VERGE
ISSUE VIII
Secondcity talks about his UK Number One ..... Rose of Tralee winner Maria Walsh on being gay and life as a Pioneer ..... ...Cara Delevingne’s star appeal .....Gaz Coombes on life after Supergrass ..... Films for 2015 ..... Hermitage Green’s top tunes ..
Editor’s Letter Diverged
Broadchurch – Eoghan
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Don’t Quote Me… but… Claire Fox
H
appy New Year everyone and welcome to the first issue of Verge for 2015!
It wasn’t the easiest of feats getting this issue together; most of us were feeling a bit sluggish after scoffing one too many chocolates from our selection boxes, yet here it is, basking in all its glory just for you! With this being the time of the year where the most reckless resolutions have officially been broken, we’ve got an issue of Verge jam-packed with interviews, along with news and views on the world of entertainment. Maybe it’s the failed resolutions, or the fact that the world is feeling the weight of the so-called ‘January Blues’ on its shoulders, but it can’t be denied that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become particularly saturated with inspirational quotes and sayings recently. One can’t log onto Facebook without one of our friends having commented
under a particular quote or epigram which took their liking. Virgin Radio Lebanon (is it even a radio station?) seems to be having somewhat of a heyday in the past number of months, specialising in slap-stick memes and quotes. While model Rozanna Purcell posted in her Instagram account before New Year’s Eve that “Reading inspirational quotes is actually a massive waste of time” – some might say posting endless selfies on a social media site is also a waste of time, but hey, who am I to judge. But, in reality, anything that boasts the promotion of positivethinking and well-being can only ever be a step in the right direction. In this week’s edition can be found a range of inspirational quotes to cater for every fancy. So whether you find solace in Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh’s words or in Secondcity’s musings on the power of nerves, we here at Verge are just glad to have contributed to your happiness!
Verge Editor: Claire Fox
Gaming Editor: Steve Barry
Film & TV: Eoghan Scott
Fashion Editor: Nicole Clinton
Music Editor: Robbie Byrne
Design: Kevin Hosford
Arts & Lit Editor: Molly Forsythe
The first series of ITV’s Broadchurch aired in 2013 to rave reviews and, due to its realism, drama and shocking plot developments, it soon became one of the most talked about British TV shows in recent history. The show, starring David Tennant and Olivia Colman, was so well received that an American remake (entitled Gracepoint, and also starring Tennant) aired last year – to slightly less favourable reviews. Despite seemingly having wrapped up its first series with nowhere left to go, Broadchurch has returned and remains just as enthralling as the first.
Searching For Sugar Man – Robbie Watching the superb Marley over the Christmas break got me thinking about the wealth of music documentaries that are available on Netflix right now. Charles Bradley: Soul of America serves up an intoxicating blend of heartbreak and warmth as it traces the life of a 60-something James Brown impersonator. Shut-up and Play the Hits, which focuses on the last moments of James Murphy’s pioneering LCD Soundsystem, is also worth a watch. But perhaps the best of all is Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching For Sugar Man, where a long forgotten American musician discovers his cult status, with the help of the documentary’s creator.
A Season of Readings – Molly Bibliophiles are in for a treat this semester as the lovely people at the School of English, the Munster Literature Centre and UCC Library have organised a series of readings by well-known writers. Speakers include literary megastar Zadie Smith (White Teeth, NW) and her poet/ novelist husband Nick Laird (Go Giants, To a Fault) on February 16th. Also featured are Matthew Hollis, poet and biographer of Edward Thomas, on March 10th and E.M. Forster Award-winning poet Robin Robertson on the 9th of April. These readings could be a good opportunity to try something new and different.
Saints Row IV: Re-elected – Steve I’m not usually one to applaud when publishers decide to cash in and publish an up-scaled re-release of an older game. Yet, when I heard Deep Silver were rereleasing the abnormally, chaotically fun Saints Row IV for PS4 and Xbox One, I may have stood up and clapped. People stared. It was awkward. Moving on... This re-release, which will function at 1080p and 60 FPS (so you say, Deep Silver), also includes the Gat Out of Hell DLC, which will add a devilishly entertaining new storyline to the game. Get it?... Devilishly? Because… hell. I need to stop punning.
Awards Season Fashion – Nicole While January is generally deemed the dullest month of the year, it holds a spark of excitement for fans of film and fashion by welcoming the beginning of Hollywood Awards season. With style icons like Emma Stone, Amy Adams and Keira Knightley doing the rounds as nominees this year, we’re sure to see a host of glamorous gowns grace the carpet. Of course, we must not forget that the men can be equally as elegant in their tuxedos. Prepare to hear the names Elie Saab, Armani Privé and Oscar De La Renta repeatedly for the next few weeks!
The Concert Comfort Dilemma Daisy Pemble reflects on her experience of whether it is feasible to put looks before comfort
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ttending a concert brings a girl to one of the biggest fashion dilemmas: practicality or glamour? More often than not, we are obliged to pick only one, as the two rarely go hand-in-hand. Don’t get me wrong, not all functional attire looks garish and unpleasant. The main culprit, however, is usually the shoes.
What shoes should one wear to a concert? I don’t think we will ever know the answer to this. At my first concert I wore my black Vans with little cherries on them. Although my feet remained snug throughout the entire duration of the concert, I remained my normal height, causing me to constantly strain
to see past the crowd of screaming girls in front of me. The girls in the queue had chosen the other extreme of footwear. Teetering high above me in five inch high-heels, they looked far from comfortable. They had also somehow managed to choose the wrong size shoe so they were wobbling dangerously from side to side
while trying to walk straight as their shoes kept coming off with every step. What gave me more satisfaction was their chosen dress code: skirts that could barely pass for belts and crop tops that covered up their dignity much less than a normal bra would did not
Image Anatomy: Cara Delevingne Nicole Clinton dissects the appeal of the star model and actress I must admit that I’m only now slightly beginning to warm to Cara Delevingne, despite the fact that young fashion lovers rapidly awarded her iconic status and have spent the last couple of years idolising her. The recent appearance of her spring 2015 campaigns for DKNY underwear and Topshop induced a contemplation of my scepticism of the Delevingne phenomenon.
white creation sublimely encapsulates Delevingne’s unique modelling talent; her ability to ‘act’ in a still image.
I realised the roots of my dislike for her reside in the combination of the irritatingly bratty ‘YOLO’ attitude that her public profile exudes and her profane christening as ‘the new Kate Moss’ (there will never be another Moss – she is the last supermodel). However, when I filtered out these external factors and just focused on the source material – the fashion photographs – a sense of appreciation for Delevingne’s hidden allure emerged.
“The general vibe radiated by the model constructs the theme of the photo: sexual dominance”
The photo that I would credit for altering my opinion is the May 2013 cover of the German version of Interview Magazine where the model poses in a chair. Shot by Peter Lindbergh, the black and
Fashion
While Kate Moss is an artist’s mysterious subject, Delevingne is more of an actress conveying a reaction to the past or present happenings of the world of the photograph. Kate is interpreted, Cara interprets.
