in the normal sense, I just collect ideas.”

Another aspect critics have deemed far from normal about Tiernan’s gigs in the past was his sketches regarding the Catholic Church and Down’s Syndrome. While Tiernan himself admits that material in shows can be somewhat sensitive, he believes this is a very small percentage.

“The stuff I do that can be called controversial is so small. I don’t think anybody ever comes to my show thinking it was a controversial show.

They might think he was a bit mental there but that’s not really controversy.”

Even then, Tiernan has altered his stage routine due to audience discomfort, after some feedback. Reflecting for a moment on a conversation he had with a man at a petrol station last year, the Meath-man recalls: “I was talking to a fellow in Carlow who started telling me that material I did on television was disgraceful and I wasn’t disagreeing with him, but I said something to him and, in his answering to me, he was more prejudiced about Down’s Syndrome than I was. It was a really odd situation.

“So I started telling that story onstage and a woman with a child who had Down’s Syndrome came up to me after the show and said she could see the point that I was making, how this guy’s reaction was prejudiced and my material wasn’t, but she still felt really uncomfortable with it. So I decided I was going to drop it from the show.

“Even when you talk about someone else’s bigotry, it’s still uncomfortable for some people. So I said it is too confusing and left it.”

However, while Tiernan may have

changed his material on this occasion, his shows remain as vibrant as ever. For Tiernan comedy has always been about taking chances, and the risk was a prime factor for his recent involvement in the RTÉ documentary, Tommy: To Tell You the Truth.

The show saw Tiernan complete a series of 12 consecutive gigs across Europe, with little or no material. So has Tiernan fallen out of love with the regular, stand-up format?

“Not really,” says Tiernan earnestly; “I was doing improvisation shows in Galway that were going well and I was very excited by the total creativity in it. So I decided to do something that was very risky. I’d never done improv at night, they were always lunchtime shows. Or I’d never done it where people had been drinking or when the ticket price had been quite high or never on consecutive nights.

“My desire to keep doing it was almost separate from the audience’s response. But when they did laugh, whatever was charged became triply charged” “I wanted to be part of a documentary about risk and to demystify risk and to show something that wasn’t necessarily guaranteed work out. This would ultimately be interesting for people to see. It wasn’t just PR material or going, ‘Oh look at this guy, he’s fantastic.’ It was an odd one.

“I’m committed to the improvisation way of working,” adds Tiernan philosophically. “It’s something you can improve on. The improv shows are better than the material shows but are much more different to perform.

They’re very hard, but worth it.

“You’re making it up on the spot so you are automatically on the same wave length as to whatever audience you are talking to. You could do an improv show in a prison or an old folk’s home or a convent and you’re automatically in the same mind frame as your audience.

Like if I did a gig in Mexico and tried to talk about Henry Sheflin that would be difficult,” laughs Tiernan.

While Tiernan is now completing his Whirlwind tours in Ireland and the UK, the title of his new DVD, Stray Sod, is based on the Celtic Myth of a man being disorientated by his surroundings.

“You could do an improv show in a prison or an old folk’s home or a convent and you’re automatically in the same mind frame as your audience” Meanwhile, Ireland’s rebel comedian will once more take to the rebel stage in February, when he graces the Cork Opera House stage. But, having achieved so much in his comedic ‘career’, does Tiernan feel there is still more he can give to comedy, or even comedy can give to him?

“I’m keen to keep going,” says Tiernan, with conviction crackling in his honest tone. “I’m doing a lot more work in England and I’m keen to do a lot of European work. I’m always trying to find where the energy and sense of adventure is and if you’ve the privilege of being able to direct your own work, then I think you should exercise that privilege.

“You can be inspired by anything. You can be inspired by a tree or a book you read or by musicians and the feelings they create on stage.

Inspirations come from everywhere and are not confined. You can get into a thing in comedy, when you know what works. It might not necessarily make you laugh but you know it works, and that is a creative cul-de-sac.

“The open road, the trip that’s full of surprises is what makes you laugh,” concludes Tiernan. “It’s harder going but much more rewarding.”

Tommy Tiernan’s new DVD, Stray Sod, is out now.

