Vol.XXIII - Issue 7 - OTwo

OTwo Volume XXIII, Issue 7

The Perspectives Issue

OTwo//Perspectives

contents regulars

Travel

2

Food

5

games

6 Creative Writing

Film&TV

8

letter from the edItOrs

10

14

Photo: martIn healy

Hey there! david norris

Music

16

Fashion

20

Arts&Lit

24

Fatal Fourway Aperture

28

31

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OTwo Credits Editor Roisin Guyett-Nicholson Deputy Editor Martin Healy OTwo Co-Editors Seán Hayes David Monaghan Staff Writers Ause Abdelhaq Shane Cullen Adam Lawler Lucy Mortell

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Art & Design Editor Louise Flanagan Chief of Photography Camille Lombard Food & Drink Editor Rachel Gaffney Fashion Editor OTwo Contributors Teresa Curtin Alexander Glover Orla Keaveney Alice Kelly

Katie Devlin Music Editor Luke Sharkey Games Editor Aaron Poole Film & TV Editor Owen Steinberger

Arts & Literature Editor Ezra Maloney Creative Writing Editor Chiamaka Amadi Online OTwo Editor Melissa Ridge

David Kent Emma Kiely Mystic Mittens Hannah Moroney Lucy Mortell

Síofra Ní Shluaghadhain Sean Tate John Vaughan

Welcome to Issue 7 of your favourite arts and culture magazine, the treasure throve that is OTwo. This is our second last, penultimate issue, and although we say that with somewhat of a heavy heart, we also couldn’t be happier or prouder with what we’ve produced and discovered over the last few months. With that, we’ve decided to look back and reflect on some of the themes and issues raised in previous editions, and it is why we are considering the aspect of ‘perspectives’ across this issue today.

Across any medium in the arts, the artist hopes to present their perspective of a certain belief, issue or matter. They hope to communicate a message, convey information or challenge an established ideal. It is important, though, to realise and be aware that what they present is just one perspective, one side of the story. And if history has proved anything, it is that having access to just one story can be limiting, reductive, and only produce negative effects and results.

With that, we present to you a multitude of perspectives, from young and old, from home and abroad.

Our centre feature this issue is an interview with the famously outspoken, independent Senator, scholar, and gay and civil rights activist David Norris, where he reflects on his illustrious career and tireless work. This work was recently recognised by UCD LGBTQ+’s society, which awarded him their Foy-Zappone award.

Elsewhere across our issue, Music takes a look at the role the internet plays in promoting musicians and their sound, and sits down for a chat with I Have a Tribe, and the up-and-coming Tobias. Our Fashion spread, this issue, shows you the latest make-up looks for spring and these warmer months, while also examining the role that e-commerce and online stores now play in the shopping process.

Arts and Literature examines a number of perspectives, looking at how literature reflects times of crises, both historical and contemporary, as well as the role of the Irish emigrant writer, and how they fit into the literary canon. The Smock Alley’s Scene and Heard festival, a showcase for Ireland’s foremost and newest talent to stage their theatrical works in progress, is also reviewed.

Film and TV undertakes a study of fascist ideology in western television, while also reviewing some of the most interesting films right now, Graduation and Eyes of My Mother. Food looks at the polarising concept of cat cafés, and Games offers its opinion on the latest releases.

With multiple perspectives come multiple stories, and the meeting of ideas and beliefs. When we get multiple perspectives of the same issue, we begin to get a truer version of events. When ideas meet, we learn from each other, and this can only lead to a happier, more-inclusive, aware community and world.

With Love, David + Sean

OTwo//Perspectives

Soapbox:

Lecture Hall Book-ends

MYSTIC MITTENS ARIES

VIRGO

You will be visited by The Ghost of Erasmus Past, who will inevitably overstay their welcome. If you’re not careful you could have a new roommate.

Life is not a fairy-tale. If you lose your shoe at midnight, you’re drunk. And it’s a different type of Palace you’re coming out of.

TAURUS

You will do well to keep this ancient proverb in mind this week: “things that are sticky are most likely not sticks.”

Your plan to revise the last seven weeks of college you missed during the midterm failed miserably, and you now face into the looming exams with less hope.

GEMINI You’re enjoying Riverdale for its dramatic plot-line and good-looking characters, completely missing the point that it’s actually a self-aware, socially conscious reflection of contemporary popular culture and an ironic parody of gender and social structures. You hun.

CANCER Working in a group project is stressful.

Don’t waste any more of your time with the plebs, just go full slasher on them. It’s way more fun.

LEO In the lead up to Easter, Mittens thinks you’re egg-cellent, and that you should stay eggs-actly the way you are.

LIBRA

SCORPIO Your likeness to steak is not because of your lean meatiness, it’s because steak is a medium rarely well done.

SAGITTARIUS Mittens forsees great success in your life this coming April 6th. Or imminent failure, if you forget your two week anniversary with your new girlfriend.

CAPRICORN It’s considered rude to tell your significant other that they look like a giant cabbage, so just don’t say anything at all.

AQUARIUS Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.

PISCES This is issue 7, and you’re still reading these horoscopes instead of going to class.

SO the other week I entered a lecture hall a bit late to find that I couldn’t just creep discreetly into an aisle seat as I planned, because they were all full. All of the other seats, however, in the row were empty. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen this; even in an almost full Theatre L in Newman, if there’s one seat left empty in a row, it’s going to be in the middle, because of course.

This time, though, the entire row was empty except for this girl, and when we did our usual apologetic smiling to get her to move over, she stood up, moved her five bags, and ... that’s it.

That’s. IT. As if to say “I booked this, peasants. Move along.” This isn’t Aer Lingus hun, you don’t get to book the window seat, and in a minute you’ll be out on the wing. Like people who call third level education anything but college, uni-d to stop.

You’re just book-ending an empty space, kind of like Fresher’s Week and graduation. What are you getting at? Are you symbolically saying that as a bookend you’re better than us plebeian books, that you hold the rest of us up? Or is it to make a quick getaway? Your ring binder, ergonomic cushion and travel kettle installed around your seat say otherwise. Your bladder can’t be that sensitive, even taking into account that litre bottle of Evian that’s blocking the view of the person behind you.

Even worse are the ones who bring coffee to their 9am and arrive 10 minutes early to sit on the end of the row; you’re not on call for the ER, Sharon, bleedin’ relax will ye. You’re about as necessary as the Coffee Dock, and just as delusional as to your actual quality (but I’ll still pay you €2.70 to leave).

Perhaps you think that, at any moment, the lecturer will call on you to skip up to the podium and enlighten us all with your opinions, a sense of audacity Paris Geller from Gilmore Girls doesn’t even possess. It’s similar to the misplaced bravado Drake must’ve had to release an album as bad as Views, except without the savvy to come back a year later with a barely-veiled attempt to win back the critics. I’m your critic, and you’ve got no More Life. In the words of the meme himself, get it together.

Words: Adam Lawler Illustration: Joanna O’Malley

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OTwo//Perspectives

A r t s a n d C u lt u r e – News and Events Seán Hayes brings you the most exciting events not to be missed around the city.

Jill & Gill Exhibition: The collaborative studio Jill & Gill, made up of illustrator Jill Deering and printmaker Gillian Henderson, celebrate their first birthday in business together with the launch of their first solo show dedicated to fashion icon Iris Apfel. The first exhibition for the duo, will see them design and create 25 unique screen printed artworks.

Opening night is on March 29th from 19:00 with a drinks reception, and admission is free.

For more information see: www.jillandgill.com Potsdamer Platz at the Irish Film Institute: A trailer for Potsdamer Platz will screen on Wednesday March 29th at 19:50 ahead of Aquarius, at the IFI with artist and filmmaker Susan Gogan in attendance. Potsdamer Platz is a film that takes place in Berlin both in the present day and in the future, and its experimental structure pivots around the restating of key scene Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire. The Potsdamer Platz trailer shows an unfinished stage in the film’s development rather than a snapshot of a finished work, so it offers a unique insight into the filmmaking process.