It is this distinctive skill of Delevingne’s that imposes a narrative on the image in question. She leans back in the chair in a relaxed position, with the cigarette in her right hand adding a rebellious flair to her composure. This coupled with her defiant stare implies that she is not fazed by the fact that she is quite
seem the most sensible of options. But of course, the reason for this fashion statement was simple – they wanted to show off their fake tan, which seemed to glow with a strange orange luminescence. This was made much worse by the fact that it was raining, where it was revealed that it was not streak proof!
baggy top, Vans and a big Superdry coat, I felt a smug sense of satisfaction with my concert fashion choice. Unlike the girls in front of me, I was not halfnaked, barely able to walk, with streaky orange skin. Although I’m sure they believed that they looked good… But as the saying goes; each to their own!
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So, although I stood there in jeans, a exposed. She stares past the viewer, giving us the impression that we’re interrupting something. Perhaps we’re barging in on a frank conversation following a sexual encounter. A sensual tone emanates from the image but we are not witnessing a seduction but rather a blunt dismissal post-seduction. Her unashamed gaze says ‘We’re done; you can leave now.’ The general vibe radiated by the model constructs the theme of the photo: sexual dominance. The character that she embodies in the visual is tough and somewhat unromantic. She possesses a woman’s body but a man’s attitude presenting us with a refreshing reversal of gender stereotypes. She is a modern woman who is unapologetically in control of her sexuality, while still remaining stunningly feminine and attractive.
masculinity, while opaque stockings are an exclusively feminine item.
Unsurprisingly, fashion plays an important role in the photograph’s impact. Delevingne wears nothing but a black three-quarter length coat with PVC effect sleeves and large, silver buttons, black, high-heeled ankle boots and black stockings. Her outfit reflects a blend of interference with gender expectation. The loose-fitting tailoring of the jacket loans it a hint of
The notion of curiosity that the photo dabbles in further underlines the theme. Cara crosses her legs, drawing a parallel with Sharon Stone’s infamous Basic Instinct scene; even more so as the position makes it unclear whether she is wearing the most fundamental item of clothing... or not? Curiosity indeed.
The thigh-high length of the stockings emphasise the theme of the image with this style of hosiery, often teasingly used by women to exploit sexual power over their male counterpart.
Film “All I’m doing is just living.”
T
his was one of the opening lines of RTÉ’s three-part series Charlie, which aired throughout January. The show, which cost RTÉ an estimated €4 million to produce, was highly anticipated by Irish audiences as never before had the state broadcaster aired such a programme about a political figure. And let’s not forget this wasn’t just any political figure, this was the man who helped coin the phrase ‘GUBU’ – grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented – the black prince of Irish politics, Charles Haughey. Played by esteemed actor Aiden Gillen (most notable for his roles as John Boy in Love/Hate and Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish in Game of Thrones), the sheer charisma and lust for power that drives Haughey to become Taoiseach are brilliantly captured by Gillen.
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While Gillen’s hairstyle throughout the show may be more similar to Vincent Browne’s than Haughey’s actual appearance, no better actor could have been chosen to articulate both
GUBU: Charlie and his ‘angels’ Claire Fox reviews the controversial RTÉ series, Charlie the political and personal elements of Haughey’s life. Gillen’s portrayal of Haughey as a concerned Taoiseach in his famous “living beyond our means” speech is contrasted with the Gatsbylike party that Haughey throws to celebrate his ousting of Jack Lynch as Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach. Charlie’s political wingmen and rivals are also aptly portrayed throughout the series. Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Nidge to you and me) gives an excellent turn as Haughey’s secretary, P.J. Mara, proving he has the ability to act as a political gangster, as well as a run-of-the-mill one. However critics were more scathing of his Love/Hate co-star Peter O’ Meara’s playing of the then Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan Snr. Lenihan’s role in the show seems to be only one of comic entertainment and as a bumbling oaf, rather than a believable political force. Even Lenihan’s sister and former TD Mary O’ Rourke has expressed the portrayal of her bother in the series as ‘worrying’. On a more positive note, English actress, Lucy Cohu adds some much
“While there’s life, there’s hope” Méabh Flanagan casts her eye over the Oscar contender, The Theory of Everything
needed sparkle to the show in her role as Haughey’s mistress Terry Keane, while Risteárd Cooper embodies the political tact of secretary to the government, Dermot Nally, superbly. Still the pace of the show proves somewhat of a problem. Perhaps the writer, Colin Teevan, was more concerned with cramming political facts and information into the series rather than taking time to focus on the man himself; allowing for the obvious question that perhaps the series would the writer’s choice to strip him of his more standoffish and arrogant traits in an attempt to make him more palatable to mainstream audiences. Perhaps, because the movie is loosely based on her biographies, Felicity Jones, as Jane, is the true star of this biopic. A religious young woman who studies French and Spanish, Jane seems initially doomed to be overshadowed by Stephen, yet we slowly realise that she is the one with real determination. James Marsh's direction is exceedingly clever, especially in gauging just how much of Hawking's failing voice audiences are able to bear. In a scene that necessitates a monologue from Stephen as he explains his new theory, Marsh chooses to cut to Hawking’s friends in a local bar, who are discussing the exact same concept.
T
he Theory of Everything follows Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane as he rises to fame for his theories in physics, while also battling early-onset motor neuron disease. A film which may be well-suited for Oscar nods, but any accolades it receives are well deserved.
Eddie Redmayne’s Golden Globewinning portrayal of Hawking’s condition is flawless, particularly his careful escalation of symptoms and characteristics. As a character, however, Hawking does come across as a touch flat, though this does not stem from any failing on Redmayne’s part, but from
have been better served as a four or five episode drama, rather than a compact three-part series. Charlie, much like the real-life man was bound to divide opinions. You either loved or loathed him, worshipped or reviled him. Teevan, talking prior to the release, encapsulated the true meaning of the series and the mind behind the man: “It’s a story about power – what power does to the individual and what the individual does with power.”
a soap opera finding happiness. This works as a lovely piece of foreshadowing for the future complications in their relationship. The subplot is deftly handled and ignores the usual love triangle tropes.
Another bold choice on Marsh’s part was to tone down the science aspects in the film, and yet the scenes where he allows it to come to the forefront are cinematographic triumph.
This idealism is perhaps the greatest failing of the film. In a visuallyappealing sequence that flashes back to the beginning of their relationship, the film tries to assure us that all has worked out for Jane and Stephen, but this saccharine ending may not ring true for all. Keep in mind that this is not a documentary, and that Jane herself had said that Hawking treated her and the children as “second-class citizens” because they did not share his genius.
This knack for boiling down broad concepts is also seen when Stephen offhandedly comments on the probability of any of the characters in
Knowing this does not ruin Marsh’s movie, but it does make you question how true to life this heart-wrenching biopic really is.
The Verge Cinema Guide to 2015
Film
Rachel Goggin is your guide through the 12 months of cinema: a year of sequels, action, love affairs and, of course, plenty of drama. September
Suffragette is out September 11th and is based on true events of the foot soldiers during the early feminist movement. Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep, it is an emotive and inspiring tale. The same moth will see Jane Got A Gun (September 25th) hit big screens. When Jane’s husband comes close to death after being shot, she seeks the help of an ex-lover to protect her farm when a gang tries to hunt her husband down to finish the job. So, a dishy action film with a western feel.
October January
April
The pick of the January releases has to be American Sniper, released the weekend just gone. The Clint Eastwood movie, starring Bradley Cooper, is an account of the career of the most lethal sniper in American military history. No doubt Eastwood, with his undoubted pedigree for war features, will have an interesting way of portraying this Navy SEAL figure.