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Love, Pain and Temptation Ahead of their sold out Cork Opera House debut, Robbie Byrne talks to Aslan Guitarist, Billy McGuinness, about how a past of vice, heartbreak and cancer makes the present a time to cherish with his beloved band Records, simultaneously becoming their number one band. Their de facto debut, a re-recorded version of ‘Feel No Shame’, went straight to number one, creating a whole new world of indulgence for the group.

“We lost the plot,” McGuinness explains before expanding; “We were the biggest band with EMI at the time, getting all the privileges from private jets, to gigs in Germany, to signing album sleeves in London. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Jesus, these people think we’re the Pet Shop Boys.’ It was incredible; but for all the wrong reasons.”

Above all, it was heroin that destroyed Aslan’s initial burst of fame, as lead singer, Christy Dignam, turned to the “drug which was lashed at bands from every angle” by the industry to block out horrific memories of child abuse. It is a time that the band openly discusses but, today, it just doesn’t feel right to dwell on what is the band’s darkest hour.

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Aslan are no regular band. Unlike most who take the easy route, rejecting vice while conforming to any PR bullshit that may come their way, Aslan’s history been one of extremes; where fame walks alongside drug abuse and friendship goes hand-in-hand with death. It’s an enthralling mix, one that has intimately engaged the Irish people for three decades. For fans, Aslan itself is the drug, a band whose endless vicissitudes engage like the most thrilling soap opera.

Certainly it’s wrong to assume that Aslan have won Irish hearts solely because of the odd headline they’ve supplied as, truthfully, the Finglas quartet are concerned about one thing right now, like they have always been: enjoying every moment that they create and play music together.

But it’s not Aslan that the ever-spirited guitarist, Billy McGuinness, initially wants to discuss: “You know, Bono gets so much slack from the Irish which is unfair,” he begins, taking an unexpected turn in the conversation.

“As two Dublin rock bands from the eighties, people think we mix in the same circles, which ain’t the case, but when Christy was sick, Bono called up to his house and gave him a book of

Seamus Heaney’s poetry. Now that’s the sign of a truly decent man.”

It is this relatable honesty that has created such a strong fanbase for Aslan – a band that pride themselves in being a cog of the working class, despite having eight albums that reached the top shelve of the Irish charts. And it is Aslan’s current grounding that McGuinness thinks should be engrained in all Irish acts.

“It really annoys me when some new Irish musician zaps off and records their material abroad. For a small nation, we have top class studios and world class producers. It’s nonsense.”

Talking about other bands isn’t going to produce the best interview, so closer to home McGuinness describes his band’s initial steps with expected fervour: “Christy, Joe and Alan were originally in a band called Mile 18. I remember seeing them and thinking to myself, ‘Jesus, this Christy lad is a cracking singer.’

The following year those lads went fulltime to put 100% into it, but one of the guys dropped out, allowing me to sneak in around ‘82.”

With McGuinness on board, Aslan was born and over the next three years the band would draw the dole to fund a rigorous practise schedule – eight hours a

day, five days a week in an abandoned pigsty with an old Superser to keep warm. By 1985 their debut album, Feel No Shame, was written. However, in true Aslan style, not all was plain sailing.

“I had never met Linda Martin before and I hope I never meet her again, why did she attack me? I guess the truth hurts” “It was heartbreaking – every record company we went to with demos turned us down, so as a last resort we signed to this one man operation to release ‘This Is’, which became our first hit…

“I remember gigging in Cork a few days after its release and the whole crowd singing back ‘These are the hands of a tired man’, it was only then when we realised that this band could go places.”

Riding a wave of success that followed their debut single, Aslan signed to EMI

“EMI tried to persuade us to stay together. ‘Don’t break up,’ they said; ‘we’ll get you separate cars and jets to travel in.’ Now that was bullshit. Why live a lie?”

Five years later, following an electric one-off charity gig, a sober Aslan were approached by a close friend from Sony BMG to perform a few more gigs.

“We felt good,” McGuinness says, “so we preformed some more gigs, which resulted in us getting a contract from Sony. Our attitude going in to record Goodbye Charlie Moonhead was great – we were all a little bit older and much wiser.”