The main film on the night, Aquarius, is set in Recife, Brazil, where its main character, Clara, engages in an escalating battle of wits with real estate developers who have purchased the apartment building where she has lived for many years. Tickets from €10.

Documentary: Apples, Pears, and Paint: A free screening of the BBC art documentary Apples, Pears, and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting takes places next week, April 2nd at 12:30, at the National Gallery of Ireland.

The documentary is a richly detailed journey through the epic history of still life painting and features a range of delights from the earliest existing Xenia mural paintings discovered at Pompeii to the cubist masterpieces of Picasso. Admission is free and no booking is necessary, making it the perfect opportunity to brush up on your art history.

Strolling Through Ulysses: Robert Gogan is passionate about James Joyce’s Ulysses, and he believes that Joyce wanted everyone to enjoy his masterpiece. As such, he has spent the past few years working on numerous projects to bring the vision to reality, culminating in this walking tour.

Strolling Through Ulysses! tells the fun-filled story of Bloomsday, the iconic day around which Joyce’s Ulysses is based. Bawdy, irreverent and great fun, the walking tour includes a toilet visitation, lewd thoughts, adultery, and a drunken orgy. Tickets are currently priced at €15. A unique chance to discover and understand the masterpiece of modernism.

The tour resumed its usual schedule from March 5th. For more information see: www. strollingthroughulysses.com

What’s Hot & What’s Not HOT:

NOT:

UCD:

Enda Kenny:

At the risk of tooting our own horn a little, the recent results from QS University Rankings by subject shows UCD to be the premier University in Ireland. Shout outs to Veterinary and to English schools, which performed very well, placing at 29th and 45th best in the world respectively. Suck it, Trinity.

Recent events have won Bellenda some fanfare across the nation. His address to the American nation during the St. Patrick celebrations and his address to the Irish people regarding the tragedy at Tuam have won him the ‘maybe he isn’t so bad after all’ treatment from many. OTwo isn’t buying it and neither should you. Let’s have some walk with that talk, Mr. Kenny.

Spring: Those long days though. OTwo can’t help but feel a surge of happiness at this fresh spring weather we’ve been treated to lately. Admittedly, it’s far from perfect, and it still rains as much as it doesn’t. OTwo, though, only needs two layers these days instead of the usual winter four.

Colm O’Gorman: The man is a genuine national treasure, and not the sketchy Nicholas Cage kind. OTwo recently had the distinct pleasure of listening to the man talk on the Claire O’Byrne RTÉ show and was genuinely blown away by his compassion and dedication to his country.

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The Life of a Bro: Ah the undercut, the t-shirts with vaguely inspirational phrases on them and of course, OTwo’s personal favourite, the chin strap. If we can hear The Chainsmokers coming from your headphones on the, bus your music is too loud and of abysmally poor quality. Maybe it’s time this aesthetic died?

That Bus Stop Outside the Montrose: Everybody knows getting home from UCD is the worst part of going to UCD. OTwo would venture the bus stop outside the Montrose as the worst of the worst. Woe to you who try to get home between four and six. Enjoy trying to predict where the bus will stop so you can be the first on. Add the fact that there’s only about ten seats free coming from town in the first place and you have a great recipe for a disgruntled journey home.

OTwo//Travel

Looking for Sunday After returning from his journey to Togo in Africa, Melissa Ridge speaks to the Maeve Binchy Travel Award Winner of 2016, Aaron O’Farrell. photo Credit: Michael Marangos

“They were a bit harsh on their son… it turned out he wasn’t their son, he was a homeless kid living as a houseboy.”

THE Maeve Binchy Travel Award is an opportunity open to any Arts student. Worth €4,000, it is awarded to an ambitious project that will lead to a travel opportunity.

2016’s winner Aaron O’Farrell had previously travelled to Togo when he was nineteen to do volunteer work. During his stay, he lived with a local family and became very good friends with a boy named Kosi. He realised that if he applied and won this award he could go back to see his friend.

“He was about fifteen or sixteen and he worked day and night, all day and never left the house. And I thought to myself while I was living there, why does this guy never leave the house?

They were a bit harsh on their son… it turned out he wasn’t their son, he was a homeless kid living as a houseboy.”

“We got quite close and at the time I had a camera that I brought with me and I used to

interrailing through Europe. Advice that O’Farrell gives to those interested in applying is to aim big; for something that is a bit more out there.

“One of the nice things about that Maeve Binchy Award, which I learned after winning, was that they don’t expect you to come back with your project finished... it’s more of an opportunity to just go off and see if anything can happen. I spoke more about the different possibilities of what might happen. I wanted to film it all like a documentary because I already had a lot of footage. Then I thought, if it doesn’t look well as a film then I could write something about it.”

One worry that might arise for applicants is whether they will be judged on their knowledge of Maeve Binchy and her work.

“You’re not scrutinized on your loyalty to Maeve Binchy. I actually worried about that going into the interview. It didn’t actually matter” After leaving Ireland on the 1st of December, O’Farrell travelled to Lomé, the capital of Togo where he began searching for Kosi. He stayed for ten weeks and returned home to Dublin on the 1st of February of this year.

“It was an adventure to find him then after having found him we actually had a lot of time together which was great because I got a whole new insight into his life story. Up until that point he had been abandoned by his parents as a baby, grew up homeless, jumped around living

The deadline for applications can be sent to binchyucdtravelaward@ucd.ie. Deadline is the 10th of April. The announcement of the winner will be made on 28th May.

“It was nice to just hang out with an old friend again.”

photo Credit: Michael Marangos

“They liked the idea that I wanted to go to Africa and do something that could have any consequence.”

asked if it would be okay to interview him. I would set up the camera and interview him in the evenings while he was cooking. I had all this wealth of footage and I got on really well with him; I kept a diary the whole time (mostly on him). So I always thought I want to go back and find out what he’s doing now.”

O’Farrell explained why the title of the project was called Looking for Sunday.

“His name was Kosi which means Sunday in Ewé. In the Ewé tradition you’re named after the day on which you’re born and you’re also given a Christian name, which is usually French so his name was Emmanuel Kosi. I called my project Looking for Sunday.”

“My project was me looking for him, I didn’t know how long that would take. I thought ‘I’m going to have to plan this project around the amount of time I think it will take to give me enough time to find him. I planned to go for ten weeks and that’s how long I stayed for and with the fund money it was surprising how far I could make it stretch.”

After he was shortlisted O’Farrell went to an interview to discuss his project further.

“They liked the idea that I wanted to go to Africa and do something that could have any consequence.”

He had a clear-cut plan about what he wanted out of his project. It wasn’t an excuse to go

with different people. I really got to find out more about his life, which was amazing. It was great just to see him again. I had spent pretty much four months in Africa when I was nineteen with him so we were good friends by the end of it. It was nice to just hang out with an old friend again.”

The Award has opened doors and given O’Farrell a lot of confidence and motivation to begin a new project to put a film together out of the footage from his journey to Togo.

“I’m hoping to put a film together from it so if I could get a story together and edit a film, that would be good enough to be in any sort of festival - that’s my ultimate goal… It’s something that people say: ‘I’d like to be a travel writer [like] it’s almost a fairy tale idea. Oh, wouldn’t that be great, fly around and be paid to write stories?’

Having won the Maeve Binchy Award it gave me the confidence to think that, right, that could actually be a reality.”

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OTwo//Food

Review: Fellini’s Ause Abdelhaq ventures into Fellini’s, an Italian gem in the centre of Dublin City.

Photo courtesy of lucindaosullivan.com

WHEN it comes to knowledge of pizza, there is perhaps no higher authority in the land than the ironically lowly college student. In our droves, we have claimed this glorious concoction of cheese, tomato and flatbread as our own, turning to it in both the darkest of times and the brightest of days.

Whether your preference is the lazy Saturday afternoon Netflix companion, the casual Monday evening cooking-avoider or even the hallowed post-night out grease monster, pizza undoubtedly holds a special place in the hearts of nigh on every third-level student in Ireland.

