University Express Vol. 22 Issue 3 by University Express

University Volume 22 | Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018

ENTS Express UCCExpress.ie

Irish universities launch ‘Save Our Spark’ campaign

to protect Ireland’s third level education system

student in Ireland (€5,000) is just campaign in order to raise awareness

Cailean Coffey, Editor-in-Chief half of the same funding ten years of the crisis and encourage members

n Monday 15th October, the seven universities of Ireland (Trinity, UCD, DCU, UCC, NUIG, UL and NUI Maynooth) launched a major campaign aimed at encouraging the public to demand the Government tackles the funding crisis in third level education. The Government's funding per third level

ago, and is only a fraction of the amount paid by other Governments in similar-sized European Countries. Despite a small increase in the Budget 2019, it’s unlikely to address the major gap in funding.

of the public to sign a petition urging local TD’s and Senators to act. This campaign follows two years of inaction from the Government after the publication of the Cassells Report.

Protest Disruption raises Security Questions

Brockhampton Hit the Hot 100

Dr.Who’s Latest Incarnation Reviewed

three possible ways the state could fund the higher-education sector. The options proposed included the abolition of the student contribution and the creation of a primarily statefunded system, the continuation of the current student contribution charge coupled with increased state investment and the introduction of an income-contingent loan system. In two of the three options, state funding would increase to about 80% of the sector. The loan system would increase state funding to 55-60%. The report also outlined the expected cost of each option to the state. It was estimated that a predominantly statefunded system would cost an addition €1.3 billion per year by 2030, the state-funding combined with the student contribution fee would cost €1 billion per year by 2030 and the loan scheme was estimated to cost the state between €1,307 million and €1,1157 million. A series of adverts are set to run on both national and regional radio stations, while also appearing on train and bus services across Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Galway, as well as on the Dart. A video, specially created to highlight the crisis, will also be promoted across sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Speaking about the campaign, Jim Miley,

The Cassells Report, an independent Given the lack of state action, the report into higher education funding, Irish Universities Association (IUA) conducted by a group chaired by Peter Continued on page 5 has developed the Save Our Spark Cassells, published in 2016, proposed

Page 3 News

Page 9 Features

Page 19 Byline

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UCC Men’s Hockey Club Report

Page 37 Sport

Editorial

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

I’m Taking Time Out

In This Issue....

Cailean Coffey, Editor-in-Chief

Coveney on Brexit

Keeping up with your SU

Tony Duffin & Drug Harm Reduction

Brockhampton; New on the Block

The 6 Humans of Twitter

The Value of Reason

Redefining Beauty in Fashion

Life and Work of Freud & Jung

Sexpress

An bhfuil an ceart ag Khabib?

Sexism in Sport

Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief Cailean Coffey (Editor@UCCExpress.ie) News Editor Ciaran Dineen(News@UCCExpress.ie) Designer Holly McGrath (Design@UCCExpress.ie) Features Editor Fergal Smiddy (Features@UCCExpress.ie) Sports Editor Declan Gleeson (Sport@UCCExpress.ie) Opinion Editor Samantha Calthrop (Opinion@UCCExpress.ie) Eagarthóir Gaeilge James McAuliffe (Gaeilge@UCCExpress.ie) Online Editor Fiona Keeley (Online@UCCExpress.ie) Marketing Executive Robert O’Sullivan (Marketing@UCCExpress.ie) Webmaster Michael Forde (Webmaster@UCCExpress.ie) Photographers Célem Deegan, Eve Harrington, James Kells, Ben Kavanagh (Photographers@uccexpress.ie) Staﬀ Writers: Sinead O’Sullivan; Tara Leigh-Matthews James MacSweeney; Lauren McDonnell Byline Editor Ciara Dinneen (Byline@UCCExpress.ie) Fiction Editor Laura Riordan (Fiction@UCCExpress.ie) Humour Editor Callum Casey (Humour@UCCExpress.ie) Arts & Literature Editor Éadaoin Regan (Arts@UCCExpress.ie) Gaming Editor Cian McGrath (Gaming @UCCExpress.ie) Music Editor Caoimhe Coleman (Music@UCCExpress.ie) Film & Television Editor Joesph Cunningham (Screen@UCCExpress.ie ) Sexpress Editor Rían Browne (Sexpress@uccexpress.ie)

ell Autumn has most certainly arrived, and with it brought rain, clouds and the inevitable reminder that I am very quickly running out of time. I have assignments due pretty much every week from now until December, which is a lot of work in itself, and then if you include my final year project, which as all final years know is a full time job in itself, and editing this paper you’ve got one very stressed out individual. How am I dealing with my ever-increasing workload,

while also attempting to maintain the vague resemblance of a social life I have intact? By playing Fortnite. Living in a house full of fellow of students, the living room is very much the heart of the experience, and in it sit an old, often forgotten Playstation 4. Well, oft forgotten until this year. Pretty much as soon as we all started gathering back in the house for the start of the semester, one of my housemates recommended that I download Fortnite, the ever-popular free online game. Within a night I was hooked, but the problem is it’s not just me. Now it’s the whole house. It’s come to the point where the game is so popular, among housemates and their guests, that I can hardly get a game in, nevermind sit down and relax for an hour long session of my character dying continually and failing to crack the top 25. When I do however get a chance, it really helps to unwind and forget everything going on in the world around me, making me concentrate on one insignificant thing at a time. The game has also helped bring a bit of life to the house, when a lot of us need it the most, what with assignments and midterms coming up. Everytime you set foot in the house you can hear people shouting and laughing from the sitting room, mocking each other about their inability to aim an imaginary gun at an imaginary person. I’ve probably seen more of a lot of my housemates this year compared to last thanks to the game, which was an effect I never would have even considered possible, but there you go. Technology really does have the power to bring people together, be it through Skype, E-mails, messenger or even imaginary kills on “The Island”. Enough about me however, welcome to the third edition of this years University Express. In this issue, we look into the issue of security for societies events on campus, an interview with Tony Duffin, the CEO of the Ana Liffey Drug Project, about safe drug use and an investigation into the continuing disparity between male and female sports. Enjoy, and if you have an questions or issues, please feel free to email me at editor@uccexpress.ie! editor@uccexpress.ie

Time for some Proper 12? Ciaran Dineen, News Editor

he weeks are already flying by, well they are for me anyway. There has been plenty of drama in UCC over the last couple of weeks and it’s been stressful to say the least. I also realised while writing this editorial that I have three assignments and one in-class test coming up soon within the space of one week. That has led me to question whether it is a good time to try some of Conor McGregor’s new whisky, Proper 12, aptlynamed in reference to the postcode of his native Crumlin in Dublin. In recent weeks, the inevitability that is ‘work placement’ has hit home, and hit hard at that! It’s time to apply for jobs and prepare for interviews. I’m someone who has always felt comfortable in job interviews, in fact I had to do a pretty good one to be here right now talking to you. However, I do struggle in paying homage to myself and the thought of writing out a big long paragraph describing why “I’m the employee for you,” makes my skin crawl. Perhaps, instead, I need to talk to other people, close friends and family maybe and hear what good things they have to say about me. Sometimes we can be so judgemental looking into the mirror, horrified by what faces us in return. It’s a good attribute to be humble but we’ve got to stop criticising ourselves and putting us down, or else we create a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’ve mentioned Professor Jordan Peterson in this edition of the Express and his first rule for life is to “stand up straight with your shoulders back.” I think we can all do that a little more. Be proud of who you are and don’t take any crap from anyone (remember what they said in Cool Runnings?). Begin everyday like you should, afresh and embolden the people around you to do the same. I hope this latest edition finds you all well and look forward to hearing your responses as always. news@uccexpress.ie #uccexpress

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

News

be prepared for such incidents before it is too late, for the consequences could prove fatal. While this does not suggest that the two CYM protestors previously mentioned were ready for violence, who knows what could have happened had the situation escalated further.

Comment: Questions Surround Security Following Protest Disruption Ciaran Dineen, News Editor

nquiries have been made to various departments in UCC following a confrontation at a Young Fine Gael (YFG) society event involving An Tánaiste, Simon Coveney and two Connolly Youth Movement (CYM) protestors. The incident occurred on October 1st in the West Wing building where the meeting, which was due to be a talk on Brexit, took place. To briefly summarise, when Mr Coveney entered the building he was immediately confronted by two men in the audience, who verbally attacked the Tánaiste directly over his own personal role, along with his party’s contribution to, the housing and homeless crisis. According to sources at the event, it wasn’t the arguments that the two CYM protestors made that offended people, but the way they used bad language and directed personal insults against Mr Coveney. This exact sentiment was held by UCC YFG Chairperson, Danielle Gayson, who said. “Every point that they [the protestors] made was valid. They had their reasons, they had their research, we are more than happy

to create an open dialogue with that in the future. However we [YFG UCC] were disappointed because we felt that there is a time and a place for these things and it took the light away from the Brexit discussion, which was the topic on the night”. While both protestors left of their own accord, it later emerged that two security staff had been called to the West Wing during the incident. Security had been informed that the Tánaiste was on-site before the event, but they were then contacted by a member of the YFG committee as the confrontation ensued. Speaking about the incident and what actions would be taken in the future, Danielle Gayson said, “We don’t want to limit anyone’s freedom of speech in these types of discussions so [in future] we would just try to chair it in a way where there would be respect throughout the debate. We don’t want our guests to feel put out and we feel that they should be able to respond with their own evidence and statistics”. While the YFG Chairperson has clearly taken a magnanimous stance on the incident, questions still remain about future events of this nature. While there perhaps isn’t as much

polarisation within Irish society in relation to socio-political issues, we can see that violent protests in the US are at an all-time high. For many people (young people in particular), there has been a sentiment that questions why should someone’s freedom of speech trump someone’s right not to be offended? In response to such a statement, conservative speaker and clinical psychologist, Professor Jordan Peterson, said, “in order to be able to think you have to risk being offensive”. However, such a response has fallen on deaf ears to a particular part of society, who simply do not want to engage in any form of discussion. As a result, we have witnessed some very violent and threatening protests towards speakers such as the aforementioned Peterson, and Ben Shapiro on college campuses, while in the UK, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has also faced threatening protestors at a debate. Although here in Ireland we have not reached the same level of reaction, it is not incomprehensible to see it emerging in the future. Therefore, the well-being of students may be called into question, on all sides of the debate. Irish Universities must

Following this incident, the University Express has reached out to various UCC bodies to seek some clarification in relation to security at events and the consequences of any violent or threatening behaviour from students directed at guest speakers or fellow students. Last week President of UCC Societies, James Boyle, responded to our enquiries by saying: “We’ll always encourage debate especially amongst our political, activism and debating societies as we believe it is the best way to generate discussion which is one of the big aims of societies on campus. With that said we do not condone some of the language used by some of the students who interrupted the talk. Decorum is a big part of debate which we always emphasise as important and something that we will continue to emphasise as important moving forward. A meeting has been arranged to review the situation and its possible implications for future events and we won't have any further details until that meeting takes place.” Student Union President, Alan Hayes, in response to the incident noted, “I felt that UCC Societies handled the situation excellently and that the situation diffused quickly enough. In terms of going forward we need to ensure that we can provide adequate forms of security for high profile events to protect all students and invited guests.” While both statements would suggest that UCC is taking the incident seriously, it would seem that current questions raised regarding security are unable to be answered at this time. With further events of this nature plans by both UCC societies and departments, time will tell what lessons UCC have learned in regard to security over the past few weeks.◣

News

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Ciaran Dineen, News Editor

n Monday 1st October, An Tánaiste Simon Coveney TD attended an event in UCC organised by the UCC Young Fine Gael society. On the night the Cork South-Central representative spoke about a range of topics including: Brexit and Housing. The University Express had exclusive access to the meeting and were able to gather an insight into the Brexit negotiations in particular. On Brexit: “Britain is our closest neighbour and should be our closest friend too.” That was one of several key messages made by the Tánaiste when he visited UCC a few weeks ago. Over the past two years, a day has not gone by on these shores without Brexit being mentioned. It could potentially be one of the most damaging political decisions taken in history for this country, despite the fact that we had no involvement in its outcome. Fortunately it seems that we are

coming to an end in negotiations both between Ireland and the UK, along with the EU and UK. According to Mr Coveney, 90% of all talks have been completed and it is expected that a final deal will be ready by the end of November. The major stumbling block remaining is the ‘backstop’ agreement, without which everything else such as citizen’s rights, the UK divorce bill and the transition period, will fall through. The Tánaiste expects that this crucial part of the negotiations will cause a lot of “political bluff” to be said on both sides of the Irish Sea over the next fortnight or so. However, he remains confident that his position and the Irish government’s position will remain respected in the weeks to come. “My job is to hold our nerve, to ensure that what has been committed to Ireland already around the Good Friday Agreement and around the border is followed through on and that the Prime Minister keeps her word,” Coveney

explains. The proposed backstop would see the UK align themselves with the rules of the Customs Union and Single Market in order to avoid disrupting trade north and south of the Irish border. According to the Tánaiste, €70 billion in trade is transported across the sea every year to Britain and therefore maintaining as close a relationship as possible is very important. In an interesting revelation Mr Coveney also mentioned how the Irish government have somewhat ignored a lot of speculation that has emerged from Westminster in recent times. “The messaging you hear from Britain changes all the time. So we have decided now for some time to ignore most of the commentary that comes from Westminster and concentrate on the commentary that comes out of No. 10. We are not negotiating with Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg. It is the Prime Minister’s decisions that we insist on following through on.” Another big statement made by the

Carrigaline TD was the reiteration that the government will in no way accept any deal which involves the reintroduction of border infrastructure in Ireland. “It is not going to happen, we are not going to do it. Some people think we are going to lose our nerve and Ireland will be pressurised into a compromise but we will not, you can quote me on that.” However, should things turn sour and a backstop agreement can’t be agreed upon, potentially resulting in a ‘no deal’ scenario, then there may be a stand-off between Ireland and the EU on the border issue. At a meeting with Donald Tusk on 4th of October last, Leo Varadkar said that if there was no backstop there would be “nothing”, to which Tusk replied, albeit with some tongue in cheek, “the Taoiseach is optimistic.” When the University Express personally asked the Tánaiste about whether Irish civil servants were preparing for a possible ‘no deal’ outcome he replied by saying, “we have been contingency planning for

Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Simon Coveney: “We Will Never Facilitate Border Infrastructure in Ireland”

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express over a year now but in truth we’ve only really started talking about it since June. The reason for that is that you don’t talk up preparations for an outcome that you’re trying to avoid because you potentially create a self-fulfilling prophecy then. We do not have contingency plans for border infrastructure because we will not accept it but we are pressing ahead with more border checks, as in custom checks and food related checks. For any further no deal contingency plans, there would have to be some negotiations with the EU. But look, if there is a no deal then planes can’t even take off from the UK because their safety certifications come from the EU, it’s as fundamental as that”. On Housing: At the beginning of the talk Mr Coveney was confronted by protestors, who attacked the Tánaiste and his government for their response to the housing and homeless crisis. Coveney responded, passionately defending the work of his party but did acknowledged that levels of homelessness, and those who live in temporary accommodation, is not acceptable. “It is not ok and we are changing it. We are spending tens of millions of euro to change it. We have successfully taken families out of hotels, 2000 in the last twelve months. I know I am here to talk about Brexit but I am happy to defend what we are doing on housing. This is a five-year plan on housing and homelessness and it can’t be judged within 18 months,

Cover Story continued... Director General of the IUA, said “If the higher education crisis is not addressed by Government urgently, then we risk a serious drop in quality or a shortfall in places for students in the future. For the first time ever, all seven Irish universities are coming together to demand urgent action on the funding crisis, as we need substantial investment to accommodate the extra students that are expected to enter the system over the next decade. Our universities are where the Irish spark burns brightest and the key to protecting that spark

News

like some people are judging it.” The Tánaiste, who was Minister for Housing from May 2016 to June 2017, went on to explain that Ireland was destined for a housing crisis due to a “fundamentally broken housing market.” He went on to explain, “we went from building 90,000 units a year, which was crazy! That’s nearly as many as the entirety of the UK. We went down to 5,000 units a year but we are getting back to higher numbers now. Two years ago we built 12,000, last year 14,500, this year will be over 20,000, next year over 25,000 and the year after comfortably over 30,000 units which is where we need to be. In the meantime, we will dramatically increase the amount of social housing and also refurbish vacant properties, but these things don’t happen overnight.” The reason that Mr Coveney gave for the shortage of housing was clear. “We were essentially building no social housing for about eight years because this country had no money. We were relying on emergency finance which didn’t allow us to spend on capital expenditure, not roads, not housing, not hospitals. But as soon as this country was able to make its own choices financially we started building houses again. However, I can understand the anger that it has brought. I can understand why someone would want to come into me today and give out to me about it, fair enough. But what I won’t allow is to let the truth be twisted.”◣ is securing better state funding. The Government simply can’t continue to ignore this crisis”. The Irish University Association is the representative body for all seven of Ireland's third level institutions. The association’s council is made up of the provost and presidents of these seven universities. The presidency of the association rotates annually between members of the council, with UCC President, Patrick O’Shea, currently presiding in the role. ◣ For more information regarding the ‘Save Our Sparks’ campaign, please visit the Save Our Spark website at www.saveoursparks.ie.