Avengers: Age of Ultron, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team The Avengers, is out April 24th nationwide. The fate of the planet is in their hands as the infamous Ultron emerges. They must do what they can to ensure the safety of our world in what is set to be another blockbuster.
February A greatly anticipated film of 2015, Fifty Shades of Grey is released here on February 13th. Based on the trilogy of erotic novels by E.L. James, Jamie Dornan takes to our screens to show us the boundaries of lust in ways we can only imagine. It’s set to be a sell out over the Valentine’s period.
March Insurgent is the second instalment in the Divergent Series and will be released on March 20th. The main character Beatrice continues to fight for the good of society against the cause trying to tear it down, while tackling her inner demons in the process. However an alternative pick of the March offerings has got to be Cinderella, out March 27th. Starring Lily James of Downton Abbey fame and Richard Madden, yet another Game of Thrones hunk, this remake of the Disney classic will undoubtedly be magical!
May Pitch Perfect 2 is out on May 15th and, following on from the first movie, the focus is on the group coming of age into adulthood as they are now graduating seniors. There are high expectations out there for Fat Amy’s one liners and, of course, the cover versions of our favourite pop tunes. Mad Max: Fury Road will offer some choice as a same-day release. Starring Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult, Charlize Theron and Rosie HuntingtonWhiteley, it is an apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, a stark desert location where civilisation is broken. Within this unworldly place exists two rebel forces on the run that just might be able to restore order.
June Jurassic World (June 12th): 22 years after events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now has a fully operational dinosaur theme park, as initially proposed by John Hammond. It is one of the most awaited movies of 2015 and certainly
worth a watch!
July Seth MacFarlane’s Ted 2 is out July 10th and the plot is still unfolding in the media and online. However, according to speculation, it is set to involve Ted and his best friend John (Mark Wahlberg) heading off on a road trip of sorts and, naturally, Ted conflicts with John’s new love affair, actress Amanda Seyfried. Sure to be a good old’ laugh indeed!
Everest is out on the 2nd of October and is inspired by the incredible events surrounding a treacherous attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain. Despite numerous documentaries on the subject, Everest is sure to be gripping. Daniel Craig returns as 007 in Spectre (October 23rd), the latest James Bond movie. Without a doubt Spectre is going to be one of the biggest movies of 2015.
November
Yet, the must watch for July is unquestionably Eden, directed by Mia Hansen-Leve. It is based on the director’s brother, Sven, who was one of the pioneering DJs of the French rave scene in the early 90s, and along with his friends created the sensation that is and was Daft Punk.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two comes out November 20th. Katniss Everdeen agrees to unify the districts of Panem in an uprising against the tyrannical Capitol, following her second survival of the annual Hunger Games. Here’s hoping they can keep us on the edge of our seats for another instalment.
August
December
6th of August is the release date for The Fantastic Four. The story of four scientists altered by cosmic rays during a space voyage, they must save the world from certain destruction caused by none other than, Dr. Doom.
Star Wars: The Forces Awaken is due for release on December 18th. Set 30 years after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, it is a continuation of the saga created by George Lucas.
Pixels is out August 14th and is the tale of characters from a video game coming to life to fight back against an alien invasion. An Adam Sandler production, so expect it to be fairly light hearted!
Mission Impossible 5 is out for St. Stephen’s Day as Tom Cruise returns once again to fill our screens with plenty of drama and suspense, in a similar vein to the previous MI quartet.
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Femme Factor
Music
B
eing a feminist in the music industry is the most fearless fashion statement right now; at least that’s what 2014 taught us. Whether the love affair Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are having with feminism is just a flighty infatuation built to boost their publicity remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure – this year will add another chapter to what is becoming known as the third wave of feminism. Maybe it’s the fact that 2013 was such an abysmal year for the feminist cause that allowed 2014 to experience another wave of girl power. Who can forget the 2013’s ‘Blurred Lines’, whose lyrics and likewise its video did nothing to further the feminist cause. While the ‘Blurred Lines’ debate is now a tired one, it’s best to remember the memorable progress that feminism has taken in the last 12 months.
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Many critics of Beyoncé consistently claim that she is not a feminist. How could someone who names their worldwide tour The Mrs. Carter Tour after their husband’s surname possibly be a feminist? But Beyoncé is a feminist. Women should be allowed to take their husband’s name if they gain empowerment from doing so. What better way to prove that Beyoncé has real feminist credentials by featuring the feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on her
Claire Fox analyses the rising tide of third-wave feminist vibes appearing in popular music track ‘Flawless’ – a celebration of female work ethic. Her marriage to Jay Z hasn’t forced a changed stance, something that she eloquently expressed in a video to mark the first anniversary of her visual album: “‘I think it’s the hardest thing to give up, but my mother always taught me to be strong and to never be a victim, never make excuses, never expect anyone else to provide me things that I know I can provide for myself.”
2013
It seems that since releasing 1989, Taylor Swift has adopted similar views to Queen Bey. Instead of strumming her guitar to lament the loss of halfhearted lovers, she has refashioned her persona into confident women with the ability to ‘shake off ’ whatever comes her way. In an interview with The Guardian this year, Swift addressed what is most contentious moot point of feminism today – that to be a feminist is to mean ‘we hate men.’ While Swift’s extreme stance in her ‘Blank Space’ video may seem as if she is indeed a man hater, in reality she is just demanding a gender equality that the music industry is sorely lacking. It’s not just megastar solo-artists that are flying the flag for feminism. Today pop groups such GRL and Fifth Harmony are promoting the same stream of equality that Spice Girls
2014 paraded throughout the late-nineties. Today, Californian trio Haim are strutting their own brand of pop-rock from Glastonbury to Coachella. Even Sinead O’Connor’s latest LP, entitled I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss highlights the true meaning of feminism in the music industry.
Feminism isn’t about detesting men or dissing other women, it’s about rejoicing in the difference that exists between us while demanding equality. Still, it remains vital that women work together to ensure that the glass ceiling remains well and truly shattered.
My Awesome Mix, Vol. VII
Hermitage Green Limerick based indie-pop outfit Hermitage Green gave us their very own eight-track playlist after a raucous Cyprus Avenue performance last Saturday. Having won over crowds from Australia to the UK, the five-piece are set to drop their as yet untitled debut album later this year. 1. Damien Rice – The Greatest Bastard
2. Ben Howard – Small Things 3. Nick Mulvey – Juramidam 4. Asgeir – Torrent 5. Jungle – Busy Earnin’ 6. Hercules and Love Affair – Blind 7. The Gloaming – Opening Set 8. Natty – Bedroom Eyes
Sunil Sharpe One of Ireland’s most hyped underground DJs, Sunil Sharpe has played in the world’s best techno venues, including Berlin’s Tressor Club. His sets are always performed live on vinyl – an increasingly rare skill in a USB dominated field. Voted best Irish DJ, Sunil plays Cyprus Avenue this Friday, January 20th.