Never a band to shy away from controversy, heroin enveloped the band once more in the late nineties, leading to erroneous red-top claims that the muchloved Aslan vocalist was selling heroin.

It was a difficult time for the band, one of tension and creative sterility, but it was to be an incident at Sligo Regional Airport that would see the band become national news once again: “We were flying to Sligo through terrible weather in one of those shitty propeller-planes that can fly about 40 people,” he begins. “As we landed the pilot slammed the nose of the plane onto the runway, causing one of the tyres to explode. We shot across the runway towards the sea. I remember thinking this is it, we’re going to die like Lynyrd Sky-

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nyrd – like a true rock star.”

“We eventually stopped; dangling over a small cliff at a 45-degree angle. So I say to the lads, any minute now a fire brigade and ambulance crew will be here and everything will be grand, but here this little Land Rover comes along the runway to save us all. It was like a sketch from Father Ted, and I guess something we can laugh about in hindsight.”

Luckily the band and all those onboard survived and it seemed a providence that kept the group in good stead throughout the noughties, when Aslan would release four highly acclaimed LPs, including the 48-track Platinum Collection, before embarking on several international tours It was a demanding work ethic, worthy of the self-claimed ‘hardest working band in Ireland’.

Though, once, that proved too demanding for the band’s most fragile member, Christy, who was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare form of blood cancer, after the release of the band’s best album to date, Nudie Books & Frenchies.

“We were touring five-days-a-week, which is why we dismissed it at first; we just thought he was run down with a chest infection. It was after a gig in Ar-

dee that Christy was forced to go home and the moment his wife saw him she called for ambulance. I always thought about how Aslan would end and when I saw Christy in that hospital bed, I had a gut feeling that this would be it.”

“I always thought about how Aslan would end and when I saw Christy in that hospital bed, I had a gut feeling that this would be it” Having battled with the reality of death from various angles over the decades, McGuinness found himself in a position that allowed him to ignore the financial implications of Aslan’s demise in favour of the true disparity of the situation: “When Christy went to the UK for chemotherapy, I started looking at the situation with a new light – I could only lose my job without Christy, but he, he could lose his life.”

It’s an attitude that is allowing McGuinness to view life in a different light, one that allows him to relish every second

of performing live with Christy since he came into remission earlier this year: “For us it doesn’t matter if its 20 or 20,000 people, we’ll play our hearts out.”

himself, Louis Walsh and Linda Martin.

It was TV gold, though for all the wrong reasons.

Nearing the end of our interview, I bring up McGuinness’s now infamous involvement in this years Eurosong, which has so far seen the Finglas native rack up over half a million YouTube hits.

Still, McGuinness cannot let the anger of something as superficial as Eurovision vex him, and six months later it’s something he looks upon with customary frankness: “I had never met Linda Martin before and I hope I never meet her again, why did she attack me? I guess the truth hurts.”

“Ah, well, the Eurosong business was a bit controversial, wasn’t it? I think I’m more famous now as the guy who had the spat with Linda Martin, than I am for the being the guitarist for Aslan.

Despite the band’s many ordeals and the sense that life could unravel at any time, McGuinness has never been happier to be part of Aslan as they prepared for their first Cork gig in two years.

“What got me was that when RTÉ laid out the rules, I thought to myself that this was totally fair – everyone had the same budget etc. – and these rules were ignored by Eoghan Quigg’s management.

“Can Niall Horan go down to the shops for a carton of milk? No. Today I wouldn’t change a thing in the world.

We are finding ourselves in a perfect position. There is nothing I want but to cherish my time with the band.”

“Not only had Louis Walsh a connection with Eoghan through The X Factor, but his video cost three to four times what the other videos cost, while finding out that backing singers were drafted in from the UK added insult to injury.“ In defence of what was right, McGuinness brought the matter up on the show, sparking a verbal tug-of-war between

A Gamer’s Christmas Wish List Steve Barry tells you his top gifts to get a gamer this Holiday Season, and where to find them!

It’s been official for at least a decade, ladies and gentlemen, gaming is very much mainstream and may very well take up an awful lot of your Christmas shopping. So here’s some ideas for gifts for those special gamers in your life!

A new game, duh!