Realistically, however, we also have to live within our means (which aren’t much) and as such, countless establishments have sprung up in recent years which serve to satisfy our

insatiable need for Italian goodness while also eatery which does a magnificent pizza at a ensuring that we don’t have to break the bank. reasonable price – or at least, that was my excuse for allowing myself to eat so much of it. After visiting such legendary institutions as “The most overwhelmingly Base, Dante and Milano, my search led me to a little restaurant called Fellini’s, tucked away in striking feature of my Deansgrange where you would almost miss it visit to Fellini’s was how were you not looking for it specifically. As is my custom, I brought along a couple of friends so I authentic everything could sample multiple things on the menu. seemed.”

The most overwhelmingly striking feature of my visit to Fellini’s was how authentic everyThe debate surrounding which establishment is thing seemed; it was as though someone had best is fierce, but regardless of your partiality, taken a tiny little piece of Italy and dropped it one thing remains true with pizza in Dublin: as in the heart of south Dublin. Everything from the staff to the music to the tablecloths is Italprice decreases, so does quality.

With that in mind, I set out to find an Italian ian, which means that a trip to the restaurant is a genuine pleasure in itself, if even for the décor. However, I was there to try the food, and once I walked in, I had a feeling it wouldn’t disappoint.

The choice of antipasti, or starters, was magnificent; simply because we couldn’t choose our preference, our table ended up ordering the Tagliere Misto, a dish which sampled most of the options available to us. For our mains, we decided to share two pizzas and a pasta.

The dishes ranged from excellent to acceptable: the Diavola pizza was by far the highlight of the night – I would highly recommend it – while the appetizer and Quattro Stagioni pizza offered a marvellous taste of true Italian

“Overall, Fellini’s is a snapshot of true Italian food right here in Dublin.” food that wouldn’t have been out of place on Rome’s bustling streets. The only disappointment was the all’Amatriciana pasta, which was served with a sauce thick enough to overwhelm the ingredients it was supposed to be complementing.

Aside from the wonderful quality of the food, Fellini’s somehow manage to keep the price refreshingly low, with each main coming in at around €12-€14 – cheaper than a pizza from Domino’s. Frankly speaking, it seems to be a restaurant which has massive potential; the only downsides are that it doesn’t really cater to vegans and, as mentioned earlier, it’s kind of hidden away – the location doesn’t lend itself to public transport.

Overall, Fellini’s is a snapshot of true Italian food right here in Dublin. A fantastic meal, great service and genuinely irresistible authenticity meant that my visit here was truly excellent. If the next time you’re ordering a pizza, you find yourself craving somewhere less rubbery than Apache or less greasy than Four Star, but at a similar price, look no further: in Fellini’s, you’ll have found a winner.

Apple Crostata Rachel Gaffney brings you the perfect spring-time dessert.

4 medium green-apples (600 g) 220 g caster (superfine) sugar 2 tsp finely grate lemon rind 1 tbs lemon juice 750 ml water 300 g plain (all-purpose) flour 125 g cold unsalted butter, chopped 55 g caster (superfine) sugar, extra 80 ml iced water, approximately 2 tbs milk

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Method: •Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)

Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes.

•Peel and core apples; cut into eighths. Place apples in a medium saucepan with sugar, rind, juice and the water; bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer over a low heat 10 minutes or until apple is tender. Remove apples with a slotted spoon into a medium bowl. Simmer syrup 15 minutes or until reduced to 200 ml. Remove from heat.

•Roll dough out between two large sheets of baking paper into a 35 cm round. Remove top layer of paper; carefully lift dough onto a large oven tray.

•Pile apples into the centre of the dough, leaving a 7cm border. Fold pastry edge up and around apple, pleating it as you go. Brush pastry edges with milk, then sprinkle with remaining sugar.

•Meanwhile, process flour, butter, and 1 tablespoon of the extra sugar until crumbly. Add enough iced water to process until the ingredients come together. Press dough into a ball.

•Bake tart for 40 minutes or until pastry is golden. Spoon some syrup over the tart before serving.

Photo credits: marco frattola via flickr

Ingredients

OTwo//Food

Going to the Cats Rachel Gaffney investigates if cat cafes are cruel or just plain cute.

BEING an animal lover away from animals is a painful and confusing experience. Cafés that serve as cat petting zoos may be the answer to your prayers – a place to interact with the furry creatures you miss most but not fully betraying your own pets at home.

The phenomenon of cat cafés has swept the globe in the last decade, with premises originally in Asia but soon sweeping into the United

“A place to interact with the furry creatures you miss most.”

of daily customers. However it could simply be the indifferent attitude to people possessed by most felines.

This does raise the question of how to run an establishment serving food where animals roam freely. The cats are trained not to eat the customer’s food and patrons are regularly reminded not to feed them. Visiting Milan’s first cat café recently, the fear of uncleanliness never entered my mind.

Staff were equipped with handheld vacuum cleaners and cat hair was only found on the cats themselves. The nine cats were free to

“The food was surprisingly tasty and competitively priced.” roam every part of the café, including table tops and chairs – always to the delight of the diners. Cat toys were scattered everywhere for patrons to coax a cat to play with them and the café was a haven of cosy cat beds. The cats appeared relaxed and happy, clearly enjoying the constant influx of adoration and care from the

“The cats are trained not to eat the customer’s food and patrons are regularly reminded not to feed them.” staff and customers alike.

Not expecting to be raving about the anything other than the cats, the food was surprisingly tasty and competitively priced. The rules in place for the cat therapy sessions are reasonable and ensure the cats remain relaxed in the bustling atmosphere of a busy café.

The concerns of animal welfare groups are well founded but with the correct supervision and maintenance these cafés do not appear to be harmful to their feline inhabitants. From personal experiences these establishments are delightful experiences, with a unique atmosphere created by cat lovers and crazy cat ladies alike.

Photos via crazy cat café facebook

States, Australia and the United Kingdom. They are ideal for cat lovers who are not able to keep their own pets or tourists who want to have a truly unique dining experience whilst travelling.

Cat Flower Garden in Taipei is often called the world’s first cat café, a title awarded by media reports and unlikely to be accurate. Staff in Cat Flower Garden argue cat cafés were in existence long before theirs, and numerous sources maintain these feline themed cafes originated in Taiwan in 1998. The residents

of Cat Flower Garden: fifteen cats, two dogs and a bird, have thrived in their special living environment as staff care for the animals from a young age and do not allow patrons to adopt their animals.

Often these cafés have rescue cats that could not be homed due to disabilities or the café doubles as an adoption centre, providing customers the opportunity to take their new dining companion home for good. This can be a more effective method of rehoming cats, as people can interact with them more than if they were in a cage and increase the chance of a customer not being able to leave without their new furry friend.

Certain animal welfare charities have raised questions as to the suitability of cats to this living environment. In an article for the BBC website, the RSPCA said it would be far better for cat lovers to volunteer at a local shelter rather than visit a cat café. However, owners of these cafés insist they only select cats that are very social in nature and there is always an area for cats to retreat from the public eye – as they often want to.

It may be argued that the unwillingness of these café cats to be petted by customers is a sign of unhappiness in the animal – that they shy away from the touch of hundreds

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OTwo//Games

Review: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Martin Healy

Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platforms: Switch (reviewed); Wii U Release date: March 3rd FEW series come with the kind of heavy baggage that The Legend of Zelda carries.

Nintendo’s series stretches back over 30 years, seeing a range of classic entries during its long

run. Despite this, Zelda was a series needing directional change for nearly half that time.

Thankfully, Breath of the Wild is what the series desperately needed, safely sitting as one of the most charming and delightful instalments in the franchise to come along in years.

Gone is the linear structure of going through eight or so dungeons, gathering whatever MacGuffin needed collecting. Breath of the Wild drops you straight into the massive fields of a massive, new Hyrule; one were

a hike from one side to the other is a serious undertaking. After a brief tutorial, you’re immediately left to your own devices, leaving it up to you about where to head next.

The dungeon structure of old has been replaced by shrines. While there’s still a handful of (quite excellent) dungeons, shrines make up the bulk of the game. There’s over a hundred to find throughout Hyrule, all making for terrific, bite-sized puzzles. The puzzles are incredibly varied, bringing to mind the physics-bending sections of games like Portal.