Keeping Up With Your S.U. - Q&A Here it is folks, what SU election candidates have been saying in their manifestos for years, a monthly SU Q&A in the Express. This year we are really focusing on transparency and an open door policy and what better way to kill two birds with one stone than to have a monthly Q&A. As this was our first, our questions came through the means of the lovely ‘ask me a question’ feature on instagram stories. When are the student councils? Starting off simple, our first student council will be on October 24th with a room yet to be confirmed but if you follow our Student Council facebook page we will be posting more details for each council as they come up. Which officer REALLY has the STI from the 1 in 6? I’m not one for revealing secrets, but whichever officer it is (Dave) should know that there is nothing to be ashamed of, if you think you have an STI just go get tested in student health for free and get the treatment you need. How was Plastic Free Week and what effects will it have on the larger greener efforts of the university? Plastic Free Week was certainly difficult because plastic is everywhere, but it wasn’t impossible. Lush was a lifesaver and there was a severe lack of crisps in all of our lives for the week but we still survived. In terms of the wider impact, we have now started a petition to get UCC to pledge to go plastic free and after showing through our own experience that it’s possible to go plastic free we hope this will have a positive impact on the outcome of the petition. Is Docklands happening?/Are you doing something like docklands this year?/What’s the story with docklands?/When is docklands? If anything has come from this Q&A session it’s that we know everyone wants to know about Docklands and whether or not it’s happening. Dave was working hard all summer to have another Docklands but unfortunately as Oktoberfest Beag never got their license all of his work went to waste. He’s now working on trying to get something else in place but there’s nothing finalised yet, just keep an eye on our social media and we’ll keep you updated. That’s it from us for this week, if you have anything that you want to hear about for next month you can email me at deputy@uccsu.ie or follow us on instagram @uccsu and watch out for our next question time. Until then, your Deputy President & Campaigns Officer, Kelly. ◣

Features

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

“Just Say No” just doesn’t work.

Photo: Tony Dyffin, Ana Liffey Drug Project

An interview with Tony Duffin, CEO of the Ana Liffey Drug Project.

Fergal Smiddy, Features Editor are at in their drug use, and we keep abstinence. We’re in the streets with A&E, which are hugely expensive.

ony Duffin is the CEO of the Ana Liffey Drug Project, a Dublinbased non-profit organisation which advocates for a health-based, harmreductive approach to the issues of drug-use and drug policy in Ireland. First established in 1982, the Ana Liffey Drug Project offers services to people who use drugs in the Dublin, Mid-West and North-East regions of the country.

them as safe from the risks they’re taking as we can. For example, if somebody is an injecting drug user, we give them clean needles and we make sure that they’re safe. If someone is a recreational drug user who’s taking ecstasy at the weekend, we give them harm reduction advice to keep them safe. We always say – and it is true – that it is safer not to take drugs at all; but if people do decide to use, we talk to them and educate them.

How would you explain to the college demographic what the whole The ALDP seems to go above and idea of ‘harm reduction’ is? beyond in its efforts to reduce drugDuffin: The whole thrust of it is that related harm. What motivates you drug use is a health issue, and the and your team to fight so fiercely for response should be a health-based this cause? response. We know that the “just say no” messages of yesteryear just don’t Duffin: We’ve been around since work. People use drugs for different 1982. We were the first lowreasons. It can be an addiction threshold harm reduction service in issue, or it can be non-problematic. Ireland. We believe in the importance But nonetheless, it is always about of engaging with people. The best wanting to feel differently. We way to do that is to keep your entry neither promote nor denounce drug criteria as client-focused as possible. use as an activity. It is what it is. We never bar anyone entirely from We’re a harm reduction agency, we our services. It’s challenging work, deal with what’s put in front of us. it’s tough work, but it’s worth doing. It’s a compassionate and pragmatic We do see people moving on to response to people who use drugs. more stable choices in their lives, We work with people wherever they up to and including recovery and

people; we’re in their homes; we’re in the coffee shops meeting with them, because that’s where they are. It’s all about being creative and innovative with how we manage our relationships with people. What is your response to people who view things like supervised injection facilities and the distribution of hygienic drug paraphernalia as being too radical and somehow ‘enabling addicts’?

Duffin: People take drugs already. If there’s a fear that we’re going to have people taking drugs in the street, overdosing, dying and contracting HIV – that’s already happening. What we’ve done, for example: criminalising drug use – that hasn’t worked. I understand that some people still think that this is radical and enabling; but we’ve been around since 1982. it’s not new. It’s not radical. It is progressive. When I say ‘progressive’, I’m talking about drug policies that help people achieve their potential; policies that save lives and policies that save tax-payers’ money. Harm reduction policies save our money. We keep people away from ambulances and

The more we do – in terms of supervised injection facilities and hopefully decriminalising drugs for personal use in the near future in Ireland – we’ll see all of the negatives that we see out there today, in terms of having the highest ecstasy use in Europe per capita; having one of the highest overdose rates in Europe; having HIV rates that need to be managed and reduced; all of these things can be helped if we deliver more progressive drug policies. If you look back at 1977, forty-one years ago when we criminalised drug-use, we now have more drugs; we now have more people using drugs; they’re more toxic; they’re cheap, and we’ve got more harm in our communities. So, it wasn’t the right policy approach to drug-use. From a young age, we are taught to villainise those affected by drug addiction. We are led to believe that these people are somehow evil and sub-human. What caused you to be so staunchly opposed to these ideas? Duffin: We definitely have stigmatised people who take drugs, and we have to change the way we think and talk about them. In

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express [An abstinence-based approach] just doesn’t resonate with people who use drugs. The “Just Say No” campaigns just don’t work. What does work is talking to people about their drug-use in a mature way. I have worked with people who have ended up saying “You know what? I’m not going to do this”; and that’s a great outcome, right? Equally, they might say “I’ll take the harm reduction advice and I will keep myself as safe as possible”; and that can save people's lives. I know you’ve got the posters on your campus from the other perspective, but I’ve got one in front of me right now that says “Do you use cocaine? It is always safest not to use drugs” and then goes on to list how best to keep yourself safe. That [poster] was made between Ana Liffey and the HSE. It is a well-established, evidence-based approach to keeping people alive and well. All I want is for people to be safe, to live and Recently, posters have appeared to go on and enjoy their lives. That around our college campus which might not necessarily include drugs, state “Drugs: Zero Tolerance – Don’t it may or may not; but our job is just Ruin Your Student Experience”. What to keep people as safe as possible. ◣ are your thoughts on this abstinencebased approach to drug use? Find out more about the Ana Liffey Portugal, they found that after ten to fifteen years of decriminalisation, people no longer viewed [people who use drugs] as criminals. They viewed them as being people who needed help and support. When drug use is criminalised, it leads to people being viewed in a stigmatised way. People use the work ‘junkie’ towards people I know and work with. It’s very disturbing and upsetting to people who have very serious health problems. You wouldn’t find any other group of people with serious health problems being spoken of in the same way. People talk about people ‘doing it to themselves’. The people I know who are addicted to drugs – they’re often people who were traumatised when they were young. They may have been sexually or physically abused. Even if someone takes drugs and doesn’t have such a problem, it’s still a health issue. The risks that they take are a health issue.

Photos: Ana Liffey Drug Project

Duffin: I think that the more mature thing to say to somebody would be that it’s safer not to use drugs. There are risks associated with drug-use. If you choose to take those risks, you may or may not have a problem.

Drug Project:

Website: www.aldp.ie Twitter: @AnaLiffey Facebook: Ana Liffey Drug Project

Features

Tony Duffin’s Harm Reduction Checklist

We asked Tony What measures can be taken by young people to ensure that they are safer from harm, if they or their friends choose to take drugs:

Number 1 – Know Your Source: Know where you’re getting your drugs from. You can never be sure of exactly what you’re buying because it’s an illicit market, but there is evidence to say that people are safer when they buy consistently from someone they’ve bought from before. We’re not encouraging that, it’s just harm reduction advice. Number 2 – Avoid using alone: It’s very important to stay together and mind your friends. Whether it’s alcohol or ecstasy or any drug that you might be taking: don’t leave your friends on their own. Be a good friend to them and look after them. And similarly, don’t use alone yourself. Number 3 – Start with a small test dose: Leave at least two hours between uses. You know, people may decide that they’re going to use an ecstasy pill, and we know that MDMA is stronger than it has been – ever. This means that there is more of an overdose risk. Break it in half, break it into quarters, see how it works on you and wait as long as possible. Be very careful around dosage. Because these drugs are illicit, no one can advise you on what is a safe dose. Number 4 – Use one drug at a time and never mix with alcohol: Poly-drug use is a major problem in Ireland – people mixing more than one drug and not understanding the interactions those drugs have, especially with alcohol. Alcohol is a drug and people should be aware that it can interact with cocaine for example, and create another drug within the body called Cocaethylene, which can be more harmful than either cocaine or alcohol alone. So, you’re putting yourself at further risk when you take more than one substance. Number 5 – Don’t share drug paraphernalia. People might associate that more with injecting; but if you’re using a straw or a tooter to snort cocaine and you pass it to somebody else, there may be blood in it – and you’re putting yourself at risk of contracting Hepatitis B or some other bloodborne virus. So, you need to be aware of indirect sharing as well. Number 6 – Carry condoms. People take drugs, they feel disinhibited, and sexual activity may be heightened. So, carry condoms with you and use them to protect yourself from any sexually transmitted diseases.

Features

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Mental Health: Stigmatised, Silenced, and

Unapologetically Ours

accounts of the young peoples’ for years and made lifelong friends Fergal Smiddy, Features Editor to record in advance. I folded shut experiences; maybe it was the slowthrough such teams, it was a scary my laptop and trudged my way

’m writing this on the morning of Thursday, the 11th of October. It’s early morning and, uncharacteristically of me, I’m just not in the mood to keep my eyes shut and engulf myself in the warm thickness of my heavy winter blankets. I’m uneasy and jittery and feel like there’s something inside of me that needs to come out. I’ve got something on my mind. I’ve got a lot of things on my mind.

downstairs, eager to shift the focus of my blue-light tired eyes to the somewhat less blinding screen of my telly. I sat myself down and reclined myself backwards, tracked down the recording and focused my full attention on the screen.

moving shots of the busy Cork streets I walk along almost every day; but something really got to me. In a very practical and geographical sense; as well as an emotional sense that cannot be so easily articulated, it just hit very close to home. I don’t know any of the subjects of the film personally, but I felt like I did. I felt like I’d met them a thousand times over, in pubs or at college events or in brief encounters that involved no more than a few words. Their personalities were all too familiar, and their stories far too alien.

The documentary was titled My Other Life: Ireland’s Youth and Their Mental Health, a collaborative project created chiefly by former CIT student Edvinas Maciulevicius. Last night, after a droning day of The film revolves around the typing and reading – a day any personal stories of a small group of college student will know too well young Irish people, each giving raw The story of Adam Finn, a UCC – had crawled its way to a weary testimonials of their own struggles student not much older than myself, end, I was struck by something I with mental illness. who had planned to take his own had forgotten. A documentary was I’ve seen many documentaries life and was saved by a matter of due to air that night at 10:30pm on about mental health. Big budget minutes, was something that I deeply RTE2, something which I had been productions with big names attached struggled to listen to. He had made informed about by my friends at to them – but never in my life have plans to lay out one of his old rugby the Express only a few weeks prior. I been so emotionally moved and kits on his bed as it was a memoir of It was about 11pm at the time, so I rocked to my core as I was by this a time when he felt true happiness, was late in my remembrance – but I little powerhouse of a film. Maybe it and he wished to be buried in it. As had fortunately set the documentary was the painfully raw and all-bearing someone who was involved in sports

lens through which to view the joyful memories I have of team sports. To think that someone who had shared so much of my own childhood happiness could now be left shrouded in such a dire entrapment of pure and utter blackness. To think that it could have been – and quite possibly was – someone who I grew up with myself. In a very different way, I was deeply moved by the words of Katie Quinlan, a former Welfare Officer of the UCC Students’ Union. She spoke about mental health and wellbeing in a way that was inspiringly practical and easy to grasp. In one particular section of the film, when talking about the changes in education and mental health policy that our country so desperately needs, she imagines an example of what a pragmatic class on mental health would entail: “We’re going to explain to every student in the classroom that every one of you has mental health, some of you will just struggle with it. Some of you will need professional help. Some of you will need medication; and some of you, from time to time, will just get a bit down.” I truly believe that this level of practicality when speaking and educating people on mental health is what is needed to inspire true change. As long as mental health is attached in any way to a sense of stigmatic shame in this country, our Irish ways will get the better of us, and our mouths will stay perpetually shut.

Katie Quinlan, who shares her story in My Other Life: Ireland’s Youth and Their Health, directed by Edvinas Maciulevicius

The documentary can be viewed on RTE player and I can’t overstate how worthy it is of your time. It’s an immensely powerful piece, and if nothing else, adds its own raw and deeply personal voice to a conversation that, despite its everincreasing volume, should never stop being turned up.◣

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Features

9 group’s future remained uncertain. This changed with the release of three singles in the summer of this year. ‘1999 Wildfire’, ‘1998 Truman’ and ‘1997 Diana’. These songs had the same hard-hitting sound of the ‘Saturation’- era Brockhampton, the sound which garnered them fame. New breakdowns at the end of Truman and Wildfire showcased Bearface’s true talent and proved his place as the group’s sixth performing member.

Brockhampton: Newest Kids on The Block David Brennan, Features Writer

nce upon a time, if you asked most people if they’d ever listened to Brockhampton, one would have received a response like “No. Who’s he?”but now, having recently released their long-awaited fourth studio album, ‘Iridescence’, the U.S. based hip-hop boyband are soon to become a household name, both in and out of the rap community. The album has already shot to No.1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 200 and the accompanying music videos like ‘Jouvert’ have, within a week, received over one million views. But where did this ragtag motley crew of diverse talents come from? Starting with their first album, ‘Saturation’, released in June of 2017, they set out to, well, saturate the LA rap scene with their sound. The group of 6 rapping members (supported by many non-musical members involved in production and other aspects) made waves with tracks like ‘Heat’ and ‘Gold’. Their heavily stylized, DIY music videos introducing the world to characters like Kevin Abstract - the closest thing the group has to a front man - and Merlyn Wood - the Ghanaborn wildcard rapping about wanting to be adopted by Beyoncé. August of the same year saw the release of their second album, ‘Saturation II’. They were gradually

beginning to gain peoples attention. Listeners got to know Matt Champion, Dom McLennon, Joba, Ameer Vann, and the aforementioned Kevin and Merlyn. They broke new grounds with their track ‘Junky’. In the song, Kevin Abstract speaks about being gay in the hip-hop community and the homophobia which still exists within it. This was another sign that Brockhampton offered something new, and further cemented their unique sound. Borrowing from many genres and taking influence from contemporaries like Tyler, The Creator and Kanye West, their fresh style won them a loyal fanbase. This fanbase didn’t have to wait long for a third album from the group as ‘Saturation III’ was released in December of 2017. By now, plenty of people knew who Brockhampton were, and hailed their newest album for songs like ‘Boogie’ and ‘Rental’. Their plan to refuse to be ignored by the community had worked and by releasing 3 studio albums in under a year, they had blasted into public consciousness. However, their time in the sun passed too quickly for the group, as their new fame seemed to have come with new problems. Soon after announcing their plans to release their fourth album, which

was to be titled “Puppy”, in 2018, allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced around member Ameer Vann. Vann was the face of all three of the group’s albums and was therefore the face of the collective. He was subsequently removed from the group in the midst of their tour, halting the band’s plans for the foreseeable future. In an announcement made at the time by the group, they claimed that they had been lied to by Ameer regarding his behaviour. The group also made the decision to push back the release date of “Puppy”. For several months, there was much uncertainty about the future of Brockhampton. The controversial change of lineup prompted many to believe they would not bounce back from their fall from grace, that they had flown too close to that proverbial sun. The renaming of Puppy to “The Best Years of our Lives” did little to dispel rumours of Brockhampton being over before they had begun. During an appearance on Jimmy Fallon, the group performed a new song, Tonya, with a new face, a Bearface, to be specific. Belfast born Bearface, originally a background member of Brockhampton, made his debut as a frontline member on the show. Despite the success of the show, many interpreted Bearface as being used as Ameer’s replacement. Still the

The songs were accompanied by yet another renaming of what was originally ‘Puppy’. ‘Iridescence’ was announced for September of 2018. The album, which was released on the 21st of last month, was highly anticipated as fans waited to hear what this new Brockhampton had in store. And boy, was it worth the wait. The album has blasted its way to the No.1 spot on Billboard, taking over Eminem’s ‘Kamikaze’, a very, “different” album to Brockhampton’s Abbey-Road born outing. But still the question remains; who exactly are Brockhampton, and where do they go from here? Brockhampton are the groundbreakers of modern hip-hop. While the old icons like Eminem crumble and the fresher faced Kanye seems to be selling his soul to Donald Trump and Lil Pump; Brockhampton are the group giving the long-silent a voice in the genre. The diversity of the group works in their favour, as it allows them to borrow from so many genres. This is most apparent when hearing what Bearface adds to the group. His grungy angst comes through in a more organic sound. Rather than the electric beats of the group’s DJs, Jabari Manwa and HK, Bearface brings a rockier sound with guitars and piano, and lyrics to boot his moody vibe. The whole group has something to say. Whether it’s Kevin pointing out the trials of being a gay man in hip-hop, Merlyn laying down verses speaking of the plentiful bad sides of being an African immigrant in modern America, or Joba singing about not being believed in. They could be the first of a new generation of rap groups of their kind. Or perhaps they are too unique won’t be matched? For now, only time will tell.◣

Features

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Fergal Smiddy, Features Editor

witter is often spoken of as being somewhat of a scary place. If you’ve ever, even passively, partaken in the consumption of mainstream media, you’ve probably heard ominous warnings of the dreaded social media platform. “It’s the end of human civilisation as we know it” they say. Over 250 million registered users, all screeching into the echoless void. Too many people. Too many voices. Too many opinions. It’s a deafening echo chamber. The clashes and conflicts are far too much for us to bear. Supreme overlord Larry the Twitter Bird (yeah, the Twitter bird has a name, apparently) has us imprisoned and cocooned, Matrixstyle. His cheery chirps are nothing more than euphemistic Sieg Heils. His 2-D animated beak has both swallowed and regurgitated the public consciousness as a whole, besmirching and bathing us in his terrible bile. The end is coming, and it shall run the streets and rivers blue.

deadly and is certainly ill-advised. When attacked, the Stan may defend itself by releasing a dose of its fatal toxin, commonly referred to as the Venom of Cancellation. Once a stan ‘cancels’ its prey, all hope is truly lost. As the victim lays paralysed and gasping for air, the Stan implements battle cries such as “tea” and “drag her, sis” to invite other Stans to join in on the feast.