But what if you’re not quite skilled or patient enough to craft each intricate piece of armour in painstaking detail but still want to outfit yourself like your favourite protagonist, or antagonist, for that matter? Well many stores online, some affiliated with publishers and others… not so much, will gladly oblige!

Websites like InsertCoin provide both video-game inspired creations, like hoodies and t-shirts, while also selling fantastic replicas of some of the more urban characters – in other words, if someone wants to get me Delsin’s Karma Hoodie, I will not say no!

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There is no better gift for the gamer in your life than a new game. You can shower them in memorabilia, fancyshmancy controllers and the like, but there is nothing they will get more time or enjoyment out of than a new game to add to their probably vast library. And, on top of that, there’ll be no shortage of games to choose from, even if you’re one of those people that waits until the very last minute to get caught in that awful queue in GameStop in the middle of a Christmas rush.

This Christmas will be especially kind to gamers of all descriptions. Got a friend who still wants to catch every Pokémon, despite the fact that they’re now in their twenties? Or maybe a partner that makes you incredibly nervous when they start discussing the extensive lore of a fantasy world? Or even a sibling that gets just a little too invested in his favourite football team’s matches and needs an outlet? Well this year, from Pokémon Omega Ruby to FIFA 15, there’s definitely something for everyone.

Game-themed clothing Everyone has their favourite video game character. Whether it’s Pikachu from Pokémon or Kaidan Alenko from Mass Effect, each of these characters have their own unique style and look, that many try to replicate in cosplay contests and forums around the world.

If you want to go straight to the source, you can visit places like BioWare’s merchandise store, where you will find the infamously hard to get N7 Replica Hoodie, while, if you’re more of a historian, UbiWorkShop provides clothing inspired by the various assassins from Assassin’s Creed.

Funko Pop Vinyls

innumerable variants to choose from and each line has at least six figures to really scratch that collector itch. I won’t lie, I’m seriously hoping to find some of these under the tree or filling my stocking in a month’s time.

Plushies! All of the Plushies!

Plus, many of the figures have

We all have heard those whiny 12-yearolds shout through our TV screens while being dominated in a match in Call of Duty, screaming that we’re crap and are bringing down the team, and will probably cry to our mothers despite the fact that we’re in our early twenties.

No? Just me? Yikes.

Anyway, how would you like to hear those cries in 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound and be able to shout back through a microphone so crystal clear and sensitive that it will probably irreparably damage those kids’ eardrums for many years to come?

If you have a younger sibling, child or even a significant other who might not get as much enjoyment out of a static figure than a squeezable, cuddly toy, the games industry is no stranger to mass producing a seriously frightening amount of plush toys for their raving fans.

While some franchises may be more suited to having soft versions of their title characters than others, that has not stopped the likes of Ubisoft bring out huggable, yet deadly murderers from their Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Now these are one of the best options on this list in my opinion. Funko is a company that had humble beginnings, as the creator of a fast food chain’s signature bobble-head, but have since experienced hugely rapid growth!

Today, they create numerous licensed vinyl toy figures, having partnered with game developers including BioWare, PopCap, Blizzard, Bungie and, more recently, RockSteady, to create a line based around the fantastic Batman Arkham series. Some of Funko’s creations include a huge Deathwing from World of Warcraft, a selection of Spartan Warriors and, of course, Master Chief from Halo, as well as my personal favourite, Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet – he’s just much too adorable!

A shiny new headset

In terms of options for the younger generations, since the series’ conception there has been an infinite amount of Pokémon plushies and, with over 700 of the little critters to choose from, you’re bound to find the most adorable one for your little one to snuggle with at bedtime.

Sites like PokéVault are probably your best option if you’re looking for something specific, as they import their toys directly from the Pokémon Centre stores in Japan, which I will assume are wondrous places that I would love to visit because, God, do I need a Jolteon to go with Umbreon and Espeon… and now I’m rambling. Oh! And if you love Portal as much as the world, I’m sure you’ll find a lovable, cuddly Companion Cube that you won’t be forced to throw into a furnace. Sorry, spoilers.