For all this talk of change, the game echoes the original NES Zelda in how it simply throws you into the action, leaving you to fend for yourself. There are still plenty of pointers, but ultimately the player can do as they please – you can even head straight to the final boss if you want (though it won’t end well).

Nintendo have taken on-board the open-world nature of recent RPGs, letting you approach combat how you like, climb towers, and even set forests on fire if you want. Link is limited by his stamina and health early on.

While the relatively strict stamina meter might seem annoying, it gives the world a sense of danger and difficulty that few games tackle.

Early on, I decided to climb one of the tallest

“Ultimately the player can do as they please – you can even head straight to the final boss if you want.” mountains in the game, and the process of doing that was incredibly difficult but ultimately thrilling, creating a great sense of adventure.

Breath of the Wild isn’t afraid of open spaces, and Hyrule makes for an incredibly relaxing space to inhabit. While there are some dodgy textures - and the game’s performance certainly leaves a lot to be desired - its lighting effects and colour palette are wonderful. It ultimately makes for a world that is amazing in scope, if a bit muddy up close.

With Nintendo taking on so many new ideas with Breath of the Wild, it would be easy to be cynical about its success. Instead, Nintendo has taken on board the tropes of modern, open-world games and created something that is completely different, yet ultimately familiar.

Review: For Honor Aaron Poole ANY fan of a medieval battle setting will immediately fall in love with For Honor. The over the top shoulder hack-and-slash offers a game that both looks and feels like the situations we’ve seen in movies and storybooks as children, and offers character customisation that puts you right inside the action.

The game’s premise follows a cataclysmic event that has pitted different factions against each other in a battle for the world’s remaining resources. The player has the option of fighting as a Knight, Samurai or Viking in individual factions known as The Legion, The Chosen, and The Warborn. Each faction has their own backstory and playstyle told through individual singleplayer campaigns, so there’s a great sense of replay value from the get-go.

While the narrative may sound a bit basic to be worth investing in, it’s worth pointing out that the selling point of the game is its feel and presentation. The game’s sets are gorgeous constructions to just pan and observe. Throughout the campaign, there is minimal interruption via a small HUD, with on-screen hints only appearing as they need to for backstory interaction and enemy positions once located.

The ‘Art of Battle’ combat system creates a

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“The selling point of the game is its feel and presentation” gameplay experience that is layered in a way that makes it both easy for people who want to just dive in and win some battles, but also allows for a fighting-game style of buttonmashing mastery to create intricate combos and pull off some amazing manoeuvres. This is especially true when you enter the game’s duel mode, a one-on-one in-combat mini-game that forces you to choose your moves wisely and pay attention to your opponent (albeit with help from on-screen prompts) or be cut down.

Once you’ve finished experiencing the campaign, you can then put your expert skills to the test via the game’s multiplayer, which offers more of the same but with the ability to take your friends with you into battle. A caveat here, however; as is the case with most fighting-style games, there are an incredibly large amount of experts already roaming Ubisoft’s servers.

You’ll be grinding for a while before increasing your rank.

Overall, it’s hard not to applaud Ubisoft for finally breaking the mould and creating something that’s not just another reskinned Assassin’s Creed. With a challenging multiplayer mode and plenty of unlockables (which can also be unlocked by spending money on virtual currency, but don’t be that guy), there’s a great sense of longevity attached to For Honor that will keep you coming back for more.

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Platforms: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, PC Release date: February 14th

OTwo//Games

GamerConned Having attended GamerCon, Aaron Poole discusses the event’s controversial shortcomings.

In the last number of years, the convention scene has become a big part in the world of gaming. They often serve as big promotion events for the companies who either create or sponsor the event. Whatever opinion you might have on these events, it’s undeniable that they draw a massive crowd who crave to be there and to be part of the experience.

For many Irish gaming fans, it seemed like a pipe dream to be able to travel abroad to the likes of E3 or gamescom; people who are too young to make their way over themselves have no means, and people who are able to afford the trip are plagued by the awkward times at which the events transpire. But what set out to facilitate this, as well as draw international attention to the popularity of the Irish gaming scene, was GamerCon, which took place over St Patrick’s Weekend in Dublin’s Convention Centre.

What GamerCon promised was “Ireland’s biggest ever gaming event”, or so their press release said. An expected 25,000 gamers were expected to descend from across Ireland to assemble for what was labelled as a ‘sold-out’ show, which was heavily advertised and sponsored by top brand names including Sony, Microsoft, Alienware and Razer, to name a few, with over 800 ‘game stations’ on hand for visitors to avail of.

Alongside this, top names from YouTube’s gaming community, including Ali-A, UberDanger and JeromeASF were also listed as guests for the event. What was being advertised seemed like the perfect inaugural event for an Irish audience. The problem was, with the Convention Centre having a legal capacity of just over 9,000, there were big problems that would plague the event from the get-go.

Members of the public ended up waiting outside the Convention Centre for prolonged periods of time, with their tickets, both on Saturday and Sunday of the event. Operating from Twitter on the inside of the Convention Centre, members of

the public sent in their comments to us as they were outraged to be left waiting in extraordinarily far-reaching queues for hours on end.

“It’s an absolute joke, we’ve seven very disappointed children. #GamerGONE” sent in user Rosie Palmer. Another user Eoin Murphy also expressed his disappointment: “on the way home now, queued for the first two hours, crying kids and angry parents. Even security doesn’t know what’s going on.”

One user, Ciarán Rigney, was quick to point out that on the GamerCon website, tickets were still on sale for the event early Saturday morning.

Pictures of the queues were quick to fill social media as the hashtag #GamerConDublin quickly transformed from an accompaniment to the event, into a platform that allowed the public to express their outrage. It also showcased the large demand for refunds among customers.

Inside the centre, things weren’t much better; as we tried to make our way upstairs for scheduled interviews with some of the guests, we were told that the upper floors were at capacity, and that no further guests would be admitted upstairs until a significant amount came back down. This created a backlog of hundreds of guests at the base of the escalators for an extended amount of time and leading us to miss our interview slots. On the show floor, there were queue lines exceeding 2 hour waits

to play certain titles, the play duration of which lasted only 10 minutes.

Matters worsened when it was made known that the organisers had belatedly added an extra clause to their terms and conditions while the event was ongoing which remains on their site, in a different font size to the rest, stating the following; “Please note that we are required to maintain a safe environment for our attendees at all times and as such are subject to the capacities of the venue and the rooms/halls therein. Access is therefore not guaranteed, should such capacities become a challenge or be in danger of being breached. Equally, should you choose to leave the venue at any time, re-entry is not guaranteed.”

While no reason has been given to explain the

“#GamerConDublin quickly transformed from accompaniment for the event into a platform that allowed the public to express their outrage.”

“No further guests would be admitted upstairs at all until a significant amount came back down.” overbooking of the event, many are speculating that, as a result of overspending on high-profile names and marketing, too many tickets had to be sold to avoid the event being a financial failure (coincidentally, the event will undoubtedly turn a deficit as a result of the amount of refunds now being processed).

During the event, organiser Ferdi Roberts closed down his personal Twitter account before making a statement via the GamerCon Facebook page: “reading people’s comments on social media I can see just how angered and frustrated people are. I accept that I and the decisions I made created that situation for you, your family or loved ones. This was never my intent, and for this I am incredibly sorry.”

Whatever way you look at it, to have ‘C’ in GamerCon capitalised might now seem like more than effective branding. Most gamers during the event were definitely conned.

“With the Convention Centre having a legal capacity of just over 9,000, there were big problems that would plague the event from the get-go.”

Crowds gathered at this year’s over-subscribed GamerCon in the Convention Centre in Dublin

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OTwo//Film&TV

Modern Propaganda Owen Steinberger argues that the new 24: Legacy isn’t just bad, it’s actively dangerous.