#StayWoke. Fear not, my friends, for this is nothing but scaremongering. 250 million people all talking at once might sound like a lot to handle, but I come bearing some solace. According to RealAndWellResearchedNotFakeScience.com, a website that doesn’t exist and which I just created in my head, Twitter is, in fact, only home to no more than a grand total of six users. While it is true that there are over 250 million accounts registered to the platform, a recent study from ellResearchedNotFakeScience.com found that this overwhelming horde can be boiled down to a mere six distinct personalities, or types of users. For those of you who tremble at the thought of venturing into the hectic and noisy apocalypse of Twitter, take refuge in the fact that any (yes, ANY!) person you come across can be simply slotted into any one of these six all-encompassing categories.

Illustrations via Freepik.com

The 6 Types of People You Meet on Twitter

#1: The Stan If you’ve ever come across an account whose sole purpose is to engage in cult-like maniacal worship of a certain celebrity or group of celebrities, you’ve almost certainly encountered what is referred to as a “Stan”. The Stan is a generally harmless creature and will not attack unless provoked. However, what constitutes a provocation of the Stan is murky and far-reaching. A confrontation with a Stan can be

Provocations of the Stan include, but are not limited to, speaking ill of: Lady Gaga; Dan & Phil; BTS; Astrology; Beyoncé; Shawn Mendes; Jeff Goldblum; Indie music in general. Common signs of a Stan are: ●A Profile Picture which features any of the aforementioned celebrities. ●An excessive presence of sexually explicit Tweets sent to Shawn Mendes. ●Using “Skinny Legend”, “Sis” and “Queen” as general terms of address.

Features

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express expedition ventured out to these plains, hopeful to catch a glimpse of one of these elusive creatures grazing on ripened Leaves of Amber, or sucking ravenously on the teat of a Monster can. However, as the 2000’s came to a close, this once powerful herd seemed to be in a perpetual state of thinning, and many were led to believe that they had been claimed by the cold hand of extinction.

#2: The Local If you are new to Twitter and are using this guide as an introductory aid, you have already been automatically sectioned into the category of “Local”. While they are generally peaceful and docile creatures, locals can unknowingly find themselves amid the heat of battle and are often preyed upon by the Stan. Locals are characterised by their seeming lack of involvement or ~expertise~ on the platform. Their presence on Twitter is a passive and casual one, and they can often be found Tweeting about mundanities such as how tiring their shift at work was, or how excited they are for the latest Marvel movie. Meme trends are of no interest to the Local, who personally believes that images of Minions with quirky, relatable punchlines slapped over them in impact font are still funny as heck. Common signs of a Local are: ●Not realising they are a local. ●An exclusive and unironic following of all mainstream trends. ●Having no distinct or distinguishable personality traits.

The rumours of extinction were only rumours; as any cultured mind will tell you, Goths can not die. They merely migrate. The Goth species did just this, finding a new home in a particular pocket of Cyberspace known as Twitter, where they live on today, often inconspicuous and blending seamlessly in to normal society. While the Goths may have achieved some level of anonymity to the untrained eye, they are easily distinguished by some marking characteristics. They are increasingly easy to weed out around this time of year, as it is proven science that the Goth cannot resist but to change their username to a spooky Halloweenthemed pun in the current season. ●Using an obscure (and definitely not pretentious) quote from a poem/ song/film as their bio, which leaves the reader in a state of perplexed amazement and admiration. How mysterious and complex they must be! ●A black and white filtered profile picture – often a selfie of them in their bedroom, looking solemn. A smile will never be present because Goths lack the required facial muscles to do so. ●Bangs. And. A. Septum. Piercing.

#4: The Fiat 500 Owner

If you are a Cork-native, you may have vaguely fearful and uneasy memories of the vast army of Goths which once inhabited the red-brick planes of Paul Street. Many a Safari

In many ways, the Fiat 500 Owner is the direct antithesis to the Goth. Where the Goth opts for solemn looks and bangs, the Fiat 500 Owner prefers dip-dyed ponytails and candid pictures of them laughing with their friends which, in reality, have involved planning and strategy to a militaristic degree. A quick scan through their list of Tweets won’t tell you much, as it will be flooded with retweeted posts from

that you’ve stumbled across a Lad

An original Tweet or two may appear somewhere, and will commonly be constructed in one of the following formats: “If my future husband doesn’t [insert extremely unremarkable action], I’m finding myself a new one!” “This hangover is actually going to be the death of me. WHY do [insert generic fast-food outlet] not do deliveries?!?” “OMG! The DRAMA in [insert mainstream reality television show]!! [Insert insufferable male star of said reality show with abs and a spray-tan] has me weeaaakk”

Common signs of a Goth are:

●Bangs and a septum piercing.

#3: The Goth

an account called Common White Girl, which is commonly thought of as the hive-mind and religious scripture of Fiat 500 Owner culture.

#5: The Lad Perhaps the most volatile and aggressive of the bunch, the Lad can often attack without warning or any apparent provocation. They’re easy to spot, and will more than likely be proudly sporting Conor McGregor or any Premier League footballer as their profile picture. If you ever happen to come across a tweet detailing a funny/bizarre personal anecdote from someone’s (particularly a female’s) life, the Lad will often be found amid the replies, having posted the classic “Didn’t Happen” meme – much to the amusement of his army of hench lads. This phenomenon is as of yet unexplained, but most scientists have analogised it as simply being the online version of pulling a girl’s hair and calling her names after she refuses to kiss you behind the shed in the primary school playground – somewhat of a sexually frustrated tantrum. Casual racism and a general lack of pleasantness are further indicators

#6: The Aloof User Of all the six categories, the Aloof User is easily the hardest to define; which is exactly what they are hoping for. The Aloof User is characterised by a lack of full conformity to any one of the previous five categories, as they believe that they are far too complex and layered to be defined in such a way. Instead, they dip in and out of each category at their leisure, showing some characteristics of each one, but never fully immersing themselves in any. Some have labelled the Aloof User as being a true force of individuality, but many have interpreted them as being cowards – obsessed with social status and how they are perceived to the point where their fear has paralysed them, and forced them to wander in a perpetual no-man’s-land, devoid of any true passion or purpose.

opefully, these categories will make your whole Twitter experience somewhat of a smoother ride. It’s really not as terrible of a place as people say. So, next time you’re forced to listen to GenericTalkShowFM on your commute, and you hear DJ Pale & Middle Aged ranting on about how the chaos and cacophony of Twitter is going to bring the end of Western civilisation as we know it, remember what I’ve told you. Ring up the station, tell your man to relax and go back to minimising the financial plights of millennials by rattling off a few avocado jokes, and let everyone know about what this article has taught you. How could the apocalypse possibly be brought about by a pack of Goths and Stans? Anyway, the horsemen will be coming in fours, not sixes. ◣

Opinion

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Rote Memorization: How to excel when you’re stupid Samantha Calthrop, Opinion Editor

ou can get 550 points in your leaving cert if you’re a dumbass. I’d know. I did it, and I still got lost trying to leave the Neptune Stadium three consecutive times. My boyfriend walked me there, and back, to ensure I wouldn’t. Twice. I still don’t know whether or not it’s Blackpool or Blackrock that I accidentally walked into and I’ve lived in Cork most of my life, so there you go.

I started sitting in on a friend’s lectures this year; a third-year arts module. The differences in lecturing style are pretty interesting, if you’ve never had the overlap. Arts lecturers don’t put most of their content in the powerpoints; in the sciences, it’s considered poor form not to put the exam content where the students can access it. Arts have a lot more reading. That’s how essays work, of course; you get a list of books and authors, research the essay title, and come up with a well-informed answer to what’s being asked that’s however-many-words long. Or something like that. Look, don’t ask me, I just sit there; I draw pictures in my notebook so I look like I’m taking notes and leave the work to the experts, and idly take down the titles of books on the reading list that sound interesting. (I never did read Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness.) It strikes me that there’s no easy way around it. You can’t bluff 3000 words on a topic you don’t understand. You can’t write a good essay about an awful, stupid take on the subject. I could intensely learn every fact about an arts subject and still, without the critical thinking skills, absolutely flounder. It’s a striking difference. Some of my lectures do have

The reading’s are much more fun. It never appears on the exam; I had one module last year that wasn’t an MCQ for 100% of the grade, where I had the chance to mention it. I don’t think I did. I got a first. Maybe that one is my fault. I'm coming to realise now that it was kind of a waste of time. I felt much the same way about the leaving cert when I was doing it, actually. It was kind of a grim necessity in order to get to college. The memorisation aspect of the leaving cert hasn't been lost on my lecturers, who have a lot of handholding to do for clueless first years, and have been frustratedly urging us to start thinking for ourselves for the course so far. Easy to see how the first-years got that way, though; it’s incredibly easy to excel in the Leaving Cert without a scrap of intellect. It takes enough willpower to force yourself to do boring, repetitive work over a long period of time. An important skill, yes, but important enough to determine your worth to a potential university? So far most of my assessment has been exam-based. I don’t discount the importance of knowing the facts. Still, it strikes me how easy it would be to bluff your way this far. A friend of mine, who studies Fine Art, once

Photo source: Freepik.com

That shouldn’t doom me to wearing a dunce’s hat for the rest of my life however. My poor sense of direction is no reliable reflection of my intellectual merit. Neither is my leaving cert and neither are my grades so far.

recommended reading; attached articles, names of textbooks, papers. I do the recommended reading. Actually, I do the recommended reading when I’m procrastinating on studying, because I study by memorising the powerpoints. I transcribe the entire thing by hand (plus notes of related things the lecturer said but didn’t write down, which usually make up about 2% of it). I make it into little lists and use different coloured pens to make it easier to look at. And I memorise the whole thing. Bullet point by the bullet point, flashcards, mind maps, the whole shebang. I’m extremely good at it. That’s how I got 550 points; I can still tell you 30 Significant Relevant Points about plate tectonics and I did my leaving cert three years ago.

lamented the low number of exams in his course to me. “I wish I had more. You don’t have to be smart to do well in exams,” he said, “You just have to be good at exams.” I’ve tried to start reading papers, studying the reading, looking at the textbooks. I’ve eventually come to realise that I should probably have spent all the time I spent memorising on actually reading; that memorising gets me the grades, yet the reading gets me an understanding of the scientific world, the current research going on, what lies ahead for me as a scientist, as a student. I’m acutely aware I could have gotten this far just staying at home, reading the powerpoints and making those little spider diagrams. (Probably would’ve done better in the exams; it would’ve saved me the commute time and money, too.) Memorisation takes a lot of labour, maybe, and a bit of discipline but not much else. It doesn’t take understanding, it doesn’t even really take being interested. It would get me the grades, though. The grades prove very little about me, except that I’m either hardworking or lucky enough to be good at remembering things when they’re written down on paper. This isn’t the fault of the lecturers, let’s

be clear. It’s not the department’s fault, either. You could argue that it’s partially mine. There are many, many complexities-- bureaucracy, expectation, pressure, funding, time-- that control this curriculum, and unravelling them to change it would take a hell of a lot. People, including students, are demanding results that make sense; we view science as a subject without nuance until the postgraduate level. The school system has a lot to juggle- a demand for results, the question of objectivity and fairness, the value of certain types of intelligence. I won’t pretend I know whether it the system should be reformed, or how, if it should. But I know I was trained, from quite a young age, to be good at memorisation. And I know I’m still being rewarded for it, at the age of twenty, in the second year of my university degree. I know I learned everything I know about writing, research, and critical thinking from outside the education system so far. I know I could’ve gotten this far without knowing a scrap about it. How much further am I going to go before someone asks, “But do you understand? What do you think?” and what am I going to say? I don’t know, nobody's asked me yet.◣

Opinion

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Luke Watson, Opinions Writer

ecently, a friend of mine told me a story - that I imagine he found on the internet - that irked me greatly. In the story, a Philosophy Professor arranges a test for her students and, when the students arrive, the Professor places a chair down in front of them and asks them to prove to her that it doesn’t exist. The students start writing, and a few seconds into the test one student takes his paper, hands it to the professor and walks out. This student gets 100% on the test. His answer? ‘What chair?’ This story irks me, largely because it seems to me to be indicative of a certain mindset: a mindset that thinks that Philosophy doesn’t matter; that it’s a joke. Many people have suggested that Philosophy is a discipline for the lazy, the stoners and those who are a bit airy-fairy. They argue that Philosophy doesn’t really matter. This is simply not the case. In fact, Philosophy is as important now as it has been historically. We are living in an age that is increasingly being referred to as ‘post-truth’. Everywhere you look in the media you will find baseless claims and blatant rhetoric, often bordering on fear-mongering. I’m sure everyone knows someone who has expounded anti-immigrant sentiment because whatever their chosen media outlet is told them the immigrants are bad. In an age where this is becoming increasingly more common and prevalent, we as a society ought to encourage people to question such sentiment. We ought to encourage people to look at such rhetoric, such baseless claims, and ask ‘but why?’. ‘But why should I believe this?’, ‘but why should I do that?’. In my view, Philosophy is the perfect step forward in this regard: you cannot teach Philosophy without encouraging reasoning and argument. In an era where we are increasingly being asked to believe things without evidence, we need to learn to reason, question and argue against such baseless arguments and Philosophy is the perfect place to encourage this mindset.