If that sounds like a plan to you, then the market is full of options to choose from, having varying levels of quality and purpose, as well as very variable price tags. The market leaders in the headset business are Triton, Turtle Beach and Astro. Each provide a number of entry level headsets, such as Triton’s Kama and Turtle Beach’s P4c and XLA, but then you see the big dogs like Astro’s A50 and Turtle Beach’s XO Seven, which both clock in above €200. Just remember, with headsets, the saying ‘You get what you pay for’ has never been more true!

A customised controller We all know what the bog-standard controllers for each console look like by now. We know the blocky, largeand-in charge Xbox One controller and the light boomerang-like controller for the PS4, both mostly found in a fairly dull black. Sure, there are a couple of different colours for the PS4 and the Xbox One has some nice themed controllers for games such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Titanfall, but if those don’t suit your tastes, then you’re not left with many options… Or are you?

What if I told you that there are a number of websites that will let you design your own controllers, offering you choices like the colour of the controller’s outer shell, splatter designs, graphics and maybe even the option to mod your controller to give you the upper hand. A couple of sites that I have come across are The Controller Shop and Evil Controller, with The Controller Shop giving more options

13 but Evil Controller being the more affordable. A custom controller could make a fine unique gift this holiday.

An Unreal Engine 4 License Now, this mightn’t be the gift for some, but it may be a life-changing gift for others. Many would-be game developers toil away on basic integrated development environments and applications, most of which are based in Java, trying to create their first game that will give them a foot in the door to enter the wider games industry. But sometimes Flash graphics and complex Java code don’t cut it, especially not nowadays when we see indie games like No Man’s Sky pop up from relatively small teams.

So why not give the ambitious developer in your life a license key to the newest, biggest and greatest development kit available to the public? Unreal Engine 4, or UE4, provides unparalleled power and is a complete suite of game development tools, made by game developers, for game developers.

In a world where underdogs may just be rising up to overtake the hardened veterans in terms of public approval, you could be giving someone the chance to finally fulfil their dreams, whether they start out with a small-scaled 2D

mobile game, or move towards creating a console blockbuster of their own!

A handheld for those quiet moments oncampus!

I’m sure most of us remember the old days, when we used sit around playing our clear, green or purple GameBoys, instead of engaging in physical activities outside, resulting in, most likely, pale complexions and possibly scrawny physiques. Again, this list is getting a little too anecdotal for my tastes.

Either way, handhelds have advanced just as quickly as their big-brother consoles and have the power to pack a punch as well. The two that are currently fuelling the market are the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita but if you were to get either, a 3DS is a safe choice. With games like Super Mario, Pokémon and Super Smash Bros., as well as a healthy selection of upcoming titles releasing in the years to come (I’m looking at you Majora’s Mask remake), a console that you could pick up for just a tad over €100 could provide fun for many years to come. That is until Nintendo inevitably release another slightly different iteration making you feel incredibly inadequate and in need of the shinier, better system. But that’ll never happen…

A vintage console to make the nostalgia surface!

the prices begin to skyrocket. Just be prepared to blow into cartridges if you decide to buy one… that’s something no one is nostalgic for.

And if all else fails… a gift card

It’s definitely strange that gamers are finally getting to the age that we can be nostalgic for the old consoles like the original PlayStation, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Mega Drive. Even thinking of those mostly light grey machines sparks a flame of reminiscence in me, reminding me of the countless hours I spent on the very first iterations of Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot.

There is still a fairly thriving market for the older consoles today and they are not at all price prohibitive, with some older consoles still available in some sole trading retail stores. For somewhere close to home for a lot of us, Games Mania on North Main Street sell a variety of older consoles and games, such as the ones mentioned above, as well as the Nintendo 64 and others. Plus, games are not difficult to find online and it is only when you look for games that would be in mint condition that

So it’s Christmas Eve, shops are closing and you are without a gift. At this point, you don’t have the time or opportunity for careful planning or thoughtful choices. So why not let your loved one make the choice themselves? GameStop, Steam, PSN, Xbox Live and Battle.net all have various gift vouchers and cards available to let you kind of give money as a Christmas gift, but not really. No, I’m not judging. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Everyone procrastinates.

Most people don’t run into a shop just as they’re closing looking for a PS4. I’m not bitter. Shhhhhh….