ACCEPTABILITY. A pillar which holds upright culture at large. We live in constant proof of world—is radically important in our own our ideals of Western civilization, and an altar acceptability’s impermanence, its fragility, make-up as human beings in society. to kneel before in search of personal salvation. its mouldability. Contradictions are the faultWe “vote with our wallets” as is often said: We often think of acceptability as an immu- lines of ideological change. what we choose to purchase is encouraged in table code: the commandments of a good Art plays a massive role in our definition practice and repeated by other corporations. and moralistic Enlightenment society, hewn of acceptability: how many of us have used And our brains respond to new and unique exinto stone tablets a thousand years ago that Game of Thrones or Harry Potter as parallels periences with energy, generating new neural remain untarnished today. for world politics? Trump in the White House links that allow for more nuanced thought.

Yet these ideas are necessarily new: tradi- = Voldemort in Hogwarts. What we choose Expressive film technique, brilliant poetics, tional values are reshaped every day as en- to consume—and what that says about the strong character performances all “train our tirely new topics and forms of expression are brains” to think differently—the same is uniborn. Ideological borders are redrawn daily, laterally true with the worst in our TV. and radically overturned through generations.

This is not to say that pop music, banal The premise that we stand on a solid and precomedies, and other media so often deemed dictable moral foundation is full of holes. “un-intellectual” or “un-serious” are bad. ActuLook at the recent Oscars: this paper has ally they’re great—repetitive experiences, like already addressed the gross reincarnation of watching Simpsons reruns, strengthen their Mel Gibson by the Academy, resurrected from own neural pathways, boosting memory. No; whatever murky cavern he’d hidden himself it is the art that twists its creativity in maliwithin. Yet the judges also subverted expectacious ways that we should avoid and condemn. tions in awarding Moonlight the Best Picture This is all to say that bad art, born from a award, a move against the contemporary redesire to manipulate and mislead its audiactionary current. ence, or from extreme cultural ignorance, is The Academy are hypocrites, surely, but extremely bad in that its warped ideas and this standard hardly seems to matter. Both prejudices are naturally internalised in their moves have garnered support from arts subject. “Extremely bad art” shares all the

“The conception that propaganda has gone away—or that we as a modern society are “too smart” or “too informed” to fall for such manipulation—is both naïve and dangerous.”

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properties of propaganda.

Propaganda, some assume, was a product of the Cold War era and was largely limited to the USSR and its controlled territories. The conception that propaganda has gone away— or that we as a modern society are “too smart” or “too informed” to fall for such manipulation—is both naïve and dangerous.

9/11 and the Iraq War has shown the world otherwise. The overwhelming negligence of the US administration’s ground war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a decision largely responsible for current tensions between the West and the Middle East, was perpetuated by a wilful media. Misinformation over weapons of mass destruction, never found, and specious links between terrorism and the Muslim faith, very much alive today, were spread through the news and also through popular TV. Remember 24? The series’ core concept— that a season takes place in one day, an episode in an hour—stands as a direct reflection of America post-9/11: the perception that the world itself could radically change in the space of 24 hours. Federal Agent Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, remains an American folk hero today.

Fox’s 24 wrapped a pro-Iraq War message up in its captivating plot and action sequences, masking its effect; its flaws difficult to unpack without the aid of hindsight. Not only were the terrorist threats faceless baddies—a common trait in action films at the time, in complete, wilful ignorance of their humanity—but frequently they were to be found within the US government itself.

This year, 24: Legacy, a reboot or a sequel series—who can really tell anymore?—has taken up the same mantle during a similar time in world history. Donald Trump, recently elected on an Islamophobic platform, represents a resurgence of the fear directed at the Middle East that was so pervasive just over a dozen years ago.

Now seems a fitting time for the 24 intellectual property to make its return. The acceptability of blatant xenophobia in the mainstream has had a second wind. The series’ message of fear and hatred has only grown more transparent and more odious with age.

The first scene of the first episode begins in a middle-class American home, complete with a

OTwo//Film&TV “The acceptability of blatant xenophobia in the mainstream has had a second wind.” white picket fence, where brown-skinned terrorists have murdered the wife and children of an ex-troop, and then murder him, too, “for Sheik Bin-Khaled,” they spit with venom.

Cliché aside, this opener sets the tone for the rest of the series: traditional family values are championed, and portrayed as “under attack” from the cloaked and hooded forces of some foreign agenda.

Portraying the forces of terror as “at our doorstep” is a common technique, and was popular during the Red Scare in the US, when Communists were the boogeyman. They could be your neighbour! posters exclaimed—Be careful who you’re inviting in! The American Muslim now has now been attached the same status.

A show like 24: Legacy could only have come about in today’s social climate, and as such we cannot blame it for Islamophobia in general. However, its shallow and hateful depiction of otherness will be instrumental in ensuring it sticks around.

Scene after scene, the show fails to redeem itself. In fact, 24: Legacy seems driven to endorse every vapid and despicable ideal of modern society. This is television for the chronically miserable and the perpetually hateful.

Eric Carter is our protagonist, an ex-troop whose old crew is being hunted down one-byone by the terrorist threat, who is played by Corey Hawkins with the emotional dynamism of a rock. The very first time we meet him, he starts up an argument with his partner over her decision to use birth control. His conviction that “things are good now”—which an assassination attempt immediately proves wrong—is his only weak assertion for his insistence that she be ready to bear his children after, the plot implies, a traumatic event.

Women in 24: Legacy are treated with the spite of a scorned lover. Rebecca Ingram (Miranda Otto) returns from the original series and an old male colleague remarks, playfully, “Man, sometimes you were tough; I wanted to bitch-slap you!” The series treats remarks like this as par for the course: women, 24: Legacy suggests, are to be protected or abused or otherwise used for the benefit of its male characters.

It is no coincidence that this patriarchal

view is endorsed in tandem with racism and xenophobia. All are wrapped up in each other, entangled in the Western ideology of hatred and superiority. The central fear in 24: Legacy is that this ideology will somehow be undermined from within.

Two plots run in parallel throughout the first episode: Carter and his ex-partner Ben Grimes (Charlie Hofheimer) must team up to stop the anonymous terrorist threat from retrieving a secret stash Grimes had stolen from the Sheik years ago; and an innocent-looking young girl in an American high school is planning to “prove herself,” implying a bomb threat, in the name of Islamic terrorism. Both, it turns out, involve this fear of the outsider infiltrating society and disrupting it from within.

The secret stash proves to hide the codes for dozens of terrorist sleeper agents. The young girl is vaguely referred to as a recent immigrant from Middle East, and she’s seduced her thirty-something year old teacher to aid her in a terrorist plot. The irrational fear encapsulated in Trump’s recent attempts at a Muslim Ban is the only mindset that would keep such an unrealistic, absurd plot point from breaking one’s suspension of disbelief. Be careful who you’re letting in! echoes.

With 24: Legacy, the original 24’s legacy, ironically, proves itself to be one of fear and violence. Quality scriptwriting, acting, and critical acclaim set aside, the sequel’s weaknesses allow the series’ core flaws to rise to the surface. Propaganda is insidious, however: that such extremely bad art is still widely viewed and enjoyed speaks to a larger problem.

Acceptability is the true concern with a work like 24: Legacy. That work so ignorant and harmful can be produced, with a $35 million dollar budget no less, and distributed to a mainstream audience is symptomatic of today’s skewed social norms. It is okay, it seems, to widely slander Arabic culture and to imply that Muslim worshippers living in the West are, more likely than not, enemies of traditional family values, hidden in plain sight.

What’s acceptable is quickly changing before our eyes. Great art almost always breaks with social norms, urges us towards a better future; 24: Legacy is the opposite. It is dangerous to condemn art as bad when it is the concerted effort of an individual or a group’s vision. However, this series is typical of mass media, a focus-grouped drama without any care taken in its design, no heartfelt effort put into any of its many characters or plots.

24: Legacy makes this lack of heart apparent in the hate it practices. Propaganda at its most insipid, the series holds hands with the prophets and profiteers of the political right in its depiction of an America under siege. Moreover, it speaks to a larger flaw in society: the shifting of acceptability backwards and the shambling resurrection of fascism in the West.