In fact, we could even go so far as to offer Philosophy as a subject at the Secondary school level. Nevermind the fact that many University Professors have criticised the Irish education system for not doing enough to encourage independent research, offering Philosophy at a younger age than it is currently available could be a good step towards bucking the trend of baseless populism. Furthermore, some people seem to be of the opinion that Philosophy is a lesser discipline in the face of the academic giants of science and empiricism. This, too, is not wholly true. While it may be fair to say that sciences like meedicine have an important role to play in society as a whole, Philosophy’s role in the sciences themselves should not be ignored. Firstly, those studying science to a certain level are required to take classes in ethics, demonstrating a certain awareness among academics of the necessities of ethical thought. Secondly - though perhaps less immediately obvious Philosophy can serve to offer some potential answers to questions that are unanswerable by science, either because we do not yet have the technology or because we never will. Take, for example, pain. Science can tell us what causes pain - what chemical reactions or neurological processes lead to the unpleasant sensations we associate with pain but it cannot tell us what it feels like to be in pain; what the subjective experience of being in pain is actually like. Yes it ‘hurts’, but what does that, scientifically speaking, mean? Furthermore, there is the problem of pain in other creatures. I don’t know what the neurological process for pain is, but we can imagine that it may be a certain set of neurons in the brain activating in response to bodily damage. This is all well and good, but it may be so that an entirely different process happens in a dog’s brain when it’s hurt. Yet, kick a person and kick a dog and we will describe both of them being in pain. Are we wrong in thinking of both these creatures being in pain, since the underlying structure differs? Do we need a new

definition for pain, or do we need to break the concept of pain into many sub-concepts? Do we unconsciously imply differing conceptions of pain when we speak normally? Philosophy can serve to help us answer these kinds of questions, or at the very least Philosophy can show us that these are questions that need answering. Even if the sum total of satisfactorily answered questions in Philosophy rests at around 0, it is nonetheless useful to engage in these kinds of discussions - even if ultimately we gain no new answers. Finally, and more applicably to normal life, Philosophy can help us to appreciate the mindset of other cultures - a skill that is only going to become more important as time goes on. The fact of the matter is that the Philosophical foundations of our culture in the West - dating all the way back to Ancient Greece - shape how we act and think as a society. In the West, something is either true or not true, it cannot be both true and not true. That simply doesn’t make sense to us. This is largely because of the Law of Non-Contradiction, which states that something cannot be A and Not A at the same time. This mindset doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone, and there are schools of Philosophy in East Asia that take it

Photo by Randall Honold on Unsplash

In Defence of Pure Reason

for granted that something can be A and Not A simultaneously; that a statement can be both true and false. We can take this a step further. In the West we are very individualistic: we believe that we have total free will; that we have the ultimate power to affect our lives; that the self is of paramount importance. In most East Asian Philosophies, the emphasis is not on the self but on the collective: what matters is one’s place within the social order. For many in East Asia, their social groups - be it their family, their friends, their company are more important to them than their self. This mindset has much of its roots in Confucianism, and learning about and practicing these particular philosophical traditions can lead to a better understanding of why people from different cultures act in the way they do - and, indeed, learning about the traditions that shaped our culture can help us to understand why we act in the way we do. Philosophy is not a joke discipline for the work-shy, and we should not look down upon it: it has been with us for thousands of years, and continues to be as useful to society as when Plato wrote about how to form the perfect city and Kongzi laid out the steps for cultivating one’s inborn virtue. ◣

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

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Editorial overwhelming; “I just can’t deal with all of this”, you think, and instead of actually being productive, making use of the time you have by doing things bit by bit, you just retreat into an “oh my god I’m so stressed” ball of denial and end up procrastinating to the point of not doing anything at all.

Ciara Dinneen Byline Editor

How are we half-way through first semester already? I hear us all asking ourselves; starting to worry about up-coming in-class tests, assignment deadlines and the threatening reality of Christmas Exams getting closer and closer. “We have loads of time!” is no longer a comforting assertion because it is no longer true. We don’t have loads of time, but we do have time. I always find that the thought of all the things I need to do, when I look at everything collectively, is ominously

I can promise you that the thought of all you have to do is much less daunting than what you actually have to do. You might not feel like it, but you have time. Even if you don’t have as much time as you’ll need to get everything done, you have time to get a good chunk of that everything done, at least, which is a lot better than nothing. Dedicating three or four hours a day to making out notes, reading a few articles, or getting a start on the research for assignments may not seem like an awful lot but it is more than what you will get done, or rather fail to get done, if you just think about it instead of doing it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but once you start getting into a routine of a little, perhaps, but steady productivity, you will realise how much time you and all of the

16 people around you spend thinking instead of doing. I really don’t mean to sound harsh or intolerant; of course down-time and relaxation is so important (extremely so, and I am a huge advocate of some decent, especially allocated ‘me-time’, as I call it) but you cannot keep declaring “I have so much to do!” if you waste the 5 or 6 hours of free time you have in a day messing around doing nothing really, and not being in any little way productive. Absolutely meet your friend for coffee or lunch for an hour or two, but spend the other 3 or so hours free you have in the library or wherever it is you work best doing some study or note making or assignment doing. Time management. I hate saying it, even more than I hate hearing it (mainly from my mother, but I thank her for it… eventually). It’s a basic skill, and we all know how to do it, so I won’t get into the ‘how’. Using your time cutely will make your life a whole lot easier, most especially in the few weeks coming up to assignment deadlines and exams. Take a moment to think of all the time you

spend scrolling through Instagram or snapchat stories on your phone. It might not be 3 hours in any one sitting, but if you add up all the minutes you spent on your phone throughout the day (some phones track this statistic for you, check if yours does) you’ll be shocked at the number. If you do a little bit everyday between now and the week before your in-class test, your assignment deadline, your exam, or whatever event in the near future it is you are worrying about, you’ll have a lot less to do in the shorter time you’ll have to do it, and therefore a lot less to worry about and stress over. Less stress, more success, right? It scares me, how much I’m beginning to sound like my Mum. It scares me even more how often I hear my friends telling me I sound like their Mum. Oh well, take care, Yours, Ciara Byline Cover Image: Célem Deegan

byline@uccexpress.ie

Fiction He Lingered

by Kieran Double He lay on the bed.

The nurses and doctors passed him by but he couldn’t move. He had visitors but they were all silent occasions. He couldn’t speak. No,

it was more important for him to survive. Never mind living. No, the time for that had passed. There was a tube down his throat, forcing his lungs to work. His blood was being pumped around his body but his heart was already dead. He could think. He did think. That was no comfort. He could not hear his voice, nor write. He was alone.

The nurse smiled at him as she went about her business. He could no longer tell the nurses apart, barely registering their faces. He tried to smile back but they were more grimaces than smiles. She was nice, painfully nice. Damn them all. He remembered that old fucking lie. Horace’s. It haunted his dreams. Maybe it was sweet and

proper to die for one’s country but let him die. Let him go. Let him die. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it? He lingered, trapped in a body he no longer owned. If this was immortality, if this was his life, he didn’t want it. He couldn’t kill himself. The war had taken even that from him. He lay on the bed. He lingered.

Fashion

17 by Heidi Klum, host and judge of Project Runway, that a lot of the stylists “weren’t too happy about it”. Klum responded powerfully; “You have to dress real people, and real people come in different sizes: short, tall, more voluptuous, skinny. A real designer needs to know how to do that.”

Portrait Positive; Defining Beauty in the Fashion Industry. Ciara Dinneen, Byline Editor

The fashion industry has long been renowned for having had a dangerously narrow-minded and restrictive conception of beauty, or at least representations of beauty ideals on the catwalk and in the glossy pages of fashion magazines. Was this standardised size-zero, tall, white-girl model an attempt at defining beauty, or a tactical decision to aid practical uniformity when it came to designing and making clothes for the catwalk (a one-size-to-fit-all-models idea)? It doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason, there isn’t one valid enough not to represent all body types, shapes and sizes. This size-zero, stick figure came to be the standard as designers and stylists would work with models they called the ‘fit’ model, explained by Kirstie Clements (former editor of Australian Vogue) as the model “who is used in the top designer ateliers, or workrooms, and is the body around which the clothes are designed”. Any body type different, be it smaller in height and/or curvier in shape, didn’t feature on the catwalks or in photoshoots because the clothes themselves weren’t designed to suit anything other than the ‘fit’ model body type; “The ‘fit’ model begins the fashion process: designer outfits are created around a live, in-house skeleton. Few designers have a curvy or petite ‘fit’

model. These collections are then sent to the runway, worn by tall, pin-thin models because that's the way the designer wants to see the clothes fall.” Why? The pathetic excuse of practicality, but also the far more disappointing and damaging truth that, for a time at least, stylists and designers actually preferred the emaciated, “young, coltish, 6ft tall and built like a prepubescent boy” look. Slowly, but surely, the industry is beginning to demonstrate, facilitate and welcome a diversifying change. On the 6th September 2016, designer Eden Miller made history as the first designer to feature an entire collection for plus-sized women, modelled by plus-sized women, at New York Fashion Week. However, although this created a major story and received a lot of positive press at the time, it made no huge impact– nothing really changed for models in the industry until much later. It was only last year, for his Fall 2017 collection, that Michael Korrs featured a plus sized model, Ashley Graham, in his show. In the same year, New York Fashion Week featured a record-breaking number of plus-sized models. In August 2017, Project Runway very proudly announced that the show would be featuring models “of ALL sizes”, ranging up to size 22, in its sixteenth season. However, it was revealed

Size, however, is not the only difference between people. With all this talk of shape and size, we must not forget that the fashion industry and society seems to also be failing to adequately, if even at all, represent the women and men of the word with visual facial and bodily differences. Some very influential people in the fashion industry noticed this, and decided to work together to do something about it. Out of this collaboration came the Portrait Positive campaign. Portrait Positive is revolutionary in its challenging of the conceptions of beauty in the industry, and in society in general. In association with Changing Faces, a charity representing over 1.3 million people in the U.K. who have a medical condition, mark or scar that makes them look different, fashion designer Steven Tai and photographer Rankin aim to highlight the lack of representation of people with visible differences in the fashion industry

and media through this Portrait Positive campaign. Portrait Positive; Changing the Way You See – Series 01 is a book that features sixteen extraordinary women with visible differences, photographed by Rankin wearing the designs of Steven Tai. Three of these woman also walked in Steven Tai’s catwalk presentation at London Fashion Week in September. The idea, conceived by event coordinator Stephen Bell, aims not only to challenge the conception of beauty, but “to change the perception of beauty”. All of the proceeds of the book will go to the charity Changing Faces. You can buy the book online at portraitpositive.com, where you have the freedom to choose from one of the sixteen covers, each featuring a different woman as the cover model. The only way to challenge and change the representation and perception of beauty in the fashion industry and the world in general is to “talk about it and face it head on”, explains Rankin when speaking about the campaign; “Our amazing subjects are dealing with these issues with grace, dignity and strength. It was an absolute honour to work with them and try to create a discussion around what it is to be beautiful.”◣

Film & T.V.

Opinion: Should we Recast Popular Characters with a New Gender? Joe Cunningham, Film & T.V. Editor

The new season of Doctor Who debuted recently, and with it brought a proud change to the title role. For the first time, and after 12 incarnations of the legendary Doctor, the spacetravelling Time-Lord will be played by Jodie Whittaker, a woman. The announcement of the decision to change the Doctor’s gender was met with both favourable and negative reactions and divided fans. For many it was a non-issue. In a world where travel through both time and space is possible and in which all manner of fantastical aliens and creatures feature, is it really so strange that the main character might take the form of a woman? Conversely, others argued that it would ruin the legacy of a show that has been running since 1963. I can see why an attachment to the past might be an impediment to change but nobody can deny that the Doctor was in dire need of a shakeup. The show had been declining since Matt Smith left the role and if a gender change for the lead is what was required to reinvigorate it then there should be no complaints that it is ruining some kind of legacy. In the Doctor’s case, the story had been constructed in such a way that it lends itself to the possibility of the character changing gender, and according to Darragh McGrath (see his excellent review of the recent season premiere) this change has been a resounding success. I don’t see why it should be such a problem. Another popular figure whose traditional depiction has been open for debate recently is that of James

Bond. Daniel Craig’s time as 007 seems to be nearing an end and there has been much suggestion that either an actor of a different ethnicity, or of a different gender, might take the role. One of the frontrunners for the part is Idris Elba (of Luther and The Wire fame) who has copious amount of experience acting in this area. The role of Bond is not, I feel, something that need necessarily be bound to the white, heterosexual male which Ian Fleming originally created, in so far as the likes of Elba are able to utterly embody the kind of suave, upper-class English gent which is Bond’s main feature. Changing Bond’s gender, to create a “Jane Bond” as has been suggested, would require a fundamental change in the way Bond has always been depicted, and not one, I feel, through which the character would survive the transition. Bond differs from The Doctor in that the latter always retained the potential to incorporate change, but to do so with the former would destroy the foundation on which the character is built. Like it or loath it, agree or disagree, Bond is a womanising, upper-class male. It is also worth adding that it is not always misogyny that might drive such opposition to change. It’s worth remembering that when Daniel Craig was cast as Bond, there were concerted complaints about the choice for no other reason than because he was blond. The differences between the cases for the Doctor and for Bond highlight how important it is to treat the issue on a case by case basis. Sometimes, change is what is required, sometimes change would destroy the essence of original. Such decision should be governed by what is creatively better for the show, not by an external political agenda.

18 One final point worth considering before I finish is the question of why studios, who are full of talented and able writers both male and female, cannot create new characters and new classics to embody the ideals of a new generation of film stars and a new generation of audiences. I am not a huge fan in general of the constant remakes of old films which seems to be all too common at the moment, but surely it makes more sense, in an industry that is only just starting to free itself from the inherent misogyny that held it back, to create new and diverse roles for actors and actresses that allow us to develop a love as strong as that we have for the likes of Bond and The Doctor? Videogames have managed to bridge this gap (Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn, Ciri from the Witcher, Ellie from The Last of Us) so why not follow suit. I know I for one would watch with excitement. ◣

Review: Doctor Who: Season 11, Episode 1 “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”: Darragh McGrath, Film & T.V. Editor Summer 2017 the world was introduced to the 13th incarnation of the Time Lord; actress Jodie Whittaker took over the role of the protagonist of the longest running science fiction show on television following the regeneration of Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor at the end of that year’s Christmas special.

The idea that The Doctor could change gender was something that had been hinted at before, particularly after the memorable portrayal of his arch nemesis The Master by Michelle Gomez, which revealed that Time Lords are not bound by gender. Naturally, the final decision garnered a lot of feedback online, both positive and negative, but many embraced the new direction, feeling it a testament to how universal the character is. This brilliant plot device has enabled The Doctor to not only be played by many talented actors but also evolve as time (no pun intended) has progressed, thus allowing a 1960s BBC Saturday evening science fiction serial to become one of the most beloved series worldwide. We’re all proud Whovians!

As of Sunday, October the 7th the long wait was over and I am delighted to say that I was not disappointed. From the moment we are introduced to Whittaker’s Doctor it becomes clear that she has already found her feet in the role, bringing the trademark blend of alien kookiness, high intelligence and an unwavering sense of what is right that fans have grown to love, delivered in her own unique way. The Doctor may be the same character but no two portrayals are the same, or as they once put it: “same screwdriver, different casing”. Of course The Doctor can’t travel alone and another change this season is that our time-hopping hero will be accompanied not just by a single companion, as has been the series’ staple for a while now, but by a group of friends. The ensemble cast have great chemistry and I am interested to see how their characters will develop when all of time and space is opened up to them. Two of the other major departures from tradition were, firstly, the noticeable absence of a certain blue box. A new Doctor usually means a new TARDIS but it seems that finding her trusty time machine will be 13’s first major quest before any other adventures can begin. This was initially reminiscent of the days of Jon Pertwee’s 3rd Doctor, who spent the majority of his time stranded on earth but following the conclusion of the episode, it doesn’t look like 13 will be spending a lot of time in Sheffield. The other change was that we actually got to see The Doctor construct the latest version of the iconic Sonic Screwdriver, which up until this point had always simply appeared inside the TARDIS (hard to beat Sheffield steel). With an interesting (and very cool looking) villain, the spirit of adventure that has made it a household name, and some genuinely touching moments, which include our new Doctor speaking about the necessity of change and growing as people (nice touch for those who may still be on the fence), this new era for the show has certainly started strong and I find myself excited for next week and the rest of the season to come. The Doctor is back and it’s about time!◣

Editor: Joe Cunningham

Venom Review: Joe Cunningham, Film & T.V. Editor

Critics are very fond of making quick assumptions about a movie. And once one popular critic has made a decision about the quality of said movie, it seems that nearly all of his peers are required by some secret, shadowy critic law to follow suit. Admittedly Venom did not do itself much favours prior to release: review embargoes were lifted suspiciously close to the opening day, and the film’s star, Tom Hardy, seemed to be actively distancing himself from the finished article in press interviews. Be that as it may, nothing prepared me for the barrage of negative reviews that flooded my newsfeed once the embargo was lifted. “Venom is a listless dud” declared one movie review site dramatically, while another labelled the film as “aggressively loud and stupid”. Indeed, the negative press was so strong I entered the cinema with little hope that such a universally heralded mess could be anything but the dud that critics claimed it to be. Entering a cinema with an atmosphere of trepidation, actively fearing the worst, is never particularly conducive to an impartial judgement and throughout the film’s first half an hour, my worst fears appeared to have been confirmed. The first act was excessively long, full of overused motifs and seemed just as long winded and non-sensical as I had been led to believe. Hardy’s portrayal of Eddie Brock, a man possessed of an odd and strangely hesitant American accent, seemed a tad contrary to his title as “San Francisco’s top investigative journalist”. One particularly awkward segment featured Brock giving a news report on some breaking scandal he’d uncovered, delivered in a fashion that suggested he was not particularly sure he wanted to be there. Similarly, his relationship with his fiancé (played by Michelle Williams) was just as lacking in passion or chemistry. For all its supposed faults and the lack of stimulation provided by the first act, I was, like many other audience members I suspect, prepared to stick with Venom for the sake of Tom Hardy and because I was desperate for a good portrayal of Venom following the mess that was Spiderman 3. After Brock digs a little too deeply into the affairs of billionaire businessman

Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed of Nightcrawler fame), who’s company are responsible for bringing Venom and his fellow symbiotes to earth, he loses his job, his apartment and his fiancé Anne, which is what really kicks the film into gear. There has been a noticeable discord between critics and audience with regards to superhero films in the last few years. Yes, Batman vs Superman was a bit of a mess, but it was nowhere near as bad as the initial 11% it garnered on Rotten Tomatoes. Conversely, the movies Spiderman: Homecoming and Wonderwoman received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics but were, in my opinion and that of many people I’ve spoken to, both decidedly boring, especially the latter which despite a powerful performance from Gal Gadot in the title role, stole almost its entire plot from the first Captain America movie and was riddled with irredeemable cringery. Venom thankfully, definitely falls into the former category. Like Batman vs Superman it is a bit of a mess in parts but it more than makes up for it by being enjoyable, funny and in no small part due to the performance of Hardy, who seems to grow into the role as the movie progresses. The almost buddy-cop-esque banter between Brock and the symbiote inhabiting his body is delightful to watch, as is the protagonist’s slow realisation that he “has a parasite”, something which is amusingly illustrated by his increasingly erratic behaviour and the voice in his head which frequently bombards him with shouts of “HUNGRY”. Yes, the movie has problems, Riz Ahmed’s villain is a bit overplayed, the plot can be a tad nonsensical, but it is more than countered by the fact that the movie is self-aware and extraordinarily good fun once it gets going. If Venom took itself too seriously, the film would undoubtedly be a dud, but it is its cognisance that saves it from such a fate. Perhaps critics suffer in that they go into every movie expecting a masterpiece, which this movie is definitely not, but this strive for cinematic excellence also blinds them to the fact that an audience does not always want excellence. Personally, for a movie like this, I’d settle for good fun, and Venom has good fun in buckets.