1. Alden Tyrell – Acid 3 (Vin Sol remix) 2. Capracara – Digital Dungeon (Remix) 3. DeFeKT – 6 x 6 4. Guise – Cyclepoint (Ctrls remix) 5. Makaton – Dstablise 6. Mark Forshaw – H1_1P 7. Markus Suckut – Turn On 8. The Mover – Waves Of Life
The Famous Five: Breakout acts to watch for 2015 Robbie Byrne While it had its moments, most notably D’Angelo’s fantastic Black Messiah and Hozier’s phenomenal rise to stardom, 2014 will hardly go down in the annals as a vintage year for music. Still, every January there’s a renewed sense of anticipation of what underground acts will surface. These are the five acts to watch for 2015. There is something unsettlingly mysterious about Las Vegas native Shamir. “I spend every Saturday crying myself to sleep,” asserted the vocalist in a recent interview with NME. Possessing a voice that straddles a fine line between female disco diva and delta blues journeyman, Shamir’s breakthrough singles have proved to be
Music
equally diverse. From the Prince aping ‘If That Wasn’t True’ to the Azalea Banks flow of ‘On The Regular’, Shamir’s debut LP is destined to cause waves when it drops this summer. Though only seventeen, the path to fame for Derry-based songstress Soak has been a long one. Touted by The Guardian since 2012, last year saw the silken voiced singer-songwriter sign to Chvrches startup label Goodbye Records. Her latest single ‘B a noBody’ has raked up over two million streams thanks to hazy production and an equivocal vocal delivery that evokes Cocteau Twins at the height of their powers. While Jack White may have inspired a slew of riff-focused imitators over the past decade, none have bonded
his garage rock immediacy with punk fuelled vexation like Slaves. A sound that comes directly from their limitations, Slaves consist of one drummer-singer and a single guitarist. That’s it. What’s been released by the eastLondon duo so far make The Clash seem like Louis Walsh’s latest pop export. It’s violent, but beautifully so. Fresh from claiming the BBC Sound of the Year award, Kitsuné’s Years and Years have the potential to become 2015’s most prolific dance knockouts. Balancing commercial viability and critical appeal with ease, the electronica trio are set to release their first LP later this year. What’s been released so far is an infectious mix of tropical infused house beats and sensible pop hooks. They may not blow Disclosure out of the water
just yet, but it’ll sure suffice while we wait for a follow up to 2013’s Settle. The final spot was a tightly contested showdown between Hippo Campus, who, despite the odd name, remain one of America’s hottest tipped indie outfits, Dublin-based, big-name record label fodder State Lights and electronica artist Jack Garratt. Above all, it is the latter whose talent shows most promise. Garratt’s only release to date, Remnants, showcases an ambition that bellies his inexperience as a recording artist. Dense production smothers pensive lyricism – only to be elevated by Garratt’s Pharrell-like falsetto. The result sounds like a record James Blake would lay down if he stopped sobbing about his life. And the best bit? Garratt’s ear for memorable hooks means this artist has true radio potential.
Sheeran set for intimate Whelan’s performance Holly Cooney Despite its tiny capacity size, the recent announcement of Ed Sheeran’s upcoming performance in Whelan’s is huge. The multi-platinum singersongwriter has chosen the iconic Dublin venue as the location for his show as part of the VH1 Storytellers series. For the series each artist was allowed to choose one venue close to their heart and Whelan’s, where Sheeran attended a Damian Rice gig at the age of 11, is a place he has always held dear. According to the VH1 press release, Sheeran is quoted as saying, “That night literally changed my life. The time he spent talking with me after the show
made all the difference. It inspired me in a way that I only hope to do for someone else.” Getting a little one-on-one attention from one of the world’s biggest stars is something Irish fans are going crazy over. As a member of the Twitter ‘Top 100’, Sheeran has over 11 million followers and it’s pretty clear that Whelans’ 400-person capacity is not going to be anywhere near sufficient. Since the announcement was made earlier this month, Whelan’s have been inundated with letters from desperate fans looking for tickets with many even offering to work at the venue on the night. One fan even offered to
stand on the roof of the tiny venue to catch a glimpse of the performance. Unfortunately, Whealans management reports that nothing can be done to help those who lose out in the rush for tickets.
On January 13th Sheeran announced that fans could apply for tickets through the ‘Storytellers’ link on applause.com but it’s clear they won’t be there for long.
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Abandoning Grass Roots
Music
I
t’s one of music’s greatest afflictions. For decades, band members have taken the solo route with varying levels of success and failure. Robert Plant never truly untangled himself from the Led Zeppelin mystique, while Alan Partridge remains the only bloke to claim that Wings were the band the Beatles could have been. And lets not forget about Mel C’s post-Spice Girls career. Though I sense you already have.
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“I was naïve in thinking that people would forget I was the Supergrass vocalist; the comparisons will always be there,” begins Gaz Coombes. Of course, the Oxford native would be right. For the generation of Britpop teens that sang along the carefree ‘Alright’ and ‘Pumping On Your Stereo’, the music that Coombe crafts today could not be any further removed. For his second solo LP Matador, brooding synthesizer beeps, two step rhythms and strained vocals read like a product by Thom York or his protégé Matt Bellamy rather than the cheeky chap who once ‘bought some wheels/ took it out/ ‘cross the fields.’
“I was naïve in thinking that people would forget I was the Supergrass vocalist; the comparisons will always be there,” Today, Coombes sees his new sound as a creation of chance, rather than intention: “I really wanted to make something spontaneous. Being by myself for the majority of the album’s creation allowed instincts to govern.” Repeated listens reveal a singularity to each track, only to be bound together by the sustained use of arid, brooding instrumentation. “The first track I wrote for the album was ‘Buffalo’ and it began with this simple loop and staggered piano chords – it came together so quick. When I began recording I had so much self doubt – I just didn’t know what direction to go in, but hearing the first demo of ‘Buffalo’ filled me with a renewed confidence.” Matador is an album that could only be created by a musician whose life
Former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes talks to Robbie Byrne about his latest solo album, rock egotists and Britpop today in a special place and as somebody fascinated by the human condition, Coombes agrees. “There are aspects of my life that are going really well right now, but there are also things that are quite the opposite,” he says, before pausing – “life is one long contradiction and I feel this album tackles exactly that. “How do you pick yourself up when your life is on the floor? With Matador I’m trying to say is fuck it, come on, you have to get through this. I don’t want to be one of those singers that moan their way through every album. Having said that I find the dark side of life fascinating. Like the best comedy, the greatest music always has a sinister shade.” Our conversation then turns to The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, another 90s rock behemoth now going solo, who in a recent interview with The Guardian claimed that reviews for aging 90s rock stars are pre-written by the press. But Coombes is more philosophical than his once cheeky chap persona would have you believe: “Corgan is an amazing character and a truly great musician. Though I feel he has a chip on his shoulder. Why? Who knows. Being in a big band for the best part of twenty years doesn’t owe you anything - you cannot assume that your next album will be a world beater if one you wrote a decade ago was a classic.” With Damon Albarn, Noel Gallagher and Coombes having released new music in the last few months, many critics are dubbing their latest work collectively as ‘mature Britpop’. It’s a label that the Supergrass frontman fails to take kindly, “I think it’s lazy to think of anything that Noel, Damon or Thom produces today as anyway related to Britpop – especially Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. I also fail to see a relation between Britpop and my own LP. Britpop was the scene of my adolescence, I’m 38 now – I’ve shed my youth,” he says before adding, “The only way to combat thought like that is to think in the present. This album isn’t about past glories; it’s rooted in the present.” Pressing an artist to select a favourite moment from their latest work usually results in prolonged silence and resentment, but Coombes seems more enthusiastic than most to choose his own Matador snapshot: “If there is one element of the album that comes
together better than I envisaged it would be the breakdown and choir parts of The English Ruse.