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Christmas Couture: The Christmas Jumper Daisy Pemble explores the ins and outs of the year’s most forgiving fashion season.

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id-November promises shorter days, longer nights and people generally looking more rosy-cheeked than usual. Yes, Christmas is just around the corner and with that brings the return of the Christmas jumper. For some, it is a curse, forced to don a giant knitted monstrosity with endless pompoms, tinsel and even fairy lights adorning it.

For others, the thought of this garment becoming acceptable to wear in public is an opportunity to really have some fun with trends at Christmas.

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If you think about it, what other time of the year allows you to proudly walk around looking like you’re still wearing your favourite fluffy pyjamas or meant to be a part of a Christmas pantomime?

This is the only chance we get each year to be gloriously apathetic about the opinion of others as everyone is walking around looking like a Christmas tree, an elf or just proudly sporting an array of flashing Christmas lights.

The other wonderful thing about this particular fashion statement is that it’s not just restricted to our use! Oh no; go

“Nothing makes me smile more this time of year than seeing everyone wrapped up nice and warm in a jumper that would otherwise be shunned from such a chic society” into any department store today and I can guarantee you will find a plethora of Christmas jumpers for dogs and cats as well. This epitomises the spirit of Christmas – showing how we should all be able to bask in the glory of our own giddiness around the festive season, and that includes our pets.

Nothing makes me smile more this

time of year than seeing everyone wrapped up nice and warm in a jumper that would otherwise be shunned from such a chic society.

So if you haven’t started wearing your Christmas jumper yet, go and put it on tomorrow! And if you don’t own one,

go out and buy one!

Don’t worry; no one will think you’re unfashionable – in fact you will inspire others to do the same. If nothing else, this is the only time of year when it pays to value comfort over style, and no one can resist a warm jumper.

The evolution of the skirt Martha Brennan recollects the history of one of our favourite fashion staples “Nothing is more elegant than a simple black skirt.”

– Christian Dior Skirts. They can be skimpy or sensible, casual or formal, business-like or… not so business-like. Following us through every season, whether paired with woolly tights or a bronzed glow; they can flow, they can pinch, they can show… a lot. These little infamous pieces of fabric are staples of all of our wardrobes and, even though, Dior may feel like the innovators of our time, the skirt has been around forever.

From Marilyn to Diana to Gaga, these iconic items don’t seem to be ‘flowing’ out of fashion anytime soon.

In fact the skirt is the second oldest garment known to mankind; it was even slang for a ‘woman’ in the 1800s.

We’ve all admired those long elegant gowns in Titanic and Downton Abbey.

Valerie Steel, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, points out how, as well as accentuating the waist, the skirt of the 18th/ 19th century was worn “as a matter of modesty and prestige.” This elegant style can still be seen today, in wedding dresses mostly.

Fast-forward to around 1920 and, oh, would Marie Antoinette be shocked with us now!? It was around this time that hemlines left the floor for good.

Skirts became short, then long, then shorter again.

The ‘20s brought into existence the sexy chic flapper girl style, followed by the emergence of the ‘Midi’ in the 1930s (because of a lack of fabric production).

The ‘40s and ‘50s saw the return of the hourglass shape; skirts were fuller, longer and tea lengths graced the streets of the upper class.

But all of this was nothing compared to the fashion revolution that was the sixties. It was during this time that the

miniskirts gracing College Road every Thursday night were invented, and they were fashioned by our grandmothers.

The life of the skirt began to really kick off, bringing not only the mini but the A-line, then the pencil skirt. It wasn’t until the late ‘70s and ‘80s that our hemlines graced the floor once more as maxis came back into style (without the bustier of course).

Since the fashion revolution of the ‘60s, we have seen many styles of skirt come and go. We’ve had neon and fur, the high low, overalls matching our leg warmers and, let’s not forget, the denim of our nineties childhoods.

Yet, as much as things change, they stay the same, with trends reappearing again and again. Wander into any high street store today and you’ll see maxis

standing side by side with skaters, and pencils aligned with mesh tutus. From daring to darling, the history of the skirt has seen it all and designers bring back trends over and over.