Editor’s Score: If I’m gonna follow Rotten Tomatoes’ score system, this film deserves a solid 68%. ◣

New in Cinema: For the season that’s in it, it wouldn’t be right not to talk about the new Halloween film. Jamie Lee Curtis returns and is out for revenge on the newly escaped Michael Myers. Expect brutal deaths and jump-scares aplenty. Next week will see the limited release of Bohemian Rhapsody the Freddie Mercury biopic which has finally escaped from the studio red-tape which saw Sacha Baron-Cohen leave the role. Featuring Rami Malek, who is an absolute doppelganger for Mercury, the film will chart Queen’s rise as well as its frontman’s battle with substance abuse and his AIDs diagnosis, culminating in their famous Live Aid concert. New on Netflix: The third season of Daredevil is out this week and features the return of season one’s main villain Wilson Fisk (Kingpin). I personally felt that season 2 dragged a little so hopefully this is a return to form. In exciting news, the Netflix adaptation of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, titled The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is out on the 26th. Starring Kiernan Shipka from Mad Men, it promises a slightly darker take on the popular tv show of the late 90s and early 00s. New Trailers: This week saw the first trailer for the upcoming Dark

Phoenix which will feature the return of all your favourite X-Men as Fox get a second bash at the Phoenix Saga (starring GoT’s Sophie Turner in the title role) following the debacle of the Last Stand attempt. An extended trailer for the Stephen Spielberg produced Mortal Engines was released recently. Based on the books of the same name by Philip Reeve, the film features a unique take on a post-apocalyptic future. The special effects look magnificent and with Spielberg’s creative input the trailer is definitely worth checking out.

Photo by Jonathan Hession - © Tiger Aspect

Editor’s Recommendation: Set in Whitechapel, Ripper Street follows 3 detectives struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Jack the Ripper murders. Featuring a cast including Jerome Flynn (Bronn from Game of Thrones) and several other familiar faces, it is a magnificently well written, intriguing and beautifully shot take on Victorian London, featuring some of the best villains I have seen in a long time, and is a must for anyone who likes murder mysteries and detective shows with a propensity for mirroring modern day events in a historical context.

Music

20 While their recent achievements could point to an imminent meteoric rise – they’ve already toured with Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters – their feet remain firmly planted on the ground. For a band of Wolf Alice’s burgeoning stature, they’re still striving to include and reward their loyal fanbase. At last November’s Barrowland gig a teenager was invited to play in front of a sold-out crowd, while Rowsell arranged a proposal on stage during their recent Reading Festival set. There aren’t many who would go to such lengths.

How Wolf Alice Are Dominating Music In Their Own Way Callum Connolly, Music Writer In the glory of an adrenaline-filled triumphant moment it’s easy to get ahead of yourself and say something you may later regret. However, fans of Mercury Prize winners Wolf Alice know that bassist Theo Ellis has always lived with his heart on his sleeve and remained his true charismatic self while giving the acceptance speech for their sophomore album, Visions of a Life. “I remember the first label meeting we ever had. We walked into a room and the geezer said ‘the fuck... you lot don’t look like a band at all. What are you supposed to be? Your songs sound different, you don’t look like each other...’ We never really figured it out, but here we are. So, fuck you.” The Wolf Alice project originally began in 2010 as a folk duo of lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie before drummer Joel Amey arrived two years later. Theo Ellis was the final addition, his wily charm and boisterous personality an entertaining and lively addition to the band, part of what makes Wolf Alice so special. In his own words, he was “not so much like a lion to an antelope but more like a kitten to a pretty ball of string” in becoming the band’s fourth member. While his quirkiness may be what is adored about him, Ellis’ ability on the bass

has been instrumental in allowing Wolf Alice to chase alternative and exciting new sounds. Oddie’s quiet genius functions as the base which the band could not grow and thrive without, while Amey’s rhythms are the perfect complement for Rowsell’s stunning range. Their debut LP My Love Is Cool reached number two in the charts and served as a platform for their preeminent follow up. Wolf Alice’s music explores many different directions and takes risks, but that’s something they like. “I’ll watch one band and be like ‘I want to be in that band’ and then I’ll watch another completely different band and be like ‘actually no, I want to be in that band’. But why do I have to be in one or the other?” Rowsell told the BBC’s Mark Savage. “We’re easily influenced, but I think the thing we’ve learned the most is that you have to trust your gut”. It’s a good thing that they didn’t pay too much attention to early meetings with ignorant executives, then. Visions is a masterpiece exploring multi-faceted dimensions to their music, crafted from a maelstrom of emotions – it wouldn’t make sense to categorize it under one genre. Rowsell both ridicules and romanticises young love in “Don’t Delete The Kisses”, a track that

seriously reinforces Wolf Alice’s versatility, contrasting well with the band’s lead single “Yuk Foo” which illustrated pure and unadulterated rage. As Jazz Monroe of Pitchfork points out, the song shows that “clichéd romance is tedious and shallow only until it comes for you. Then, it’s electrifyingly real”. “Formidable Cool” is an intense, raucous track that captures the precariousness of falling for someone that is better avoided. Wolf Alice’s capability of creating a tone that is harsh and merciless in its delivery is some of the most outstanding lyrical work on the album. “If you knew it was all an act / Then what are you crying for?”.

They’re also outspoken on a number of important issues, chief among them mental health as Amey told Apple Music’s Julie Adenuga: “We’re very close with each other and if something’s up usually the other three can tell pretty quickly and we’re good about talking through things. I’ve found myself feeling quite guilty about talking even if you’re tired or feeling low because from the outside it’s like the most exciting and amazing thing to be doing... you don’t want to be seen like you’re complaining. It is the most amazing thing ever but people, especially recently men in rock, [is] where a few people have committed suicide and you need to just talk and be encouraged and have people tell you it is absolutely fine. When would it not be fine?”

“St. Purple & Green” is one of my personal favourites as Rowsell delves into the concept of death after being inspired by her grandmother, creating the alluring notion of an afterlife that is exciting because it is unexplored.

As well as championing positive wellbeing, Rowsell launched a benefit gig called “Bands 4 Refugees” in late 2016 after the destruction of the Calais Jungle, while in May they collectively decided to support the Palestinian people’s call for a boycott of Israel “as a means of peaceful protest against a brutal and bloody occupation”. Ed Nash of The Line of Best Fit believes that a band doesn’t have to compromise its values to be successful, and that is certainly something that Wolf Alice’s success has highlighted.

The title track is arguably the best on the album, guided so masterfully through its seductive build up before launching into a fiery eruption of Rowsell’s piercing shrieks in tandem with Amey’s frenzied drumming and some astonishing solos, closing beautifully. In reflection, not awarding Visions the Mercury Prize seems incomprehensible now.

After a frenetic touring schedule Ellie, Joff, Joel and Theo will close out the year with two shows at the 02 Brixton Academy before returning home to remind loved ones of their existence. It may be a while before we see them at venues such as the Olympia Theatre again, but rest assured if Visions is anything to go by, the wait will be well rewarded. ◣

Editor: Caoimhe Coleman

Double Agents of the Industry

Revisiting A Classic

Some people just take all the talent for themselves, don’t they? Apparently it isn’t enough to just be a fantastic actor these days. Actors have to be musicians TOO. Not that I’m complaining, there’s some great music coming out of our favourite “Hollywood” stars. We all know the obvious ones: Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Cher, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Justin Timberlake…not to mention actors like Russell Crowe showing off their singing and acting abilities in musicals like Les Misérables. However, I think there is a few “double agents” that may have slipped under your radar.

As a teenager growing up listening to The Cure, I never thought I would get to see them live, because, you know, it’s The Cure. Imagine my excitement when it was announced that they are set to play Malahide Castle next June! So, in light of this literally life changing announcement, I decided to revisit my favourite of their LPs, Disintegration. Released in 1989, there truly hasn’t been an album like this since. The album opens with “Plainsong”, a magical track that for some reason, reminds me of The Neverending Story. “Pictures of You” and “Closedown” follow – undeniably great additions. Next up we have a true classic – “Lovesong” – definitely one of their best known tracks, and for good reason. “Last Dance” is the fifth song on the album. One of their lesser known numbers, but equally deserving of praise like the rest.

Caoimhe Coleman, Music Editor

Mark McKenna

You might recognise Mark McKenna from 2016’s Sing Street. He plays Eamon, an awkward teenager with a knack for more than just the guitar – “Eamon can play every instrument known to mankind.” (Fun fact: In real life, Mark’s dad is a musician, also named Eamon). So, we know he’s a talented musician…but not just in movies. McKenna’s band “The Girl Talk” are making waves in Ireland. If you liked the music that The 1975 produced when they were known as Drive Like I Do, you’ll love this band. Their tracks “When I Know” and “Heroin Chic” just scream “Hey we love The 1975” – and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Ironically, but impressively, the band supported Pale Waves when they played The Grand Social back in January and were also crowned one of Whelan’s Ones To Watch 2018.

Joe Keery

American actor and musician Joe Keery is best known for his character Steve Harrington in the TV show Stranger Things. Keery was also a guitarist in the band Post Animal – a Chicago-based garage and psych rock band – and has also released music under the name “Cool Cool Cool”, which you can still find on bandcamp. The band released their debut album in 2015 and their sophomore album, When I Think Of You In A Castle, came out earlier this year. Keery sings lead vocals on the track “Ralphie” – a personal favourite of mine. Unfortunately, due to scheduling clashes because of Keery’s busy recording schedule for Stranger Things, he has had to leave the band. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Keery thinks it best to “disassociate” his Stranger Things fame from the band as he believes that will inevitably tarnish the band’s success.

Ryan Gosling

Photo: The Girl Talk, via Facebook

Anyone who has seen La La Land knows that Ryan Gosling has more than a couple of musical bones in his body. But did you know that he doesn’t just make use of his talents for films? In 2007, Gosling along with his friend Zach Shields founded their band Dead Man’s Bones. Their 2009 self-titled album was met with very mixed reviews from critics but this didn’t stop the pair from embarking on a 13-date North American Tour. The entire album is a collaboration with the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir. While touring, the pair worked with similar local choirs for each live show – pretty damn impressive. Although possibly not as cool as the original idea for the band. Gosling and Shields wanted to create a “monster themed” musical but because of budget restraints, they settled for forming a band instead. Gosling contributed vocals, piano, guitar, bass and cello to the band and performed under the alias, “Baby Goose.” The band’s song “In The Room Where You Sleep” was even featured in the 2013 horror “The Conjuring” – very on brand. ◣

The iconic “Lullaby” comes next. I don’t think any words I could string together would do this song justice; it is truly a masterpiece loved by the masses. I’ll say one thing about “Fascination Street”: the drums. That’s all you need to know. Following on from this is my favourite track, “Prayers For Rain” – I don’t think you can get anymore “The Cure” than this song. “The Same Deep Water As You” is a lovely 9 minute addition to the album, followed by the titular track “Disintegration” which takes the album back to that upbeat place we all know and love. “Homesick” and “Untitled” close out the album quite nicely. They aren’t the most memorable tracks on the album but serve to highlight just how good the rest of it is and leave you feeling very content that you’ve just listened to an undeniably brilliant album.

interview

22 At 17, Tritoan was competing and winning numerous National break dancing tournaments. When you get too old you can’t spin on your head or back-flip any longer…

You are just 27, and you’ve done all that already…

Yeah. My first job was actually when I was 13, and I haven’t stopped working ever since. I would work full-time in a gas station, while going to school during the day time, so I would do 4pm to 10pm every day after school. Working is all I know. Photo: 7th Day/Trioan Ly, Instagram

I’d have been like 5 years old, I think, 5 or 6. Still pretty young, so I’m pretty much a Kiwi – a New Zealander. I went to school here. I went to University for 3 weeks, and then decided I didn’t like it so I dropped out.

Well, my first year starting I was a lot into the Japanese artwork so I did a lot of Japanese inspired sleeves like koi fish, dragons and all that. Then I dabbled into realism. I was like, ‘heck, I’ll just be a realism artist’ because I thought that was the hardest tattoo to do and the one that you should master. I kind of got bored of that for a while, so I did my first floral piece, or two, and shit just blew up from there. I was the only one doing it; only one in New Zealand, doing the fine-line floral. So, I pretty much pioneered that here in New Zealand – it steadily blew up.

There are so many different ways of saying it. I’ve come to accept all ways, but my sister calls me “Treeton”. People call me “Try-ton” too. I’m happy with any way of saying!

trainer), which random.

craft, and tried to make it the best floral game I possibly can.

So, tell me a bit about yourself; about your childhood, your schooling and such.

before that… I was a dance teacher for a good 3 years, then I was a photographer, freelancing, and then I did tiling. Then I was a landscaper, I don’t know why… I dabbled into a lot of things.

Man to watch, Tritoan Ly Interview by Ciara Dinneen, Byline Editor Without a doubt a man to watch, Tritoan Ly has gathered himself an international following with his beautiful, intricately detailed floral tattoo designs. Tritoan showcases his work on his Instagram account, where he also demonstrates a clear skill and passion for photography. A master tattooist and photographer at only 27 years of age, I was eager to speak with Tritoan about his work and the set-up of his own tattoo studio, Seventh Day. I had the pleasure of speaking with Tritoan while he was in the studio. I found his story, how he was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and has been in full-time work since the age of 13, was just as incredible as his work. Tritoan is a laid-back, easy going and funny guy with an amazing story.

How are you?

Good, good, just at the studio with my man, Dan.

Hi Dan!

Dan: Hi! Tritoan: We usually come here and

Back to your tattooing; fine-line floral is your signature design now. Have you always done floral designs or did you dabble into other types?

play some ping-pong, some table tennis

The studio functions as a hangout for you guys as well? Tritoan: Yeah for sure! Dan, shut up, you’re making too much noise! (Laughter from myself and Dan) Tritoan: Sorry about him…

my brother and sister were born there, waiting for residency to come to New Zealand, and now here we are!

What age were you when you came to New Zealand?

Your designs are incredible. I have to ask; how do you What were you studying? pronounce your name? I was studying to be a PT (personal Yeah, I’ve just stuck to it, honed my

Well, I was born in Thailand. I was born in a refugee camp, actually. My mum went through that Cambodian war phase where Pol Pot was in reign. I don’t know if you know much about the Cambodian government at that time… it was a massive genocide; he killed like three million of his own people. That was my mum’s era. She had to escape on foot all the way to Thailand. That’s where I was born, in a refugee camp there. My mum was there for like fourteen years, so she’s been through a lot of distress. Me and

was

completely

When did you fall into tattooing? All of the work you do now is Aw dude, that just fell on my lap. free-hand. Have you always done I was doing a whole heap of shit free-hand?

Do you feel like you’ve fallen into your niche with tattooing?

I don’t know. I feel like you can be good at anything. I mean, I have quite an obsessive natural behaviour. If I’m into something I will stay up all night just to get pretty decent at it. My main passion was dancing, so I did that for about 8 years. I was in a group; we were the best in New Zealand for a long time.

Definitely not, no. I mean, the first two years I was shit-scared… It’s quite a nervous thing to do your first free-hand – not knowing exactly what it’s going to look like. I don’t even know how I started with freehand. It might have been just practicing on friends first, and slowly progressing, and it’s literally all I do now. I definitely prefer free-hand. Unless there was geometry involved – circles and straight lines – then I would definitely try use a ruler or something like that.