“Being in a big band for the best part of twenty years doesn’t owe you anything - you cannot assume that your next album will be a world beater if one you wrote a decade ago was a classic.” “By using the choir I hoped to create a Disney-like sound, and no, I didn’t go entirely bonkers and look to recreate Frozen. What I wanted was a tone reminiscent of those mystical 1930s Disney productions.” Its an otherwise hair-brained idea that
somehow works beautifully, just like the remainder of the record. You could easily to forget that Coombes once fronted a band whose first LP was Parlophone’s fasted selling debut record since The Beatles’ Please Please Me. A band that once played Wembley Stadium. A band that won ten major music awards. Should it come as a surprise that Coombes has invited himself into that select club of band members who have gone solo and successfully so? Not at all, and while much has changed around Coombes since those tentative steps as a professional musician, his inspirations remains the same, “It’s those records that you grow up with that define what you create. I still get the same enjoyment from listening to my Neill Young and Iggy Pop LP’s as I did when I was a teen.”
Secondcity’s life at number one Robbie Byrne chats to Anglo-American DJ Secondcity about topping the UK charts
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Music
t all began with one album. Disclosure’s debut LP Settle provided the perfect antidote to the immature, florescent and increasingly irritating monstrosity that was EDM. While Settle showcased nothing that hadn’t been seen before, its revival of immaculate production, driving bass rhythms and silky melodies took the then tainted dance world by storm, inspiring a host of imitators – good and bad. “Yeah, I just landed in the UK from New York so I’m pretty jetlagged right now,” begins Rowan Harrington, aka Secondcity. Ostensibly, it seems that the Anglo-American is lapping up the wave of success that house’s newfound popularity has generated. Having scored a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and second spot on the US Dance Club Chart last summer, Harrington’s stock rose from underground tech-house producer to mainstage performer at Ibiza’s Defected Festival, alongside house stalwarts Guti and Noir.
“In a weird sort of way the nerves told me that DJing was what I had to do as a career.” While Secondcity created one of last summer’s most distinct house sounds with ‘I Wanna Feel’, the producer is far from new to the scene – having actively witnessed the genre mushroom from underground Brighton clubbing, to mainstream radio over the years. It’s a phenomenon that he struggles to comprehend: “It’s hard to say why there has been a migration from EDM and dubstep to house music. I really have no idea why it blew up on such a commercial level. I can only speak for myself, as I have always had a passion for house and its offshoots.” Harrington seems nostalgic rather than embarrassed when asked to cast his mind back to his earliest DJ sets. “I remember my first set in Tunbridge Wells from when I about seventeen, I was shaking – not so sure if choosing an all vinyl set was the wisest choice,” he laughs. “Having said that I always think of my
first proper DJ set from when I switched to the SecondCity alias four years ago. Before that I was just playing small clubs. Nerves were always a problem, but I still loved doing it. In a weird sort of way the nerves told me that DJing was what I had to do as a career.” From that fateful night in Bristol, Secondcity became immersed in a community of likeminded producers who were creating a sound that sought to revive the glory days of house. One particular collaboration with sometime Savoy Resident DJ Route 94 since become a signature track for both DJs – a disco infused house rework of Adina Howards’ Freak Like Me, which both took great pride in. Even the briefest of scans through Secondcity’s earliest cuts from the Saint & Sonnets through to his most recent work with Ali Love reveals a shift towards a more commercial sound, but it’s a thought that he refutes – explaining that even ‘I Wanna Feel’ was intended to be an underground release. “I really didn’t see it being the huge hit it became. I intended it to be something passed around among friends. It wasn’t until Ministry of Sound approached me to release it that I began to see how big it could become. “While topping the charts was amazing, it’s not something that will become a trademark of my work.”
Harrington’s reluctance in becoming a commercial artist reveals an evolving friction in the UK house scene, as producers balance the romantics of mixing their own blend of obscure cuts with the financial sensibility of radio airplay. For Secondcity, it seems that from here pop will take a back seat; “I still see myself as an underground producer - I really doubt that I’ll ever become a commercial artist as such.”
“If you play a set that fails to opens people’s minds you’re doing something wrong.”
It’s a sentiment that becomes obvious when I listen to his most recent EP, Technique; a two-track gem complete with driving tech-house rhythms and old school vocal samples. It’s resolutely uncommerical, destined for the beer soaked dance floor rather than the chart’s upper echelons. While Secondcity’s musical palette is diverse, the equipment used to create it is rudimentary. “All I have in my studio right now is a pair of monitors, a midi keyboard, some sound cards and a computer. That’s it.” It seems an odd choice but Harrington explains that his music feeds off its environment rather than expensive
equipment: “I always seem to work best in the comfort of my home. It’s odd; anything that I’ve made outside my home studio has had this completely different sound. It’s like it reveals a different side of me.” Sensing a slip in attentiveness, we move on to Harrington’s now renowned live sets, to which he instantly livens: “My focus as a DJ has always been uncovering records that people have forgotten. The sets tend to go for a tribal sound - I really don’t play commercial music, though I still mix in my better known tracks.” It’s a move that serves to reveal his global passion for music where everything from Afrobeat to techno becomes an integral part of the DJ’s playlist. “If you play a set that fails to open people’s minds you’re doing something wrong. That’s why I get so much joy out playing obscure tracks – letting the crowd hear something they’ve never experienced before.” Secondcity is playing the ultimate balancing act. Ever reluctant to be seen as that guy who topped the UK charts, it seems a state of Zen can only be sought by crawling back into the undergrowth; creating jolting house numbers to be appreciated by the select few. Though if Harrington struck pop-house gold once more would he release it to the world? Damn sure he would. Secondcity plays The Savoy on January 30th.
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Interview
Maria Walsh – A Rose of Our Time Claire Fox speaks with the 2014 Rose of Tralee winner “When I moved from Boston to Mayo I grew up watching the festival and, like many women, it was always on the bucket list and as I got older I understood everything it encompassed. I wanted to represent Mayo or some place I called home and that really became Philadelphia for me in the last few years.” Being an active member of the Irish community in Philadelphia, Walsh has fallen even more in love with her Irish heritage and culture since moving from her native West of Ireland home of Shrule. “Heritage becomes more important when you move away. I play football so immediately, wherever I go, I try and find a football team. You just want to embrace what you know and you meet other people who’ve travelled the world and are trying to build a base.
We’ve got an incredibly high suicide rate, particularly with young people and sexuality can be the number one culprit of that.
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“Philadelphia has a wonderful Irish community with a lot of older members from Mayo and Tyrone. We are a bit of a new age coming through at the moment.”
Like all things popular, the International Rose of Tralee Competition has received its fair share of mixed commentary in the past. From being compared to a beauty pageant and parodied in what is now a famous Father Ted episode, where Ted presents a ‘Lovely Girls Competition’, the festival is no stranger to being both mocked and marvelled. But for the 2014 Rose of Tralee, Maria Walsh, being called a lovely lady is something she views as a compliment. “There’s a lot of talk of Father Tedisms, but I really am confused as to when lovely lady became such a negative connotation. I would love to be called a lovely lady,” asserts the 27-year-old
who was born in Boston but raised in County Mayo. “You meet someone and you say she is lovely, what’s wrong with that?” Having moved back to the United States to work, Walsh is currently based in Philadelphia where she has lived for the last three years. Working for the high profile fashion company Anthropologie, which is linked to Urban Outfitters, Walsh has had a lot of explaining to do for her American colleagues with regard to what the Rose of Tralee actually is. “When I speak about it with them they see the similarities to Miss America and I say; ‘No, it’s far from it’, but I
understand why they would think that. For me it’s a celebration of the quality of Irish women in our diaspora.” Despite the confusion among her workmates as to what the Rose of Tralee actually entails, Walsh admits that the company came to a standstill for her stint on television representing Philadelphia at the other end of the Atlantic: “The entire company watched the Tralee show. A lot of them have generations of Irishness in them, so it was great for them.” The Rose of Tralee had been on Walsh’s mind for some time and with only a few more years left to enter, Walsh decided to submit her name in 2014.