None of us are immune to the effects of propaganda; see its ghost peeking out from behind advertisements all around us, a la John Carpenter’s They Live! Luckily, the natural question to ask—what can be done against this malevolence?—has a simple answer: create great art and speak out, louder than the din of fear and hate that surrounds us.

“Propaganda at its most insipid, the series holds hands with the prophets and profiteers of the political right in its depiction of an America under siege.”

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OTwo//Film&TV

Review: Graduation Alexander Glover

SET in modern day Romania, Graduation (titled Bacalaureat in Romania) focuses on the lengths a parent will go to ensure the best for their child.

Romeo (Adrian Titieni) is a successful doctor in a small town in Romania who has raised his daughter Eliza (Maria-Victoria Dragus) with the intention that when she finishes school she will leave Romania to study abroad.

Everything has gone according to plan and Eliza has been offered two conditional scholarships to study in the UK; however, the day before she is to sit her final exams she is assaulted outside the school. Now, Romeo must break his own moral code and ensure his daughter gets out of

“A hyper-realistic portrait of life in this small Romanian town.” the country and doesn’t make the same mistakes he made with his life.

Director Christian Mungiu creates a hyper-realistic portrait of life in this small Romanian town.

“At many times during the movie the audience is expecting something to happen but then nothing does”.

On a technical level, it is a well-made effort which paints the town in a dismal light, saturated in a grey hue of depression.

Gradutation has no musical score which amplifies, hauntingly, every little noise from the clanking of glass to the peeling of fruit. Each character is depicted with unflinching honesty and every actor in the movie plays their part straight, without overacting, in keeping with the dark subject matter.

This film was a critical darling at Cannes and other film festivals when it debuted last year.

Despite its many awards and nominations, however, to the casual cinema-goer it fails to impress.

The storyline, while deeply psychological, seems incomplete and never reaches the anticipated heights. It does, however, properly portray the

corruption and the culture of favour-trading that face. Nevertheless, with a runtime of over two hours, some answers are expected. exists in post-Ceauescu Romania.

At many times during the movie the audience is expecting something to happen but then noth- In A Nutshell: An intense, well-made drama in ing does. Intensity builds, the director uses long which not much actually happens. takes and Titieni acts convincingly but the buildDirector: Cristian Mungiu up almost always leads to disappointment. It feels as if many storylines were considered but in Starring: Adrian Titieni, Mariathe end, didn’t make the final cut. What remains Victoria Dragus, Malina Manovici are opportunities for the audience to craft their Release Date: 31st March own solutions to the problems Romeo and Eliza

Runtime: 128 minutes

Review: The Eyes of My Mother Emma Kiely

Director: Nicolas Pesce Starring: Kika Magalhães, Will Brill, Olivia Bond, Diana Agostini, Paul Nazak Runtime: 77 minutes Release Date: March 24

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FRANCISCA (the eerily calm Kika Magalhães) witnesses the gruesome death of her mother as a child, when they invite madman Charlie (Will Brill) into their home, yet befriends the insane culprit after her Father imprisons him. She severs his vocal chords and removes his eyes, making him her helpless pet.

Fast-forward to her life in her mid-twenties, we see that the haunting memories of her childhood have laid the foundations for her violent

insanity. Her father has died, yet she cares for, bathes, and sits his corpse up at the dinner table. She murders her mother’s killer when he attempts to escape and the thought of being alone leads her to kidnap a baby, holding its mother as her new prisoner and taking away her ability to see or speak.

The Eyes of My Mother is an extremely impressive directorial debut from New York filmmaker Nicolas Pesce who also wrote the script and edited the film. Pesce manages to craft beautiful camera angles and utterly terrify the audience without the use of colour.

To say this film is traditionally “enjoyable” is an utter lie, but to say that it is a bad film is an even greater one. You may consider walking out half-way through but when you look past the blood and guts, you’ll see that there’s a beautiful piece of art lurking within.

What makes the film so scary is that you never see what makes Francisca tick, or why she murders and tortures people. That is what makes this picture different from the usual slasher flicks, there is no straightforward motive.

And despite being surrounded by death, horror, and violence, Francisca maintains a dead calm for nearly the entire film.

The aesthetic screams arthouse, so your full attention is needed throughout, and you may

“You may consider walking out half-way through but when you look past the blood, guts, and corpsefondling, you’ll see that there’s a beautiful piece of art lurking within.” feel sick in the theatre, or wonder why you would subject yourself to such masochism.

However, the one thing this film is not, is boring.

A black-and-white, subtitled, stomachchurning arthouse flick is not everyone’s cup of tea; The Eyes of My Mother is very much an acquired taste. However, if you feel like broadening your horizons, or simply want to disturb yourself, this is your kind of flick. The weakwilled and faint-hearted, however, should keep away.

In A Nutshell: The Eyes of My Mother is a grizzly tale showcasing arthouse horror cinema at its most disturbing.

OTwo//Film&TV

Will Vimeo Kill the YouTube Stars?

Orla Keaveney analyses the burgeoning DIY film scene and its two largest platforms with due skepticism.

“Vimeo’s main distinction from YouTube may be its disregard for populism, but leaving this arrogance unchallenged will cost the site its chance to appeal to a wider audience.”

Pixar production Borrowed Time, as featured on Vimeo FOLLOWING the unexpectedly profitable careers of vloggers like Zoella and PewDiePie, YouTube has become an increasingly respected alternative to traditional media like TV and radio. Our generation is moving away from the world of 30-minute timeslots and ad breaks towards the democracy of the internet, where anyone can create content without the approval of network execs or corporate sponsors.

But with over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, constantly adding to the 81 million videos already on the site, it’s literally impossible for any one person to sift through all this footage and glean the best bits. And the runaway success of YouTube’s stars has inspired thousands of wannabe celebrities to clog the site with grainy footage and clickbait titles. It seems that the freedom of online video comes at the price of traditional production values, and find-

“The difference between YouTube and Vimeo… there’s a certain air of arrogance and snobbery about the latter which can alienate the casual viewer.”

ing worthwhile content is more of a gamble than ever.

That’s where Vimeo comes in. The videosharing platform may at first seem like a blatant rip-off, the Bing to YouTube’s Google – even though Vimeo was actually founded in 2004, three months before its better-known competitor. Where the two sites differ is in their selectivity: while uploading to YouTube is as easy as creating a free account, Vimeo caps creators’ uploads unless they “go pro” by paying a monthly subscription. It might not be very democratic, but it does filter out the hours of webcam rants that plague YouTube. Plus, it means the creators cover the running costs rather than the viewers, sparing us from watching ads before every video.

Vimeo has been used for “professional” productions: for instance, a group of Pixar animators used the site to showcase Borrowed Time, a pet project that aimed to show that CGI can tell emotionally-moving stories for adults as well as children.

Vimeo also hosts many of the Academy Award nominees in the short film categories, including this year’s winners, Piper (Animation) and Sing (Live Action). But Vimeo is mostly populated by indie filmmakers, delving into a range of genres from documentaries to drama to experimental work. What unites these creators – and distinguishes them from their YouTube counterparts – is that they see their work as art rather than simply entertainment.

The difference between YouTube and Vimeo

could be likened to that between Facebook photo albums and a gallery’s photography exhibition. One format isn’t necessarily better than the other; though there’s a certain air of arrogance and snobbery about the latter, which can alienate the casual viewer. Enjoying the more “highbrow” stuff doesn’t make you any better than those who prefer a little less pretention, though both sides would agree that carefully-curated art tends to have a deeper, less superficial impact.

Another difference is that YouTube recommends videos based on what’s popular for people in your demographic, whereas Vimeo categorises its content under headings like “Watch Human-Curated Staff Picks” and “The Freshest in Animation”. While the measure of a YouTube video’s success is its number of views, Vimeo’s content instead displays its awards from highbrow film festivals like badges of honour, each framed in gold laurels.

Throughout the site, Vimeo emphasises quality over quantity, and its definition of “quality” is set by critics, not the general public. Not surprisingly, Vimeo is nowhere near overtaking YouTube in terms of popularity – its recent milestone of 100 million viewers is a tenth of YouTube’s monthly average.