You still do photography, yes? Yeah! I don’t do it paid, I only do it

23 for me, for my tattooing. It used to be my primary income back then when I did weddings and fashion and portraits and all that other jazz. I’m so glad that I learned that craft because look how far it’s taken be! The future is media so, anyone starting a business, I feel they need to have a good understanding of photography and videography if they want to advertise their stuff well. What’s the point in doing this immaculate work when you can’t showcase it?

is where I discovered you!

Exactly, yeah! I mean, it takes you internationally. You’re not just known nationally. I’m literally in the middle of nowhere; New Zealand is so far away. But I still get travellers, which is so crazy as well. I’d say a good 70% of my clients are internationals.

That’s amazing. Would you put that down to Instagram? Oh, for sure.

in one day. I didn’t sleep that night. I did an all-nighter with Dan - (Dan declares “It’s true” from somewhere in the background) - replying to every single email saying I couldn’t do their tattoo. So I think next time, I will maybe announce like 2 days before I go to a country, and we’ll see who’s desperate enough to pull a sicky from work to come get a tattoo! We’ve got to filter through the people somehow, got to make it more difficult.

Is there any chance of you coming Tell me about Seventh Day Studio. You showcase your work on to some European countries to do I’m self-taught. I learned from Instagram. Is that your main guest-spots in tattoo parlours home, tattooed in my own flat here? platform? for about 6 months, practicing on Yes, it’s my only platform. I definitely treat it like a business. It’s not something I say “hey I’ll do it for fun” to; I have a routine. I need to commit time to it. That’s why I edit, do my videos, it’s all part of the business: the backbone. Most people will do it for leisure, but my Instagram is for business. Cause generally I’m not that much of a social person. Like, if I wasn’t tattooing I probably wouldn’t even have an Instagram.

Instagram is a great platform when you use it right. Instagram

At the moment that’s a secret. I’ve already announced Canada. I was meant to do America with Canada but I had to get back to a friend’s wedding that I’m part of the groomsmen for, so that kind of ruined my plan. Definitely in the future I will be doing my best to come to Europe. Europe and America.

Do you give a good bit of notice?

Well, the day I announced Canada I got booked up within 12 hours. It was so intense. I had enough bookings to last me a year there, and I’m only there for 2 weeks. It was insane – all

friends. I got to the point where I felt like my work was good enough to start charging, so I did that. Then I tried my luck and asked a studio if I could work there, and they were gracious enough to take me in as an artist, not even an apprentice, so I definitely won the lottery with that because most of the time you have to do a 3-year apprentice before you can actually work in a shop. I got lucky and was asked to be a full-time artist, and I just learned the trade as I went. That was a studio called Dreamhands. I worked with them for a year, and then I opened up my own shop called Seventh Day.

that still exists in some way about having tattoos?

Here in New Zealand they’re pretty chill. You probably can’t be a teacher if you’ve got offensive tattoos, but if you’ve got, let’s say, a flower on your forearm, then you’d probably be fine. It might lessen your chances if you’re competing with someone else but you can still get employed. The generation now is definitely becoming more accepting of tattoos. I think it gets better as we go. I reckon in 5 to 10 years, no one is going to give a shit. Lawyers and teachers and doctors and policemen all have tattoos here in New Zealand, so I guess we’ve just got to wait for the rest of the world to catch up with the culture of tattoos. There’s a huge stigma still in Asia. It was even hard for me to convince my Mum for me to become a tattoo artist because tattoos are associated with criminals; they would stamp criminals with tattoos. So, times have definitely changed. I think, me being a boss now, I’d feel like it’s the employers decision at the end of the day whether they want to hire someone with tattoos or not. To be honest, if one of my artists got a tattoo on their forehead, I would not hire them. As brutal as that is, it’s my business and I care about what the clients will think. There’s a fine line between nice tattoos and gnarly ones.

Photo: 7th Day/Trioan Ly, Instagram

You’ve worked all your life, got yourself to where you are now, created a business without ever having done any sort of business What tattoos do you have? degree… What advice would you My very first tattoo was a stick-andgive to young people who are poke on my hand. I did that when I striving to achieve whatever it was in intermediate, so I would’ve been about 12 or 13. I just stole is they are striving to achieve? That’s quite a broad question. I think it’s such an individual thing. It’s very dependent on a person’s character. It’s like: I can’t give advice because I don’t know who you are or what your character is. Going back to the fact I worked most of my life; I had that drive, so my advice would be to have that drive, and determination, and obsessing about what you want to do until you get it. If you’re not obsessed, you’re not going to make it. You will fail under the competition of everyone else. You’ve got to outwork everyone else. That means losing sleep, too! There are a lot of sacrifices involved. People don’t see that though. They only see the success, the good stuff.

What do you make of the stigma

some Indian ink from my art class, stole my Mum’s sewing needle and just started poking away. My first proper tattoo would’ve been when I was 18; I got my whole back done – it’s a tiger. I started slowly collecting tattoos from there…

Apart from that stick-and-poke, have you ever done any other tattoo on your body yourself? Yeah, I’ve tattooed both my thighs and a lot of my legs, where I can reach.

Before I leave you go, tell me a bit about your wife, Holi.

I met Holi 2 or 3 years ago. I dated her for about 4 months, and then I asked her to marry me. A guy knows what he wants. There are no rules to this game, you make your own rules! ◣

Gaming

Milking our Nostalgia Cian McGrath, Gaming Editor There is no debating the fact that the golden age of gaming has been and gone. As was covered in the last issue, the art of video game development is now, more often than not, squeezing every last cent out of consumers. This is why we see such an incredulous reaction when a game such as Cuphead is released. Art is often lost in modern game development, and what happens when a studio truly runs out of ideas? They remake/ remaster a game. A remaster of a game is where an old game is given an upgrade to suit modern gaming, whether through graphical upgrades or simply increasing compatibility. This phenomenon has grown year on year in the games industry and, while not all games are simple cash-grabs, some stand out more than others. As gamers, we thrive off nostalgia. My favourite game of all-time will always be Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2005). This was a complete shooting game set in the Star Wars universe and there were simply no flaws in the game, or so I recall, because this game was a huge part of my childhood. The issue here is that these game developers have, at times, taken advantage of our rose-tinted glasses and exploited our love for these games for the sake of some extra cash. Gaming began so simply, with the most recognisable early game being Pong, a simple black and white table tennis game that was released in 1972. This early period of gaming is often known as the Golden Age, where home consoles were not economical,

and most gaming took place in Arcades. The impact of games from this era cannot be overstated, seeing as most of these games are still played today. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, the list goes on! Arcades were at their most popular from the late 70s through to the early 80s. By 1981, the arcade video game industry was worth $8 billion, or $21.5 billion when adjusted for inflation. Advances in home video game technology during the late ‘80s led to the popularity of arcades fading. These simple 2-D games still hold great pop cultural significance, with god knows how many PacMan themed snap-backs and key chains you can buy that try to pass themselves off as merchandise. The original Pac-Man game, as in the arcade booth, has seen 12 separate releases, each for a new price, with the first release being in 1980 and the latest official release of the exact same game coming in 2010. That’s not to count the various spin-offs, such as Mrs Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man, Professor Pac-Man, Jr Pac-Man, Pac-Man Battle Royale and Pac-Man Kart Rally (these are all real games, google them). The same can be seen for many other iconic characters, Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, and so on. Even non-gaming industries have leaped on this Pac-Man bandwagon! The Adam Sandler ‘movie’ Pixels used Pac-Man in attempt to boost sales in Asia and amongst children. There have been 49 different Pac-Man

games released. Let us not forget that this is a game about a character loosely based off of a Hockey Puck eating tiny Eucharists while running away from ghosts, one of which is named Clyde. Game Freak, the developers of Pokémon are another serial offender in another category of shame, the HD remake. It is fully expected that they will remake each game. Pokémon games are released in ‘Generations’ where a new generation of games means a new generation of Pokémon, so far they have released 8 Generations, remade each of the first 3 Gens and now they are remaking the first Generation again. While no one is complaining, you can’t help but feel like whenever they run out of ideas they just throw their good ones into a HD remaster and spend their evenings bathing in the cold hard cash of millions. This is not an uncommon thing. In 2015 a 2-year old Deadpool game was remastered in order to try and force some sales off the back of the excellent film. There was no major graphical update, no real change of any sort of meaning, but the developers expected us to just throw our money at them again. Not all HD remasters are the spawn of Satan himself; saying that would be silly. I personally very much enjoyed the HD remaster of the Crash Bandicoot series and increased compatibility with modern software can only be a good thing, but where does it end? Developers are in an unusual monopoly here. When I buy a DVD, there is no real reason that I should ever need to pay to watch that film again, nor should I. Sure, I might want to buy

the Blu-Ray so that I can watch Big Momma’s House 3 in ‘jaw-dropping HD’, but no one is forcing me to do so. That is not always the case in video games. If I buy a PlayStation 4, then the only way that I can play Crash Bandicoot is by paying another €60 on the game. There is no backwards-compatibility, there is no other option, and what if there is no HD remaster? I’m not asking for the latest titles, such as FIFA 19 and Assassin’s Creed 5, for free as part of a subscription service, all I’m asking for is a service to offer us that glimpse at nostalgia, that look at what came before, that one game of Star Wars Battlefront (2005), without making us jump through hoops. We’ve all felt nostalgic for an old film, song or tv show, but there is no Netflix for gamers. There is no Spotify. There are no options. The game developers know that they have us over a barrel and are happy to keep it that way. It should be noted that there have been announcements of streaming services, but I will believe it when I see it. If EA could make games half as good as they market them, then the games would be twice as good as they actually are. As for Microsoft’s streaming service, they still haven’t been able to launch Hololens, a mixed reality headset announced before the Oculus Rift. These are positive changes, but we long for more extensive and greater choice for gamers everywhere. Imagine trying to play Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ on Spotify and then it asks you to insert the CD. Without a Netflix style streaming service then modern gaming will remain inapproachable and overly expensive.◣

Illustrations via Freepik.com

Editor: Cian Mcgrath

3 Best and 3 Worst Horror Games for Halloween

Google Announces Project Stream Cian McGrath, Gaming Editor

Well… isn’t this just a great coincidence. Ask and you shall receive, I suppose. I’ve seen the demo and I’m starting to believe it. This week Google has announced project Stream, a game-streaming service for Chrome. Streaming Services such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music have transformed the modern entertainment industry but so far, the gaming industry has not seen much, if any, developments in this sense. This week Google and Ubisoft showcased a demo where players could stream the latest Assassin’s Creed through Chrome. This could genuinely be revolutionary, but questions still remain. How could it handle Battle Royale or MMO games such as Fortnite where 100 people are streaming the same lobby? How reliable must your internet be? How can we run all of this through Chrome? Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, and partners with Google in this project, said this week that he thinks that soon we will see less home hardware needed. Once again this could be huge. The enormous front-load price of buying a PC or Modern console hugely reduces the approachability of gaming for people interested in trying it out. Having to front up anywhere from €300 to €1500 for a reliable gaming system turns people

off; many try a cheaper hobby. While Google seem to be keeping their cards close to their chest on this one, if they could pull this off then they could dominate a hugely saturated market with one fell swoop. Other companies have attempted to launch streaming services, but hardware, software and internet limitations have often led to limited success. With both EA and Microsoft announcing streaming services at E3 this year, are we seeing the beginning of a long overdue change coming to gaming? Personally, I think that Steam could be the dark horse to watch out for in this particular market. With Steam’s regular cheap prices as well as their huge catalogue of games, could we see their Steam Link turn into something even bigger than Google’s? Only time will tell with all of this hugely exciting news, but what can be said is that we shouldn’t get our hopes up. What we are talking here would be a huge step forward for modern gaming and could change the industry as a whole forever. Previous issues with streaming services such as lag and lack of game response made us all think this was pie in the sky stuff, but with the sheer scale of Google’s servers. If they can pull this off, then we can all get very excited.◣

Best;

Worst;

Alien Isolation is probably the only movie to game adaptation fit to wear its film’s crown. It holds the sheer fear and intense atmosphere of Alien as you play as Amanda Ripley. Guaranteed to get your heart racing: 9/10

Yeah, I know its 3 games; they’re all that bad. These games are what’s wrong with modern horror. Jump scares and no real plot of any substance. Not scary, unless you’re 7 years old. Dress up and go trick-or-treat. Forget what I said about you being too old, just don’t play these games. 2/10

Alien: Isolation;

Dead Space

Dead Space is one of few survival horrors fit to polish Resident Evil’s boots. The game leaves you isolated, short on ammo and on the edge of your seat for the entirety of what is a hugely gripping story. 8/10

Friday the 13th: The Game

Live out all of those horrifying fantasies, as you play as Jason Voorhees and murder all your friends. Up to 8 players can play together as 7 try to escape before Jason gets them. Less spooky more fun, but great for you because you really are too old to be trick-or-treating. 7/10

Five Nights at Freddy’s 1, 2, 3

Slender

Made a lot of people pretty famous on YouTube when they pretended to be scared. Better than the disgrace-to-the-world video game listed above, because at least it was a semi original idea. 4/10.

The Walking Dead Survival Instinct

This game had so much potential. You play as Daryl Dixon before the events of the show. A firstperson shooter with the biggest bad-ass on AMC since Walter Jr. But, the game simply doesn’t work. It is neither scary nor interesting to play. Stay Away: 3/10

Humor

26 Rugrats under his right eye.

What do they mean? “I just fucking hate the Rugrats cartoon.”

Who are some of your rap heroes? Who inspired you to make music? “All the greats you know…Anyone with Lil in their name really.”

EXPRESS INTERVIEWS: LIL’ HURLEY Callum Casey,Humor Editor

[DISCLAIMER]- This interview is not verbatim as Hurley mumbled quite a lot. Lil Hurley, formerly known as Lil Boi, Mc Langer or just Simon Jones, is Cork’s hottest new rapper. In a bid to stay relevant and hip wiv da kidz, The University Express sent me to see what this Soundcloud sensation is all about. The twenty-year-old cuts an imposing figure when he greets, covered in tattoos, wearing a grill and standing at five foot five. He reminds me of a leprechaun, one that has been scribbled on by a particularly manic toddler. On closer inspection his Silver grill appears to

be made from tinfoil. When we sit down to talk in his room, I start with the tattoos.

Can you tell me a little about your tattoos, Hurley? “Yeah so tattoos are big in the rap game right now. It’s all about selfexpression and never being able to get a job again, you know? I have 42 all in all…Well like 40 of those are fake, you know the ones that come free with the chewing gum? I just don’t want to commit to a big tattoo yet, just in case I don’t like it.”

Which tattoos are real? “Just my face ones. Nothing big like” Hurley proudly shows off the Hurl tattooed across his forehead, and No

You touched on the drug culture in rap these days. What is your opinion? Is it just posturing or is it a legitimate problem? “I think it’s a massive problem, man. It’s terrible. Awful. I can’t get any of the cool stuff in Ireland! No Xans. Not even any Lean, I have to drink Calpol instead! It tastes class, doesn’t really do the job though.”

Ok…What about the music spoke to you? Do you have a history of addiction “The mumbling. Thought it was a yourself? great idea, coz you can like, pretend you’re saying deep shit but you’re actually just snoring. It’s great. Another thing was the dark themes in the music. The drug problems, the crime, the tough upbringing. I connected with them on that level. Also, if they died young, that’s like bonus points. So fucking cool.

“Yeah… It was around the time I was recording my first album. They were dark days. I was popping about two packs of Strepsils a day. Lemon and Honey ones, man. They’re surprisingly strong. By the end of it I was snorting Lemsip, I knew I had to stop when my producer found me using a Fisherman’s Friend as a suppository.”

Are these influences incorporated into your own work? How do you respond to claims that “Yeah, for sure. Like my lyrics your music is glamorising drug really reflect on just how dangerous culture? growing up around here was. So many gangs and shit. So much bloodshed…”

Hurley seems lost in his own thoughts for a moment, alone in his bedroom in a lovely, spacious, 4 bedroom semidetached in Blackrock.

“That’s lies. Slander and lies.”

Lil’ Hurley’s new album, Drugs are cool, is out now, available at no good retailers. Hurley will also be preforming outside Cyprus Avenue tonight, as he is barred from entering for life.◣ Ian explained, “By the end of the test she could stay underwater for nearly an hour, all thanks to Sickcool Vapez! The flavours too, had unforeseen health benefits. Fruit flavoured Vapes, such as ‘Blueberry Bukkake’ and ‘Kiwi Kamikaze’, are actually part of your 5 a day now! It’s incredible!”

Newly published UCC study highlights potential health benefits of Vaping Callum Casey,Humor Editor A study published yesterday from UCC has revealed the health benefits of Vaping versus smoking. The study, sponsored by Sickcool Vapez ltd, was conclusive in its findings, not only is Vaping better than smoking, it’s actually better than fresh air.