Having enjoyed her experience as a regional rose, Walsh was shocked when Dáithí Ó Sé crowned her as International Rose of Tralee last August. Being a bit more outspoken than former winners, Walsh believes her family, and indeed the entire Rose community, were surprised by her clinching of the title. “No I wasn’t expecting it,” says the brunette. “I think the Rose of Tralee committee are still shocked to be honest! People at home only see what’s on TV. It’s such a shame they don’t see the real depth and quality of each girl. “For me, I was so lucky because I got the chance to meet 59 other young women from different parts of the world. It was such an exciting time.”
friends. It was just something that was one aspect of me, Maria Walsh, another part of my identity. “I would talk more about being a Pioneer than being a member of the LGBT community. Like I said earlier, it’s wonderful that we can allow a young person to feel more comfortable in their own skin. I hope that if one person feels more comfortable in themselves and is able to talk about their sexuality with their close friends or family, then I have definitely fulfilled my role as a Rose.
Winning the Rose of Tralee title has opened many doors for Walsh, allowing her to develop as a person and achieve things she would never have thought possible, such as charity and community work in both Ireland and further afield. “I travelled to Kolkata with the Hope Foundation in November. It was a fantastic experience. It was a different part of the world, probably something I would never have seen and that’s what’s so brilliant about this Rose of Tralee family, it gives you the opportunity to do that. I also travelled to South Africa and will be travelling to Chernobyl with Adi Roche.” Another aspect of Walsh’s personality which she holds dear to heart is the fact she is a Pioneer, abstaining from alcohol and other substances. In a culture where night-life and socialising seems to revolve around alcohol and binge-drinking, has the Rose has she ever struggled with her life-long pledge? “I grew up with it,” begins the Rose in her unique accent, which combines both North-American and Mayo quirks. “People are more curious as to how I spend my Friday and Saturday nights even though I’m always first on the
dance floor. I get a range of questions: ‘Have you ever drank?’ – ‘No.’ ‘You must have had champagne?’ – ‘No.’”
“I would talk more about being a Pioneer than being a member of the LGBT community. Since it’s a decision Walsh made in her early teens, being a non-drinker is an integral part of her identity. “It’s fairly easy for me. I think it is harder for people who have drank and then choose to give it up than it is for me.
“Like many gay or straight people, we all struggle with something. We’ve got an incredibly high suicide rate, particularly with young people and sexuality can be the number one culprit of that. It takes a while, regardless of whether you’re 14 or 27, like I am, but you need to remain in the mind-set that you are here for a reason.” While Walsh is obviously an ambassador for members of the LGBT community and young people as a group, the term ‘role-model’ is not something that Walsh likes to refer to herself as: “Role model doesn’t sit with me. We’ve so many other great role models for the LGBT community. If I help one person I’ve fulfilled everything I’ve ever wanted with the Rose of Tralee.”
“This is how I’ve always been. I made the decision to be a Pioneer when I was 12. My mother is a Pioneer so it’s no foreign concept to me”
Continuing in our conversation about equality and sexuality, I ask whether or not the Rose would identify herself as a feminist, a concept which has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent months due to celebrities such as Emma Watson widely promoting the cause. Perhaps not expecting the question, the Rose instead promotes general equality.
Another aspect of Walsh’s identity, which she spoke about upon winning the competition, is being gay. As being the first openly gay Rose of Tralee, was it difficult for the Rose to publicly come out as homosexual?
“There are parts of all of us that should be feminists,” says the Rose. “Women in the workplace, women in the home; I am a young woman and I push for any rights that promote equality between men and women.”
“No, because I have spoken out as being gay for a number of years,” admits Walsh in her never less than eloquent style. “My folks knew and so did my
Walsh and the Rose of Tralee team are currently completing a gruelling fifteen-day trip around Ireland visiting schools, charities and other Rose
centres in order to promote the Rose of Tralee Festival. In a world where young people seem more engrossed in the idea of social networking, rather than networking in front of an a jam-packed Dome in Tralee, Walsh and the team have quite a task on their hands encouraging young women to enter. Walsh’s answer to recruiting entries for the festival is very much Carpe Diem-like, encouraging young women to grab life’s opportunities. “Life is too short, you can always say maybe next year but the age group is 18-27, so there’s not a whole bunch of next years within that,” says Walsh. “We all have great personal stories to share and I think a lot of people get lost in the idea that you need a talent – that you need to be able to sing or dance or recite a poem – but that’s not the case. “It teaches you to be a lot more comfortable in your own skin and I don’t think we promote it as much as we should. It helps you prepare for college and work life. And how do deal with different personalities and charities, like I have.” As my time with the Rose in demand comes to a close, I ask her one final question – how would she like to leave her own special mark as Rose of Tralee? “I’d like to gain awareness for how great the festival is and get people to respect it,” muses Walsh philosophically. “It’s further ahead of its time than people give it credit for and always has been. I’d like to raise awareness and get people to talk about it more. “Sometimes I say that I wish there were more days in the week or I wish I could have achieved a lot more, but you have to take each day as it comes. There is always tomorrow.”
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Stewart Lee Goes out of Bounds
Art & Lit
Stephen Barry examines a sneak-peek of the provocative comedian’s latest material
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olling in the aisles one minute, rolling your eyes the next; a dozen-minute sneak-peek of Stewart Lee’s latest material supplied both stunning and shocking turns to an audience that didn’t really know what to make of it all. Even for those accustomed to comedians with a penchant for pushing boundaries, Lee knows how to end up in a different constituency. Teasing out part of the material that will make up much of his future tour, Lee’s bit was exclusively about urine. But it took a sharp turn towards the halfway point; moving into the realm of suicide.
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The performance was the Shropshirenative’s contribution to Robin Ince’s annual variety show; this year entitled Christmas Science Ghosts. Yet, despite a line-up that featured excellent inputs from Josie Long, Sarah Pascoe and about ten other performers, the first half of Lee’s routine provided the undoubted highlight. And then came the low-point. While the opening gambit playfully took the piss – pardon the pun – out of the psychological reasons behind getting into comedy, provoking loud guffaws from the crowd, Lee allowed the routine to lull. In response to not receiving as hearty a laugh at a particular
joke Lee turned on the crowd. Not that there was a lack of method or forethought to this twist in the plot. By now the description of Lee as ‘the comedian’s comedian’ has become a common currency in his introductions and he demonstrated a technically astute growing hyperbole throughout the routine.
It is an impossible task to trace the bounds of comedy, when so many make careers out of pushing any semblance of a boundary; but Lee’s slant on the causes of self-harm was an appalling effort and one which seemed to subdue the audience’s reactions. One of Lee’s destinations during his anti-audience rant was to blame the audience for the suicide of Robin Williams, saying that
it was unpredictable audiences like us that had effectively killed Williams. Robin Ince sheepishly synopsised it as “post-modern analysis of suicide” and, while Lee may claim he was ‘in character’ for his routine, his audience deserves a comedian and a character who holds them in, at least, the slightest regard.