Where Vimeo could appeal to YouTube’s fanbase is in its emphasis on high production standards. Bridging the gap between the accessibility of the internet, and the crisp cinematography of traditional media, Vimeo’s content could be the platform for a new breed of entertainment.

Netflix Originals have proven the potential of the internet to produce affecting series and films, on par with broadcast media; however, Netflix hasn’t deviated much from the familiar format of its predecessors. Most episodes in a series are of a consistent length around the 30- or 60-minute mark, and continue conventions like title sequences and end credits.

Vimeo has even greater potential to push the limits of the internet as a medium, because the existing content is already experimental, whereas Netflix has built its fan-base by relying primarily on shows that originally aired on TV. What Vimeo needs is a high-profile success story, a short film or series praised by both critics and the public, that will reshape people’s perception of it (like House of Cards did for Netflix’s homegrown productions). But the site doesn’t appear to be making any moves towards this sort of breakthrough.

Currently, Vimeo’s content creators are preoccupied with earning the approval of Sundance, Cannes and other film festivals that make waves within the film circles, but have a negligible impact on the general public. Vimeo’s main distinction from YouTube may be its disregard for populism, but leaving this arrogance unchallenged will cost the site its chance to appeal to a wider audience.

Vimeo doesn’t need to become a clone of YouTube, but by refusing to adopt some of its competitor’s more successful traits, its creators are wasting their potential to lead changes in future media.

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OTwo//Creative Writing

Seeing Red The walls of the room were the colour of porcelain. In the far corner of the room there was a wooden desk. On it was a pencil, a parer, and a yellow paged A4 pad. A red lamp was mounted on the wall above the desk and cast its artificial light; tiny particles of dust floated around its glare and gathered around the slumped figure of the writer, Gregor Modern. His face, which was normally cleanshaven, was covered in thick stubble. He sat hunched over with his elbows resting on the desk and both hands deep within his flaming, curly locks. Gregor had been sitting like this for some time. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept.

Beside him was a wire basket that was now overflowing with scrunched up bits of yellow paper. The little balls that represented his frustration spread out from the bin and could be seen making their way around the room. They resembled fragile, makeshift towers. Some even rose up to form crude looking pits.

Gregor swore to himself as he pushed away from his desk and stood up. Reaching out he gripped and glared at the pencil and spoke to it. “Why won’t you work?” Snapping it in half he flung it away. The pieces made a weak tap as they connected with the wall and left a trail of graphite as they slid down to the floor and became lost amongst the balls of paper that surrounded the room. It brought him no end of annoyance that the words wouldn’t come. He knew they were there. But how to reach them? How would he take hold of the words and put them in a logical order that resembled something worth reading?

Any idea that he tried to formulate would gain momentum briefly and then fail.

Months had passed since he had last written anything. Even writing a shopping list, composing an email or sending a text message was a momentous task. Deadlines were missed or forgotten about entirely.

He was becoming fixated on his inability to form even the most mediocre paragraph. It haunted him. He saw it as a failure.

In his dreams ideas teased him.

They floated before him, surrounded by a crimson aura, and offered him a way out of his rut. When one idea held promise he would wake and reach for the notebook next to his pillow in an attempt to capture its es-

sence only to find it had vanished as quickly as it had formed. Fabricated, mock laughter would echo throughout his house as the idea left him.

Gregor sighed and left to go downstairs to the kitchen. He counted out the creaks from the stairs underfoot as he made his way down. Amongst the thirteen steps there were four beneath the stained maroon carpet.

The kitchen was small but suited his needs. A cold light shone through the circular windows. He made for his coffee machine and began the preparations. The beans rattled as they hit the metal surface of the grinder. The socket gave a satisfying click as the power was turned on. Gregor closed his eyes while the blades came to life and transformed the beans into a fine powder.

Once finished he emptied the contents into the basket, filled up the reservoir, turned on the machine, and sat down against the backdoor to wait.

Gregor closed his eyes and listened to the clear water as it passed through the pulverised beans and fell into the pot as caffeinated drops. He hoped that a mug of coffee would help clear his head and shift the writer’s block he was suffering from.

The smell of coffee filled the kitchen as the remaining water filtered through the beans

By Sean Tate

and became a black elixir. Taking a white mug from the press above him he poured himself some coffee. As he held it close to his chest Gregor looked at its contents: the virgin white mug intensified the coffee within; it was like staring into a dark, caffeinated abyss.

He brought the mug to his lips and took a cautious sip of the hot liquid.

It flowed down his throat; he could feel the aftermath of the heat it left in its wake as it made its way to his stomach.

This was a pleasing sensation and one aspect of drinking coffee that he enjoyed. Once the coffee reached its destination it spread out and caressed the lining of his stomach and gave him the feeling of intense satisfaction. A shadow of a smile formed at the corner of his mouth.

He closed his eyes as the caffeine began to take hold and clear away the fog that had spread across his brain. He began to sway back and forth on his feet and became euphoric. A sigh of pleasurable relief passed his lips and he raised himself up on his toes.

An idea began to take root, it ingrained itself within him and held tight. He smiled to himself, there was promise with this; a glimmer of hope. Draining the mug of its contents

he placed it on the countertop and went back to his room.

The balls of frustration that lay on the floor beneath his feet were now in the shape of a path that offered a clear route to his desk; he walked it gladly. Sitting down he gazed upon the blank A4 pad. No, it wasn’t blank he thought. The writing was already there; it only had to be unlocked and brought to the surface. He was now able to form such a feat. Taking a fresh pencil in his hand he sharpened it to a fine point and brought it to pad and froze and inch above the paper.

He gripped the pencil as he held it. His hand turned white as he held it tightly. He was beginning to shake. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. The pencil strained. The pencil snapped. It echoed throughout the room... The idea had fled and left him.

Illustration : Louise Flanagan

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Poetry

OTwo//Creative Writing

Anxiety

Isolation

It comes with bated breath, Eager to knock you.

Knock the air from your lungs And Replace it with lead.

(Inspired by ‘In a Station of the Metro’ by Ezra Pound)

It comes with noise, The sounds of wheezing And paranoia, It causes you to tremble, To hold yourself close, It stops your heart, Causes your gears to stop, Brings you pain, Makes your very being rot.

It’s nothing, they tell you, It’s just a phase, Just a moment, It’s in your head, In your mind, In your bed, In your life.

The shadows of unknown bodies fall from a crowd; Abandoned upon the concrete like new born babes at war.

They fall silently; Like petals on a wet, black bough, Of a solitary willow tree.

A sonnet for me, from my brain

Teresa Curtin

This unwelcome feeling of utter dread, An endless list of tasks which must be done, You want to kill obsessions in your head, But I won’t let you stop, we’ve just begun.

Go Check that you have locked the door again, Or are you content to just be unsure?

I feel like you should Check the lock three times, Though there’s no harm in Checking five times more.

Perpetually persistent Tapping, Your hands are tired but they will not desist, Be sure you only Tap the correct things, And don’t allow a single Tap be missed.

Some quirky, humorous habits of yours, It’s probably best if we stay indoors.

Hannah Moroney

What do they know of the parcel Of coldness That arrives in the night, Lands on your chest, You quake in fright, A zygote of isolation, Jumping in alarm from the shadows of the moon.

How could you prepare?

How could you know?

For the bitterness of fear, The realness of panic, The melancholy of anxiety, That makes me feel Alive.

Teresa Curtin

Illustration : Louise Flanagan

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OTwo//David Norris

From Criminal to Campaigner: An Interview with Senator David Norris David Monaghan speaks to Senator David Norris as he receives UCD LGBTQ+’s Foy-Zappone Award.

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OTwo//David Norris

Image via letsmakehistory.ie

it said ‘Homosexual? […] Send address on envelope to The Campaign for Homosexual Equality, 28-something street, Manchester.’ And I sent off my ten bob […] and became a member.”

In the very early 1970s, Norris’s activism became more overt, shifting from the personal sphere to the public. Seeing the Troubles unfold in Northern Ireland, Norris was involved in the formation of the ‘Southern Ireland Civil Rights Association’, which was established to show solidarity with oppressed Catholics north of the border.