Ian Horrigan, a PhD student responsible for the study explained the results, in between bouts of coughing, “We compared the lung capacity of someone smoking manky cigarettes and someone using a Sickcool Vapez Vapetron-700 for a month, and the results were astounding. The subject smoking

cigarettes spontaneously combusted as his lungs turned to ash. The vaping subject’s health, however, actually improved. We also had a control subject who neither smoked nor vaped, when we realised the vaping subject was actually healthier we were intrigued.” The team continued their research in to Vaping finding it improved all areas of the subject’s health. “One subjects lung capacity increased to the levels of an Olympic athlete,”

Vaping it seems, not only has health benefits, but social ones too. “Men who vape were seen to be 69% more attractive than those who don’t, “Ian said in between puffs of his vape, looking positively dashing, “The surveys found that women identified men who could rip fat clouds as more alpha than those who couldn’t.” When we asked for the results of this study, Ian disappeared behind an obnoxiously large cloud of ‘Orange Orgy’ smoke. Despite his hasty exit, Ian’s results speak for themselves; Vaping’s health benefits are universal. This article was sponsored by Sickcool Vapez.◣

Editor: Callum Casey

HEADLINES CRIME:

Brett Kavanaugh appointed to tackle sexual assault in UCC under new ‘Takes one to know one’ initiative.

CULTURE:

Now that we all live in a real-life version of the movie Hackers, with superfast broadband everywhere but Kerry, Old media has become obsolete. Newspapers are now only good for holding your chips or your dogs’ shit and the radio is only good for making your ears bleed through constant torture by Drake. To help prepare media students for this brandnew market, UCC have created a course specifically tailored to it. Below is an outline of the course. (This article is also available as a PDF on your phone, laptop, watch, fridge or toaster.)

Headlines (5 credits)

This module will be focused on eye catching headlines. In this new landscape we need the clicks. Clicks equal food, remember that. Do whatever you can to make the headline as attention grabbing as possible. It doesn’t matter if its lies, just have a good pun in there and you’re fine.

Using Oprah reaction Gifs (10 credits) One of the most important elements

of modern-day journalism; The effective use of Oprah gifs. This can make or break your listicle about 10 times Rihanna ACTUALLY slayed, or that article about how much of a sassy Sagittarius you are. Use them wisely.

Emoji’s (10 credits)

Emojis now make up more than 60% of the Millennial vocabulary. UCC have created a daring new module that now teaches emojis as a language. Writing your articles fully in emoji is key to securing a young audience. Android users are not eligible to take this module. Plebs.

Deceiving Facebook aunts (5 credits)

One of your primary sources of income will come from these intrepid seekers of truth, justice and Minion memes. If you can write an article that gets Brenda from Roscommon thinking ISIS are invading her local Daybreak, you may be in line for the next Pulitzer prize.

Trump (20 credits)

It honestly doesn’t matter what you write about him, either way people will read. What does he eat? What does he smell like? Who has he

offended today? What DOES his penis look like? If you can deal with being called a leftist cuck, or a capitalist neo-Nazi, you’re in for a big pay day with your Trump articles. Just stay away from any actual politics, that shit is boooooring.

Investigative Journalism (10 credits)

Don’t let any old coot tell you Investigative Journalism is dead. Our writers are on the front the lines, investigating more mysteries than ever. This module will be taught by renowned paparazzi, Barnaby “Restraining order” Wright. Fresh from a stint in prison for stalking, Wright, the mind behind such hard hitting articles such as “Kylie Jenners ASS is made of WHAT??” and “John Travolta caught skinning hamsters for toupee?? More inside!!”, is an inspiration for all budding journalists.

Humour Writing (20 credits)

Truly the pinnacle of modernday journalism. The satire writer is a king among men. They can make us laugh, cry, love, but most importantly…Think.◣

How do I tell someone their new baby is fuck ugly?

Image: Unsplash

Callum Casey,Humor Editor

OPINION:

BUSINESs: Tesla stocks jump 40% as Elon Musk shoots Heroin on live T.V

Image: Carlo Allegri

UCC ANNOUCES “NEW MEDIA” COURSE FOR 2019

UCC student ends racism by watching Get Out with Black Roommate.

BREAKING: 1st Year Physiotherapy Student elected as LGBTQ Society Chairperson, after bravely revealing he only watches Lesbian porn.

Arts & Literature

Éadaoin Regan, Arts & Lit Editor As someone who is desperately trying to be somewhat of a budding expert in all things Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung (and desperately failing) this film was a treat for my procrastination needs a few years ago. However, upon revisiting it for this psychological themed issue

I was pleasantly surprised at its accuracy. The film is a beautifully shot exploration into the early days of psychoanalysis and the doomed friendship between Freud, played by Viggo Mortensen, and Jung, played by Michael Fassbender. The audience plays witness to Jung’s

experimentation with Freud’s ‘talking cure’ and his own foray into word association experiments. Their friendship is documented through the infamous first thirteen-hour meeting, letters, and occasional visits during which we see the evolution of psychoanalytic thought. Most importantly, we get to see Freud

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk (2008)

A washed-up porn princess desperate to ensure her legacy, while her assistant Sheila and three male participants judge all around. Each one believes the reason for their involvement is noble and of greater importance than their peers. It will both repulse and engage in equal measure! 8/10

HOT OR NOT The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins (2015)

While the experimentation with narrative and perspective is interesting, the twist is a let-down. It feels like a forced reimagining of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl but without the engaging, psychopathic leading lady – Amazing Amy. 5/10

relive with Jung the schism between mentor and mentee that he had already woefully experienced: that between himself and his own mentor several decades earlier, Joseph Breuer. While it may appear at first glance that the Sabina Spielrein love story, played by Keira Knightley, was thrown in just for sex factor, this

Image: Sony Pictures

HISTORICAL FRICTION A Dangerous Method by David Cronenberg (2011)

Editor: Eadaoin Regan surprisingly isn’t the case. In fact, while a lot more could have been said of Spielrein’s contributions to the psychoanalytic movement in Russia and in children’s studies the same could be said of Freud and Jung themselves in the film. While the works are important in understanding the characters themselves and the machinations of their personalities, their effects and reception is not the sole focus of the film. And thankfully so. Overall, my complaint is that these stories could have been told far more effectively had they been split into two. Due to budget, I realise this may not have been possible. I suggest it only because the relationship between Freud and Jung, their initial and arguably longstanding merging of minds followed by Jung’s frustration-induced departure, is condensed very well considering the amount the film had to contend with. However, had a film been solely focused on their relationship and handled in the same way it would have been an excellent study. The film has done well in its portrayal of Freud’s reluctance to entertain any other possibility for hysterical symptoms than those of a sexual nature. The film, rightly, justifies his stubbornness as a product of his fears that psychoanalysis will not be taken seriously should it evolve too far outside his own initial findings from Studies On Hysteria 1893-1895. So too does the film explore the idea that Freud was intent on building a legacy, but one only has to read any introduction to any of Freud’s works

to understand that he was crippled with insecurity about his work; often apologising for any offense or previous misinterpretations he caused in previous publications. This could have been explored more but then Freud was a very flawed character so perhaps it is best not to try to portray him too sympathetically. The Spielrein and Jung relationship too could have been split into a separate film since their relationship also spanned decades and was just as complex, if not more so. Considering the debate around whether their relationship was sexual or purely psychoanalytical ‘poetry’, as Spielrein herself demurely referred to it in her private letters, the film could have played around with this far more. While some criticism has been imparted on Fassbender and Knightley for their lack of chemistry, I actually would argue this was what worked best. Spielrein’s interest in the process of psychoanalytical treatment is evident in the film from the beginning, with her symptoms seeming to alleviate the further she becomes involved in the treatment process itself. As such, it seems that sex scenes which mirror the clinical treatment process is reflective of Spielrein and Jung’s need to assess every reaction to any sort of stimulus, whether psychological or sexual. Overall, Cronenberg did a very satisfying job. If you have any interest in psychoanalysis or detest the topic then either way this film is one to watch.

Want to know a little more about Freud? Or just looking for an excuse to depart from your coursework? I know the feeling! Here are a few suggestions to get you procrastination happy. The best part? They’re all to be found in our very own Boole Library:

Image: Royal College of Physicians Ireland Heritage Centre

Dr William Saunders Hallaran M.D., Practical Observations on the Causes and Cure of Insanity (1818)

For those interested in the running of the local Cork asylum before its closure, this is a tract written on the treatment of mental health in that looming presence in Sunday’s Well, Cork City. Surprisingly more care focused than the horror stories which have emerged over the years would suggest. But give it a read and decide who you believe! (could lead to controversy) (Available for free on google books)

Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud, Studies On Hysteria 1893-1895 (1895)

If you are interested in Freud’s works, then this is a great place to start. Much of Freud’s lecture papers are extremely complex whereas this initial foray into psychoanalysis is written much like a series of diary entries. Very interesting even if you don’t believe a word.

Charles Bernheimer and Claire Kahane, In Dora’s Case; Freud, Hysteria, Feminism (1990)

This is by far the most enjoyable criticism I have read on Freud’s case studies. It is a response to the infamous ‘Dora’ case study and the original case study itself is included. It is not Freud’s treatment methods that will keep you glued to the pages however but the figure of Dora herself who is a fascinating, and unpredictable woman throughout. Highly recommend!

Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman In The Attic (2000) If you really love the classics and are interested in any way in psychology, then this will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Seriously!

Brendan Kelly, Hearing Voices: A History of Psychiatry in Ireland (2016) An excellent, comprehensive read. It also contains helpful extracts of surveys, governor reports and hospital correspondence.

SEXPRESS

Editor: Rian Browne websites cater to the wider masses and are more profitable for doing so. This makes being able to sustain the creation of ethical porn more difficult, as most productions cater to represent those not traditionally featured in mainstream content, hence the cost to ensure the continuation of the creation of ethical erotic film and the artists behind it. One erotic film creator, who has become widely known for spearheading the indie genre, is Swedish erotic film director, Erika Lust. Within the last number of years Lust has produced and directed hundreds of erotic films, written five books exploring porn and sexuality, and garnered many awards for her work. Lust launched XConfessions in 2013. The crowd funded production asked viewers to submit their own sexual fantasies for Lust to then turn into creative erotic film. Lust’s work centres around four core points - women’s pleasure matters, adult cinema can be cinematic, film must feature a diversity in ages, body types and races and that the production process must be ethical.

Ethical Porn Over the last number of years there has been a rise in production companies that pride themselves on producing ‘free trade’ or ‘ethical porn’. With such an ease of accessibility to mainstream porn, often free and catering to the wider consumer mass, we want to find out what exactly is ‘ethical’ porn and what sets it aside from regular free porn sites?

What is Ethical Porn?

‘Free Trade’, independent, or most commonly referred to as ‘ethical’ porn, seeks to hold performers’ bodily autonomy and agency at its core. This means actors have a say and a choice in the acts they do and do not partake in, as opposed to the often strong and overbearing nature of some mainstream porn. Ethical porn provides a diversity that is very rarely, if ever, found in the mainstream adult industry, featuring performers of varying genders, sexualities, shapes, colours, sizes

Rían Browne, Sexpress Editor and abilities. ‘Ethical’ porn steers clear of the ‘male gaze’ usually featured in ‘traditional’ porn, avoiding the often harmful scenarios and expectations placed on women. In ensuring production is driven by the performers and their boundaries, ethical porn also avoids falling down the rabbit whole of fetishization or demonization of certain minority groups or individuals, including members of the transgender and queer community, body diversity or diversity of ability all often at a loss for representation when it comes to mainstream adult film. Instead, many directors within the genre embrace creating adult film as an art form, paying attention to story and cinematography that add to the experience of watching erotic film. Many of these ethical porn productions are small and independent ventures, often charging users small subscription fees to access content. Large porn

On deciding to create erotic art through film, Lust recalls being unable to relate to what she saw in mainstream porn, finding the overall experience unsatisfying; “The women did not look like they were enjoying themselves, and the sexual situations were totally ridiculous.” Lust wanted to challenge this, to create art that depicts women and other minorities as complex beings that are more than just a 2-D role catered to the male gaze, but actual individuals with needs, diverse sexualities and values. ‘‘We're modern women! Not slutty Sharon's, horny teens, desperate housewives, hot nurses, and nymphomaniac hookers, always looking to service pimps, multimillionaires or macho sex machines. Not always looking to please rather than be pleased. I wanted to know: where was my lifestyle, my values, my sexuality?’

Criticisms

Although ethical porn boasts a safe space of representation, artistic license and inclusion which is

often virtually inaccessible through mainstream porn services, some question it’s value or the value or porn in general. While some feminists and activists believe porn is something that should be liberating and promote sexual freedom others believe that porn contributes to a culture of misogyny and the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes portraying, in particular, female sexuality as something that is submissive. Leading antiporn academic Gail Dines, debuted their film ‘Pornland’, in 2015 to a large amount of controversy amid accusations of the films anti-porn leanings. The film aims to “show how commercial porn operates as an industry, how the images impact on us and help shape our gender and sexual identity, and the extent of violence and cruelty in mainstream porn”.

Where Can I Find Ethical Porn?

Ethical porn may sound like an elusive unicorn of diversity and representation for those who aren’t quite sure of where to start. Thankfully, Google is your best friend! Take some time to research when you’re not in ‘the mood’, just a quick type into google will find you surrounded by articles from mainstream courses such as The Daily Dot giving you a run down on the genre. The Feminist Porn Awards site is a great resource in giving you the opportunity to explore the work of 100’s of different directors and performers at the top of their game. Although mainstream porn is easy to get your hands on, it can be incredibly narrow in its content and reproduce harmful stereotypes and attitudes around sex. Ethical porn seeks to change this. This being said, there are some dissenting voices who argue that porn, in any form, is harmful and only perpetuates antiquated social norms. At least, through creating and facilitating the growth of a scene where performers are put first, where autonomy is taken into account and the diversity of experiences is represented in the creative process, ethical porn is making considerations that are very rarely taken into account in the mainstream porn. ◣

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Gaeilge

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

traenála roimh a bhabhta troda i gcoinne Conor McGregor. “I have a question for Ireland. What about your language? What about the Irish language? Where is your language right now?” a dúirt sé. Is cinnte go neartaíonn an meid thuas a chuid fiosrachta. Sin ráite, ag an gcéad preasócáid, dhein McGregor tagairt d’eachtra inar ionsaigh é agus a chriú bus ina raibh Khabib agus daoine eile. “An bhfuil cead agam dul go dti an leithreas? You know what that means? Can I take a s***e on the bus!”

An bhfuil an ceart ag Khabib? “I have a question for Ireland. What about your language? What about the Irish language? Where is your language right now?” “You guys change it? Please someone give me an answer? Are you guys with England right now?”

íonn ceist na teanga go mór i mbeal an phobail anois is aríst. Nuair a bhíonn duine ag machnamh faoi ghnéithe atá bainteach le híomhá na hÉireann, tagann cúpla rud chun cinn go hiondúil:

●Cairdiúlacht na ndaoine

●Cáil na flaithiúlachta

●An tart atá orainn d’alcól

James McAuliffe, Eagarthóir Gaeilge

Toisc go bhfuil teanga bhinn na Gaoulinne ar cheann des na nithe a neartaíonn ár thírgrá, ba cheart go mbeadh sí á lua sa chomhtéacs sin. Is é an mhalairt ar fad atá fíor i mo thuairimse. Don chuid is mó, ‘sé an t-aon tagairt ina mbíonn Gaeilge á lua ag muintir na hÉireann ná chun an teanga a cháineadh. Dírionn siad ar nithe éagsúla. Mar shampla, go mbíonn an iomarca gramadaí le foghlaim.

Fhrainc, ón Spáinn, ó Mheicsiceo) breá sásta labhairt faoi a gcultúr féin agus a dteanga dhúchais san áireamh. Áfach, bhíodh srian le cloisint ón meid a bhí le rá ag na Gaeil.

Fadó, nuair a bhíodh sruth na himirce ó Éirinn faoi lán seoil, clositear scéalta áirithe ón am sin. Mar shampla, tá sé ráite go mbíonn na hoibrithe ó thíortha iasachta (ón

Le déanaí, dhírigh Khabib Nurmagomedov (trodaí i saol na n-ealaíon comhraic measctha) ar cheist na Gaeilge ag seisiún oscailte

De réir na staisticí ón Census 2016, tá laghdú tagtha ar líon cainteoirí Gaeilge sna Gaeltachtaí. Ina iomláine, sa bhliain 2011 bhí 23,175 cainteoirí sna ceantair. Ar an drochuair, thit an uimhir san go 20,586 cainteoirí.