There and Back Again: the resurge of Tolkien Matty Adams delves into the popular novel of all ages, The Hobbit
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he lights dim, cokes are sipped and from the darkness emerges a dragon – a terrifying sight made all the more menacing by the mordant tones of Benedict Cumberbatch. Elves, men and dwarves fight heroically against Wargs with nasty pointed teeth and Orcs with hyena-like laughs. Entering into this fray (albeit somewhat reluctantly) is our hero – with his kind words, common sense and big, hairy feet, we can’t help but feel all the feels for the charismatic Bilbo Baggins. The third installment of Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit: There and Back Again was released this December. Having made a whopping
€188 million internationally so far, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies is the largest Christmas release of all time. It also signifies the end of Jackson’s decade-long involvement with Middle Earth; a world he has imaginatively of various folktales and entertaining conveyed to millions of grateful viewers. plot easily reaches across generational divides. So what about the book? Significantly shorter than The Lord of the Rings, The Whether you’re a reader, a watcher or Hobbit may be a cheerier read but is no both, you may view The Hobbit either as less emotionally taxing. a rich human tale or as an intrinsically flawed work of fiction. The Hobbit was initially considered a work of children’s literature as a result Perhaps you revel in the creation of of its short length, simple narrative and fantastic characters such as Beorn – a the rigid split between good and evil. man who can assume the shape of a Over time readers have realised that bear. Or maybe you are thrilled by the the novel’s emotional nuances, blend fact that adventure need not rely on
superfluous bloodshed and peoplesquashing. Alternatively, you may take issue with some of the novel’s problems and point to the general lack of female representation, the echoing of sinister imperialist ideologies or Tolkien’s rampant plagiarism of myth and folklore. Whatever your stance, The Hobbit, with all flaws and gems included, is a novel well worth dipping into.
Search For Alaska turns to the silver screen Aoife O’Leary reviews John Green’s latest novel turned film-to-be comedian’s latest material
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y now, almost everyone has heard of John Green; the talent behind the tearjerker The Fault in Our Stars which was made into an enormously successful blockbuster last year. His 2005 debut novel, Looking for Alaska (now celebrating its tenth anniversary) is currently in the process of being adapted for the big screen, with the finished product set to be released sometime within the next two years. For many fans, it will be interesting to see how this much-loved book will translate onto the big screen. The novel’s protagonist Miles Halter (or ‘Pudge’ as he is referred to by the other characters) moves from his school in Florida to ‘Culver Creek’, a boarding school in Alabama. He declares his mission in transferring is to meet a ‘Great’. It could be said that he achieves this when he is introduced to Alaska Young. Alaska is a free spirit; she does what she wants and never thinks of the consequences. Pudge and Alaska are polar opposites and Pudge becomes instantly fixated with her.
Art & Lit
challenging. Pudge embarks on a series of adventures and Green throws in just enough teen angst to entertain the readers and ultimately break their hearts. The story invites you to get attached to the characters and to become involved with their lives. Looking for Alaska is filled with threedimensional characters and Green makes it easy for readers to connect with his creations. Pudge is a slightly awkward teen who experiences the trials and tribulations of unrequited love. It will be engrossing to see how his character is portrayed on the big screen. The supporting cast are witty and fill out the story perfectly. Looking for Alaska is a compelling read and Green’s absorbing writing style wholly engages us in the intriguing lives of the characters. The novel’s winning combination of captivating characters and gripping plot should provide ample raw material for the screen adaptation; making it likely to be another massive success for John Green.
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However, this is not your typical boy meets girl scenario as, just like in real life, their relationship is complex and
The Top Five Words of 2014 Mary Walsh reflects on the quirky additions that entered our everyday speech last year
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very year there are words which take the world by storm and invade the conversations of young and old alike. So whether you used these words yourself or rolled your eyes when others said them, let’s take a trip down memory lane and review the top five words of 2014.
5. Hashtag Although it’s technically a symbol (#), not a word, ‘hashtag’ has become something of a joke in spoken conversation. If someone says ‘hashtagLOL’, ‘hashtag-YOLO’ or even ‘hashtaghashtag’, it’s safe to assume that they’re being ironic. Of course, there’s no problem with hashtags, unless of course you’re one of those people who like to #hashtag #every #single #word (we have to draw the line somewhere).
4. Emoji An emoji is a symbol used in texts, messages and tweets to convey emotions, actions and more (technology has invaded every aspect of our lives and soon we will all be forced to bow to our robot overlords). The most popular emoji of 2014 was the humble love heart. People who don’t use emojis (or at the very least smileys) can be somewhat unnerving. I prefer to use cat-face emojis because why say something as a human when you can do so as a cat? On a serious note, in 2015 I’d like to see a teapot emoji. There is a definite niche in the market for a decent emoji depicting tea.
3. Selfie Ellen DeGeneres was undoubtedly responsible for the selfie craze that
swept the world in 2014. In case you were living under a rock, Ellen, who hosted the Oscars, took a photo at the ceremony with several famous actors (Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Lawrence to name a few), then posted it on Twitter resulting in the most re-tweeted tweet of all time. Soon everyone was taking group selfies, from rugby players to politicians. As a fan of this craze, it’s nice to see people exercising their self-confidence (although the selfie stick is a step too far).
2. Feminism ‘Feminism’ was on everyone’s lips in 2014. Celebrities jumped on the feminist bandwagon to promote an international spirit of gender equality. There’s a lot of confusion as to what
feminism means, which is why it’s rejected by so many people. It’s not a dirty word. If you believe in equal rights for all, regardless of their gender, you are a feminist. Just watch Aziz Ansari on The Late Show with David Letterman or read Roxanne Gay’s Bad Feminist and you’ll understand.
1. Bae Is anyone surprised? ‘Bae’ is an acronym meaning ‘before anyone else’ – although it appears at first to be a shortened version of ‘Babe’, for those too lazy to include the second ‘b’. Anything can be bae. Your best friend? Bae. Your dog? Bae. Ramen? Bae. Your significant other? Also bae. There’s no escaping it. Not to worry though; it’s only a matter of time before our parents start using it, and then we’ll never use it again!
Nintendo’s Amiibo – Perfection or Poison?
Gaming
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ost gamers, as well as most mothers with children between the ages of seven and twelve, have some familiarity with the concept of Toys-to-Life products. This actually fairly niche category of gaming includes, quite hysterically, successful franchises such as Skylanders, produced by Activision, and Disney Infinity, created by the game’s namesake. The basic concept is as follows: purchase the base game which comes with the basic peripherals required as well as sample figures, sometimes not available separately, then purchase additional figures to supplement the experience and unlock new features. These two companies have cornered the market for the last two years. But wait, a new challenger approaches!