So dig out that old tartan from the back of your wardrobe and forget the guilt sitting on your shoulder as you pick up that new skirt in town; chances are, in years to come, you could be one of the most fashionable people around.

(Again).

What is Fashion?

Fashion Editor, Nicole Clinton, explores her specialised subject. clerical work, to the rough armed forces. In the world of professions, it is utilised as a visual representation of status or role. Whether a given business insists on uniform or a more lenient dress code, their choice is based on what they want to communicate about their company through the influential medium of fashion.

Fashion is invested with a host of intellectual properties, for which it rarely receives credit. It is an art due to its eminence as an aesthetically dynamic, visual instrument. It is a science because of the specialist skill it takes to successfully experiment with its elements.

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he Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of the word fashion – “a popular trend; producing and marketing styles of clothing, etc.” – only barely verges on the true meaning and potential of fashion. While it often finds itself unjustly dismissed as a subject of frivolity, this is a grave misconception.

Fashion’s function is, in fact, so complex that it is rooted in paradox as it operates on the basis of the amalgamation of opposites. Its effects can mirror the cathartic power of any good piece of art, ranging from awe to tragedy to comedy. It performs as a reputable tool for the sociological study of any given era, race or gender and also acts as both a physical manifestation and stimulus of psychological feelings.

Fashion is a soldier of great valour, honoured with the task of executing its duties in opposing territories.

It possesses the ability to serve contradictory purposes through its paradoxical functions. For example, fashion is a means through which one may stand out from the crowd by exemplifying a unique sense of style.

But it is also a method of fitting in if one chooses to dress similarly to others.

For individuals who yearn for acceptance and approval, fashion can offer a sense of belonging. For those who do not wish to be seen, fashion can be camouflage from the eyes of the world. However, for others, who view style as creative expression, fashion can be a means of transmitting their skill, embodying their personality and attracting coveted attention.

“Fashion is an industry of necessity and of luxury” Fashion is reality because of its primary role to clothe you. But it is also fantasy due to its capacity to act as an artistic medium for exhibitions of the imagination, just like paint or words.

Fashion’s ambidexterity stems either from an elusive, fleeting nature that makes it incapable of deciding where its allegiances lie; from a tyrannical soul that intends to make us slaves to its limitless power, or from a heroic sense of duty to serve divergent realms.

Fashion is an industry of necessity and of luxury. Consumers require clothes for civilised existence and the fashion

business meets this need. But it is the industry’s wonderful exploitation of humanity’s tendency to fantasise about and aspire for a life better than its own that makes fashion a business of luxury.

Fashion is a trade based on the buying and vending of dreams through its creation and marketing of glamorous goods. The industry is not necessarily embedded in a cynical materialism as the consumer’s interaction with it does not solely revolve around the acquiring of objects. It is instead related to a more innocent idealism as the industry is simply responding to the consumer’s vision of a certain lifestyle or self-image that they long to saturate themselves with, in the hope that it may enhance their mundane life.

There are a multitude of positive things that improve our lives, which we cannot purchase, but rather have to wait for fortune to award us with. But while we wait, fashion offers us the opportunity to mould the life and image that we visualise for ourselves.

However fashion is not just its own industry but also feeds into every other, from the more obviously stylish movie and music businesses, to ordinary

Fashion carries social and psychological weight. It can be employed as a historical device for the exploration of society’s preoccupations during a particular era.

Fashion trends act as a sign of the times and a visual depiction of a period in history. One may recognise the decade or century that an event occurred in by glimpsing the clothes that the people are wearing.

Fashion is also a cultural and religious indicator as different corners of the globe and the beliefs of its citizens may be deciphered by observing their dress sense. It plays a vital role in patriotism and national identity, arising from tradition and designated colour combinations. Fashion is the decisive marker of gender, whether it is an embodiment of masculinity, femininity or an ambiguous androgyny. Fashion harnesses psychological power in the way that it can personify or induce a certain state of mind through colour or style association.

Fashion is a philosophical phenomenon, whose qualities can be utilised by everyone, everywhere, all the time. It is a universal force whose omnipotence should not be ignored as it lurks in even the most unsuspecting places. It is the art of everyday life that we are constantly creating or viewing. It is so much more than a ‘popular trend’; fashion is a triumph.

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