Frásaí na Seachtaine: Oíche Shamhna Oíche Shamhna shona duit! – Happy Halloween! Taibhse – A ghost Cailleach – A witch Sciathán Leathar – A bat Creatlach – A skeleton Puimcín – A pumpkin Tine crámha – A bonfire Tinnte ealaíne – Fireworks Spiorad – A spirit

Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

Damhan Alla – A spider

Creid nó ná creid, d’fhreastail McGregor ar scoil lán-Ghaeilge, Coláiste de hÍde i dTamhlacht i mBleá Cliath. Dúirt Tom Egan (trodaí MMA agus dlúthchara le McGregor) go bhfuil “ábhar machnaimh” san achrann faoi chúrsaí teanga. D’fhreastail Egan ar an scoil lánGhaeilge chéanna le McGregor. Dúirt sé: “Is ceist mhaith í d’Éireannaigh atá bródúil as a gcultúr: céard a tharla do theanga na nGael? Agus creidim faoin am seo go bhfuil an locht orainn féin nach bhfuil an teanga chomh láidir agus ab fhéidir agus gur chóir dúinn é sin a phlé nó a cheartú.” Mar fhocail scoir, toisc an tionchar atá ag McGregor sa lá atá inniú ann, ba cheart dó an deis a thapú an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn thar lear. Mar a dúirt Egan: “Ba bhreá liom dá labhródh Conor níos mó Gaeilge mar bheadh sin ar fheabhas don teanga.”◣

Photos

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Photo Credits: This page: Top: photo by CĂŠlem Deegan. Bottom: photo by Eve Harrington. Next page, clockwise from left: photo by CĂŠlem Deegan; photo by Eve Harrington; photo by Holly McGrath; photo by Eve Harrington; photo by James Kells

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Photos

Sports

MVG Dominates in Dublin Jack McGrath, Sports Writer

he Citywest Hotel was buzzing as the dart fanatics of the world descended on Dublin for the annual World Grand Prix of darts. The week-long event saw 32 of the world’s top players competing for a total prize fund of £400,000. The notorious ‘double in, double out’ format has caused some major upsets in the past and it continues to do so. The most famous one being the 1st round departure of world number 1, Michael Van Gerwen to ‘Big John’ Henderson in the 2017 tournament. This paved the way for Daryl Gurney to win his first major television title and become the first Irishman to win a PDC major event, beating Simon Whitlock 5-4 in an entertaining and equally dramatic final. This big win for Daryl Gurney piled the pressure on his young shoulders to perform the magic that he played in the previous instalment. He kicked off his 2018 WGP campaign with a comprehensive 2-0 victory over John Henderson, who he beat 4-1 on his path to glory last year. The

first major casualty in the Citywest was the reigning World Champion and world number 3, Rob Cross who fell to a 2-0 defeat against ‘The Bronzed Adonis’ Steve Beaton for the second year in succession. The ‘Lethal Biscuit’ and crowd favourite, James Wilson took down last year’s semi-finalist and world number 7, Simon Whitlock, 2-1 in the opening round. Michael Van Gerwen brushed the talented Irish player, Steve Lennon aside 2-0, with Van Gerwen clearly sending a message out to his opponents with his emphatic win. With the top players in flying form, they progressed to round 2. The highlight of round 2 was the intense clash between former back-to-back champion of the world, Adrian Lewis and James Wilson (formerly known as ‘Jammie dodger’). It was a tight affair throughout with both players missing crucial doubles. James Wilson eventually came through 3-2, with a performance which saw him hit a rare but wonderful 125 finish on the bull. The quarter finals stage saw the fall of the second favourite to win the tournament, Gary

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Anderson, who lost out 3-0 to the inform Daryl Gurney. Gurney fired a fantastic 92.72 average to dispatch an off form ‘Flying Scotsman’. This game didn’t go without drama, with Anderson claiming Gurney was mumbling behind his back while he threw his darts. Regardless of the circumstances, ‘Superchin’ progressed hoping to relive his success of last year. Peter Wright put an end to James Wilson’s magnificent run in the quarter finals with a hard fought 3-2 victory. Mensur Suljovic also continued his fantastic run of results by knocking out the only remaining Welshman and world number 11, Gerwyn Price. 4 of the top 6 players in the world made up the semi-finals line up. Michael Van Gerwen made light work of Daryl Gurney in the semi-finals with a 4-1 victory. The match of the tournament came in the semi-final, when Mensur Suljovic took on Peter Wright. ‘The Gentle’ Mensur raced into a 3-0 lead with some brilliant darts including a 133 check-out in the first leg. ‘Snakebite’ Wright is well known for his fighting spirit and determination and showed it on the big stage when he had to, reeling off four sets on the spin to

conquer the Austrian 4-3. Wright was overcome with emotion after his astonishing comeback to set up a shot at winning only his second televised major. The dream final was set. The world number 1 versus the world number 2. Michael Van Gerwen versus Peter Wright for the grand prize of £100,000 and the title of World Grand Prix champion. The final got off to a cracking start with ‘Snakebite’ missing darts for the set and ‘Mighty Mike’ jumping in to steal the first set. Peter Wright then turned on the style to take the next set with some decent finishing. It was neck and neck in the opening stages of the encounter with the finalists sharing the spoils at 2-2. Van Gerwen, being the champion he is and having won this prestigious tournament 3 times previously, showed his experience to claim 3 consecutive sets and secure the title for the fourth time in his career. It was a very memorable tournament for many reasons. There were shocks and drama from start to finish, but Van Gerwen continued his dominance over the world of darts and furthered his already sizable lead at the summit of the order of merit.◣

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

Sports

UCC Mens Hockey Club report: 29th/30th of September UCC Hockey Club

fter a tough preseason, the highly anticipated start to competitive matches came around on Saturday as UCC Men’s Hockey first team welcomed Ashton HC to the Mardyke for a Munster Division one clash. Returning coach Dave Egner & new manager Kay Gaffney had the team prepped and ready. As the whistle blew to announce the matches tip-off, it also marked the start of the highly anticipated Munster First Division League. The first half was tough for the men in red as ,although dominant in possession, UCC never really found their stride whilst flirting with danger a couple times leaving Ashton players free to shoot. Luckily UCC’s newly recruited GK Conor Beck kept out

any first half attempts and with UCC having their fair share of attacks too it finished nil all at the halfway mark. UCC came out of the traps in the second half, building a few phases as they pinged the ball about the pitch transferring from side to side, shifting the Ashton defence. However, as UCC kept attacking, they left themselves vulnerable when Ashton countered leaving them into the circle to eventually beat our keeper, putting UCC on the back foot. UCC showed great character as their heads never dropped in search of an equalizer, and then a potential winner. A nice flick from fresher Jack Marlborough put youngster Harry Deane in for a shot but unfortunately the former CofI man couldn’t find the target. Short corners

started to come UCC’s way, and after wasting a couple, UCC finally got a breakthrough thanks to a onetwo short corner between Irish U23 international Sam Grace and fellow Kilkenny man Eoin Finnegan lead to Grace firing the ball into the bottom corner, thus levelling the game. While a few more chances were spoiled by both teams, the game finished in a one all draw. UCC will be disappointed with the outcome, as they were the dominant side for the match. Dave Egner will be preparing the squad for their next match, when UCC will welcome Cork Harlequins to the Mardyke in the Irish Hockey Trophy. Overall UCC MHC will be slightly disappointed this weekend, as other results from the Men’s Hockey Club included the seconds team drawing

2-2 against Ashton HC with Jules Vermelle hitting both goals home for UCC. Despite the seconds going up a division from last year, they lead the whole match and will be disappointed they couldn’t seal the win. The new third’s team unfortunately lost away to Cork Harlequins. Despite putting up a serious battle, they lost the game in the second half, with Man of the Match going to UCC man Ciarán Murphy. Following what was a difficult week however, the men’s first team were victorious in their most recent fixture, beating Cork Harlequins by a score of 3-2 in Mardyke. The 2nds team followed this up with an impressive 2-2 draw away to Midleton, while the 3rd team succumbed to a 2-0 defeat in Waterford.◣

Sports

Who Runs the World? Declan Gleeson, Sports Editor

omen have been subject to degradation, misrepresentation, discrimination and injustices of every other kind throughout history. While we love to believe we currently live in a world of equality, sadly the truth is that we are very far off. Obviously, conditions have improved in the last century, in so far as women won the right to vote, or to keep their own jobs after marriage: rights that should never have been taken away from them. But sexism is still very much prevalent in our society, particularly in the global sports community. A new report conducted by Women in Sport has revealed that 40% of women experience gender discrimination in the sport industry. For each step forward in one arena, there is another where the rules are just as archaic as ever. One of the most alarming aspects, for myself at least, is that we cannot put these incidences of stereotyping and discrimination down to the “Old Earth” ways of thinking. These mistakes are being made by our generation as well. We are failing

to foster a safe space for everyone to compete and perform. “Go away and have a baby” was what one top cyclist, aged only 25, was allegedly told by her coach. “Lady players should get down on their knees and thank God Federer and Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport,” said by a CEO of a top-level tennis tournament. “Our Lionesses go back to being mothers, partners and daughters today,” was tweeted regarding the English women’s thirdplace finish at the 2015 World Cup in Canada. Serena Williams’ outburst against a tennis umpire last month brought attention back the question of sexism in sport, particularly in tennis, where it is clear there are still some gender double standards. The point has been made repeatedly about the double standard; that Serena was punished for calling the umpire a thief, yet male tennis players have openly admitted to shouting worse abuse at umpires and getting off scot-free. There are numerous cases which reflect this problem in tennis and sport, that there seems to be a need

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express

for this male-dominated control of the women. Williams was criticised by the French Open organisers for wearing a form-fitting catsuit in last year’s tournament, her first appearance since the birth of her child. Williams took the high road following the decision and received praise for her attitude after the French Open decided to ban this type of attire and bring in a dress code. This situation is similar to when Alize Cornet was punished for momentarily removing her top to adjust it. But once again we’ve seen time and time again that the male players do this, and nothing is said! Nadal and Djokovic regularly remove their shirts, and nobody bats an eye, it is misogyny of the highest level. Tennis is clearly in need of a regulatory reform and a serious review of how hospitable it is for women. Soccer poses another issue: FIFA says football is the most popular sport among women, with some 30 million playing it worldwide. Yet, only 23% of FIFA member countries have staff dedicated to women's football and the gender pay gap is more entrenched in football than in politics, business, medicine and space exploration. The fact that

commercial revenues are much lower for women's games is not the sole issue. Even for national teams, where it is up to the state to decide how to remunerate the players, women earn less than men. 35% of national team players don’t receive any compensation for representing their country, according to a recent survey by World’s Players Union FIFPro. Many countries, such as Italy, do not recognise women footballers as professionals. A great majority of women need to have a second job in order to sustain their professional football careers. Another issue that strikes a chord with me has been the depiction of women in crowds at the World Cup over the summer. During the last few big tournaments, more and more of the cameramen have been cutting to images of beautiful women in the crowd, drawing cheers from the crowd. This summer’s tournament was one of the worst for this, and while it might be harmless for some, it brings up another argument. An argument that I believe Grainne Kelly of the Irish Independent nails on the head: “Look at the hypocrisy of it. It's perfectly fine for drunken, sun-burnt bloated and messy male fans to be filmed. Shots of them wailing, dancing, laughing or indeed red-faced with anger and foaming at the mouth abound. Ask yourself though, how many shots of women behaving in the same way populate the footage? Why is it okay for men to be messy and to behave with reckless abandon in a sloppy way, but not the female fans? Where are the messy ladies shouting and roaring? Or, more importantly, where are the lingering shots of the "hot" male fans in the crowd?” Another comparison that should be made is with regards to broadcasting and exposure of women’s teams in sports such as rugby, soccer, golf, and American football. History tells us that male sports receive a large majority of the coverage across all media streams. In fact, up until a few years ago, up to 95% of coverage was exclusively on men’s teams. In 1999, women's sports coverage reached an all-time high when it was recorded at 8.7%. It maintained its higher percentages until it reached an all-time low in 2009, decreasing to 1.6 percent. In the last couple of years, women’s coverage has begun

Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018 | University Express to increase. A review in France reported that coverage grew from 7% in 2012 to between 16-20% in 2016.

lthough the necessary steps are beginning to be taken to promote equality between the genders in broadcasting, there are also issues with the manner in which women’s sport is represented too. One of the most common critiques of female representation in sport is that it is too sexualised, especially compared to how men’s sport is marketed. Using the Rio Olympics in 2016 as a case study, Andy Billings, a sports professor at the University of Alabama identified that by the halfway stage of the games, 60% of the coverage was on women. However, importantly, he acknowledged that the majority of this coverage was on sports that sexualised women or where the women were in swimsuits and tight clothing. For example, the US women’s gymnastics team received 3 hours more coverage than the men’s team. Of course, part of the explanation could have been that the women’s team were heavily tipped to win the event, as opposed to the men’s team who weren’t. Another example is the rise in popularity of beach volleyball. During the Olympics, women’s

beach volleyball received 2 hours and 45 minutes of coverage on NBC, while the men’s event warranted just 35 seconds of screen time. The sad truth is that these women’s talents are being undermined and some of the coverage of these events is down to the perception that women are still being judged more on their appearance rather than their abilities. Scholarly studies also show that when women athletes were given the option to pick a photo of a picture that would increase respect for their sport, they picked an on-the-court competency picture. However, when women athletes were told to pick a picture that would increase interest in their sport, 47% picked a picture that sexualized the women athlete; a reality that male sports stars would never have to face. There’s no point denying it; sex sells. But does the agenda of franchises and authoritative boards to sell and market their sport have to undermine those devoted to playing and promoting the sport to those around them? One of the worst examples of this is the female version of the NFL in America. Formed in 2009, the Legends Football League is a women’s tackle American Football League. The games are played in the spring and summer in professional

Sports men’s arenas and stadiums including those of the NFL. It should be a huge win for professional female sport that this is the first time women have been able to play the sport competitively on a national level and, given that American football caters for players of all shapes and sizes, it should promote positive body image for young children watching. But the League has suffered from some shocking administrative decisions. Up until 2013, the players were made to wear clothes that resembled lingerie, in fact the league was originally named the Lingerie Football League. It’s slogan supported this sexualisation and targeting towards a male audience: True Fantasy Football. The name doesn’t suggest the league should be about the sport and the incredible achievements of these women, just about what they look like while doing it. Even the team names somehow manage to do nothing but pander to the stereotype of female athletes as objects of male sexual gratification; names like Chicago Bliss, Las Vegas Sin and LA Temptation. If the New England Patriots changed their name to the New England Charm, they wouldn’t be taken seriously. In 2013, the league finally adopted measures to

39 steer the sport in a positive and more appropriate direction; the name was changed, the uniforms were updated to offer more padding and resemble the men’s uniforms a tad more (they still look like glorified lingerie), and the slogan was changed to ‘Women of the Gridiron’. You may agree with me or you may bemoan that I’m taking it too seriously and missing the fun, but the fact remains that the gap between the way male and female athletes are treated is still wide open. Yes there have been improvements and yes, the opportunities have probably never been so open for women in sport, but I refuse to accept the claims by federations like FIFA that they promote equality and are investing heavily in women’s opportunities and repeatedly pats itself on the back for doing almost next to nothing to remove objectify from the organisation. We’re headed in the right direction for sure, but until we have one completely discrimination free product that is identical across the board, from pay and conditions all the way down to uniforms and regulations, the women will always be playing catch up. Ask yourself, how many times do we see the male athletes complaining of sexism and objectivity, only for it to be quashed by women in charge? Never. ◣

University

Sports

Volume 22 | Issue Three | Tuesday 16th October 2018

UCCExpress.ie

Artificial surfaces – hit or miss? Sam Curtin, Sports Writer

n a world where we are moving towards artificial intelligence, the same can be said for the playing surface used to play our beloved games on. However, despite their increasing popularity, are artificial surfaces really the way to go? First of all, let us look at the pros. Artificial surfaces require much less maintenance then a natural playing surface because of their durability and their ability to resist the effects of the weather, which in Ireland is a major nemesis when it

comes to outdoor activities. They also reduce the likelihood of injuries to players who may pull muscles or fall awkwardly due to slippery conditions on a natural but uneven playing surface. Astroturf pitches in particular are becoming more and more prevalent in Ireland today across a number of sports including rugby. The most recent example is the installation of a 4G playing surface at Irish Independent Park, the second home of Munster rugby in Cork. However, one key aspect against this recent trend is the effect it can have on a player’s skill level. For example, the vast majority of tennis clubs in Ireland use tiger turf

or savannah style tennis courts to counter the adverse weather but this has a detrimental effect when it comes to producing top quality tennis players. The speed of the court is far too great for young/ beginner players as it reduces their time on the ball, making it difficult to develop a proper technique. It is also completely unrealistic as there are no ATP/ WTA level tournaments that use this surface which can alienate Irish players when playing on the European clay courts or American hard courts. It is widely agreed among Irish tennis coaches and ex pro’s such as Conor Niland, Ireland’s current Davis Cup captain, that the

playing surface used in Ireland is the main reason as to why we have yet to produce a player who has gone on to break into the top 100 on either the ATP or WTA tour. There is no question about it, with the advances in sports technology on and off the pitch, artificial playing surfaces are becoming a staple in countries throughout the world. It’s important to remember that, although artificial surfaces are weather friendly, they are not a proven blueprint capable of producing world class athletes. Ireland is known for its green image, let’s keep it that way when it comes to our playing surfaces.◣

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