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Atrocious pun aside, Nintendo has made its first foray into the Toys-toLife market with its Amiibo Figurines. Taking on the appearances of some of Nintendo’s popular and not-so-popular characters, ranging from Mario to Captain Falcon (Yes, he’s a thing). These figures use NFC functionality in
Nintendo’s Amiibo are hot on the market but Steve Barry asks if fans are getting burned conjunction with the Wii U Gamepad, and in the future the New 3DS, to provide additional features to a number of Nintendo titles. The central idea behind the current line of Amiibo is to use them alongside the newest entry in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, where they scan in as the character they portray, allowing the player to train them and customise their AI for use in other game modes. However, let’s get back to the title, ‘Perfection or Poison?’ While these Amiibo characters are fun to play with and offer collectables for characters that would otherwise see none, there is a huge problem in the Amiibo community at the moment. While scalping – buying in bulk to reduce supply and then sell for higher prices – is common in many markets, the Amiibo market has fallen victim to it like no other. This has led to many Amiibo becoming almost unicorn in terms of rarity, with at least four not gracing the shelves of any GameStop or Smyth’s across the country. And now, these figures are
going for at least double if not more than their RRP on sites such as eBay and Amazon. Scalpers aren’t the only issue, with some figures apparently being discontinued creating even more demand. Thus, these perfect figures are in fact toxic to the gaming community, in that they are creating a lot of tension between the supplier, Nintendo, and the consumer.
Nintendo are being vague about the availability of Amiibo in the future and also being shady about release dates, in that the second wave was divided in two without notification. Nintendo need to get their act together quickly or these figures will become more trouble than their well-painted sculpts are worth. Well, maybe not given that some are selling for €70…
Get Into Gaming: Gone Home Aoife Gleeson exalts a game that offers a tear-jerking plotline
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one Home is barely a video game. Well, not in the traditional sense of the word at least. There’s no complicated controls, no tests of dexterity and the majority of your (minimal) input is directing your character around and clicking on things. Yet, somehow, it manages to be one of the most emotionally engaging games that I’ve ever played. In Gone Home you play as a college student returning to her family home after a year spent abroad. The game begins as you reach your house in the dead of night, amid a raging thunderstorm. Conspicuously, none of your family is there to greet you. As you enter the house, you find it to be completely deserted. The rest of the game, which can be played in a few hours, is spent exploring the house and piecing together information to discover where your father, mother
and sister are. Each room of the large, ominous house is filled with rich details that slowly reveal the plot and the characters to you, giving the game a deep sense of authenticity. E-mails, notes, memos and voicemails peppered throughout the house provide clues and hints on your family’s dysfunctional relationship and their current situation. The beauty is in the details: enter your father’s study and you’ll find plans for unfinished novels, memos from his unfulfilling job and half drained scotch glasses. To over-elaborate on these aspects would spoil much of the game’s deep, unfurling story, which you should discover for yourself. All these details allow you to somehow intimately know these characters, without ever directly interacting with them. They’re so richly characterised that it feels almost as if you’re invading the privacy of these fictional people.
Never is this more true that when you discover the diary entries of your younger sister, Sam, which are hidden throughout the house on scraps of paper. These little pieces of exposition are the cornerstones of the game’s plot, providing the bulk of the context and emotional depth of the story. Their intensity and honesty provides great insight into this young girl’s struggles with her family and adolescence. It’s a tear-jerker.
true of a family. All the while, Gone Home manages to fill you with a deep sense of dread and foreboding, fearful of the discoveries you might make.
While Sam’s story steals the show, it’s telling that behind this affecting coming-of-age story lays many intriguing smaller stories, as is often
Gone Home is available on Windows, Mac, Wii U, and PS4 and Xbox One later this year.
While being a masterclass in creating tension and atmosphere, Gone Home is also a character study and story with great emotional depth, which weaves a rich tapestry of family life and all the gnawing dysfunction that often lies just beneath the surface.
2014: The Post-mortem Brian Conmy mourns the many failures of the gaming year gone by
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014 was not a flagship year for gaming. Despite excellent sales numbers for the PS4 and Xbox One, there were no stand out games to the calibre of previous years; no Bioshock, no Journey, no Super Mario Galaxy. In fact many of the games that had garnered the most pre-launch hype, the games that had the most money behind them, were massive disappointments in one way or another. While some games like Watch Dogs failed to live up to expectations or deliver on a true ‘next generation’ experience others ran into much greater issues.
first DLC free.
Assassin’s Creed Unity was perhaps the most publicised failure to launch this year. Various images of graphical glitches made the rounds on social media and gaming sites, ranging from players falling out of the world to hideous Cronenbergian character model defects.
It’s not just third party developers who ran into issues this year though; Sony’s much delayed racer Driveclub ran into numerous server issues at launch and had various features that were previously advertised stripped out with promises of inclusion at a later date.
While open world games such as this have commonly featured a number of glitches, Unity was a particularly offensive version of this trend, with numerous post release patches slowly bringing the game to an acceptable standard of playability. This may not sound like a massive deal but the game’s publisher Ubisoft reacted aggressively to the games perceived failure by consistently updating the public and games media on upcoming patches and cancelling the games upcoming season pass, offering a free game as apology to those who had already purchased it, and making the
It wasn’t a great year for Ubisoft in any case, even their downloadable Tetris game launched as glitchy and is yet to be fixed. Yes, a Tetris game in 2014 launched in a broken state.
“Yes, a Tetris game in 2014 launched in a broken state”
While some of these features have been added and server issues have been alleviated, it’s notable that the free PS Plus edition of the game that was originally promised at the launch of the PS4 has not materialised and is on hold indefinitely. This stung particularly hard given the very small number of PS4 exclusives that came out in 2014 compared to the Xbox One. Microsoft had their own issues on the first-party side in 2014, with their flagship series Halo seeing massive launch issues in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The release was set to be higher resolution re-releases of the first four main series games with
an astounding array of multiplayer options, including new and old physics sets for the maps as well as a few entirely redone fan favourite maps. This release was set to tide over Halo fans until the release of Halo 5 this year. However, when it launched, there were widespread reports of multiplayer just not working, including co-op of the story mode. Again a number of patches were rolled out to fix the issues but some problems still persist. This particular failure to launch was unexpected given the previously solid Halo launches as well as the fact that these were not new games, just HD re-releases of games that already worked. Exactly how this failure came about will be an interesting story in times to come. While many of these big ticket games had or have issues for players it’s notable that the year was not completely awash with these problems. Huge games like Destiny, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare launched without issue despite their online focus. So then, what’s the issue? It seems that the problems the affected games have in common is this: unrealistic deadlines. In the case of Driveclub, Master Chief Collection and Assassin’s Creed: Unity, one thing is apparent, these games were pushed out the door. Assassin’s Creed has in recent years come out annually, with details of the next game Assassin’s Creed: Victory having already leaked and, despite the enormous amount of money and people being thrown at each game,
Gaming
it seems that the time being put into the development process is simply not enough to turn out a polished finalised product. Does this mean Assassin’s Creed needs more turnaround time? It would seem so, although given the hype each game receives pre-launch, it’s doubtful Ubisoft will ever allow one of these games to miss an annual deadline. While Driveclub and Master Chief Collection are not annual products they were both released at a time where they could have pushed sales for their respective consoles. Were the games pushed out with their makers and publishers knowing they wouldn’t be able to stand up to the struggles of real world server loads? It’s hard to know but it seems to be a possibility. If not, then it leaves us with the unpleasant possibility that everyone involved thought these games were fine when they were sent out for sale, meaning their quality assurance teams are woefully understaffed or incredibly lazy. I don’t know how much I buy that. The wise among you will likely point out that these games’ problems were largely based around online connectivity issues and you’d be right about that. Yet we live in an era of online connected consoles and many people in the public, as well as the game development side, are going to have to get used to it. Here’s to a working 2015!
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