Although a member of the Church of Ireland, he felt Roman Catholics were being treated with contempt, but he became incensed when fellow campaigners suggested Presbyterians were more tolerant in the Republic, prompting Norris to stand up and say, as he recalls now: “‘You think you don’t discriminate but you do. I am ‘homosexual’’ – that’s the way we said it in those days, as if we were a species of rare butterfly – and I eventually persuaded them to include reform of the criminal law as part of their agenda, and that was the first time in Ireland that any group had committed itself to law reform.”

Despite this initial success there soon followed a brief hiatus in Norris’s overt campaigning until 1973. He explained to the audience that a conference was held in Trinity College at this time on the broad topic of sexuality, but as the event progressed it became increasingly apparent that most of the attendees were interested in the more specific and much more taboo subject of homosexuality. Norris continues: “Then they started another conference in 1973 that I went to, and they had various people from England coming over, [such as] the editor of Sappho, a lesbian magazine, and we had our own people, like Hugo McManus.”

Out of this sprung the Sexual Liberation Movement, of which David Norris was a member. Disappointed with the direction the group was taking, he led the first split and formed what became known as the Irish Gay Rights Movement. The first event was held by IGRM on the grounds of Trinity College. Norris, expecting a meagre 20 or so interested patrons, was shocked to find that, in fact, 250 people had shown up. “That set my little nose wriggling,” Norris jokes, “and I thought, ‘oh, there’s money to be made in this’.”

The IGRM then began regularly holding discotheques. Later, Norris helped found the Hirschfeld Centre in Temple Bar, Dublin, which became a social hub for an oppressed and overlooked minority for many years after its inception. Norris recalls: “On the night it opened – St. Patrick’s Day, 1979 […] 450 people turned up! This surging, seething mob outside [was] trying to push the doors in […] I noticed that the floorboards were deflected, because of people dancing […] So I stopped the music and made the announcement […] and got hissed and booed, and then some-

“I am ‘homosexual’’ – that’s the way we said it in those days, as if we were a species of rare butterfly”

Image via senatordavidnorris.ie

IN JUNE 1993, homosexuality was decriminalised within Irish law as a result of the Criminal Fraud (Sexual Offences) Bill. A century-old law that saw LGBTQ+ people thrown into prisons, beaten, tortured and analysed as sexual pariahs had finally been overruled, and many felt they could now begin the long journey to feeling like they were welcomed in Irish society.

The progenitor from which the momentum for decriminalisation came was David Norris, a former Joycean academic-cum-Senator, who kick-started the movement in the late 1970s. It is because of his efforts that many are no longer considered criminals in their home country, and why successive generations of LGBTQ+ individuals are now unaware of the threat those handcuffs held.

In February 2017, nearly 24 years since his efforts to increase the rights of sexual minorities in the country resulted in decriminalisation, David Norris has been honoured by UCD’s LGBTQ+ society. He recently received the annual ‘Foy-Zappone Award’, a prize reserved for anyone seen to do remarkable work within the field of LGBTQ+ rights advancement. It is named for Dr. Lydia Foy and Katherine Zappone TD, the inaugural recipients of the prestigious award, and Norris is the fourth person to be honoured since its inception in 2014.

Known for his jovial attitude, before the prizegiving began, Norris joked with society members and recounted various anecdotes from his career as a political activist: “I was once approached by a man who was worried his dog was gay,” he quipped.

The event began with a short screening of an RTÉ recording from 1975, featuring Norris being interviewed by the late Áine O’Connor – possibly the first time an openly gay man had been seen on Irish television – as the somewhat younger but still recognisable activist is asked upfront if he is sick. “When they approached me,” says Norris, addressing the audience that had formed to hear him speak, “they said, ‘well, we’ll have your back to the camera and disguise your voice,’ and I said, ‘well then I’m not doing it,’ because the whole point in being on television […] was to disprove the idea that we’re monsters.”

“If they had me sat there like the Elephant Man, back to the camera, in shadow, using a disguised voice, of course people would think I’m a fucking monster.”

Of course, RTÉ suggesting something like this was symptomatic of the time: many gay people were simply too afraid to be vocal about their sexuality in public for fear of violent backlash, or in extreme cases, incarceration. Norris, however, never shied away from discussing his sexuality, and he took his first baby steps towards campaigning for equal rights in 1969, as he informed the audience: “There was an advertisement on the back page of the Observer newspaper and

David Norris and long-time friend Mary Robinson

“If they had me sat there like the Elephant Man, back to the camera, in shadow, using a disguised voice, of course people would think I’m a fucking monster.”

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OTwo//David Norris Image via rté archives

David Norris speaking to Áine O’Connor on RTÉ television in 1975, as Chairman of the Irish Gay Rights Movement Images via the irish queer archive

Flikkers Dance Club in the Hirschfield Centre 1985/6 (Photo: Tonie Walsh)

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“I noticed that the floorboards were deflected, because of people dancing […] So I stopped the music and made the announcement […] and got hissed and booed, and then somebody said, ‘c’mon now lads, at least somebody gives a shit about our welfare.’” body said, ‘c’mon now lads, at least somebody gives a shit about our welfare.’”

Norris and his compatriots began work on fixing the issue and the Hirschfeld Centre was up and running again weeks later. Although he enjoyed working at the Centre, Norris admits that he knew little of the music that was played at the venue: “This led to me interrogating Freddie Mercury over his membership card and whether it was up to date – and I did the same to Elton John! I hadn’t a clue who they were!”

The Hirschfeld Centre, although successful, was targeted numerous times. Norris informed the audience of one such occasion: “I was in the office on the top floor […] and I could see sparks [coming from the roof]. When I got up I found a bomb [...] Someone had put […] two milk churns full of explosives, one on each side of a barrel of petrol, and they had poured petrol on the roof and thrown up firelighters […] the idea was to heat up the roof, and that would explode the milk churns, blow the lid off the barrel of petrol, blow the roof off, and send flaming streaks of petrol down to the discotheque, where about 300 people would have been burnt to death.”

Horrified, Norris entered fight or flight mode and used fire extinguishers he had carried with him to put out the firelighters. It was a narrow escape. The Hirschfeld Centre eventually burned down in 1987: “I was in bed about 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning,” Norris recalls, “and I was called down as a key holder […] and I ascertained that nobody had been injured, the archive was rescued, and the insurance was in place [and] I sat back to enjoy the fire.”

The Irish Gay Rights Movement, which had been founded by Norris, was about to experience

another major split, as he explained to the audience at the award ceremony: “I was pushing for political change and public agitation – and this was a very, very frightened community at this stage, we really were threatened by the criminal law […] and a lot of people didn’t want [public agitation]. They wanted [us] to keep our heads down, and to be quiet, and to have discos, and meet somebody to go to bed with […] all these perfectly natural human things, but they wanted to cut out the political things.”

David Norris then moved on to form the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, which aimed to change the status of male same-sex activity in Irish law, then illegal. In 1983, Norris took this challenge to the High Court, and later the Supreme Court – where he was represented by former President Mary Robinson – and it was rejected both times.

The case was then brought before the European Court of Human Rights by Norris and Robinson, the latter of whom had made the submission, where it was found that Ireland’s anti-gay law breached the European Convention on Human Rights. “We won by one vote,” Norris reflects.

“And there were about twenty judges, so it was very narrow. The Irish judge, of course, [voted] against us.” This ruling paved the way for decriminalisation by the Irish government in June 1993.

With such a vast, long-standing and notable career in campaigning for the advancement of gay rights, it is unsurprising that Norris would be selected as the next recipient of the Foy-Zappone award. Speaking to OTwo after a long talk, and a round of questions, he is quick to inform that receiving such accolades always comes as a surprise: “I’m surprised people remember these

OTwo//David Norris Photo credit: shauna gavin

David Norris addressing the UCD LGBTQ+ society on receipt of the Foy-Zappone Award

“This led to me interrogating Freddie Mercury over his membership card and whether it was up to date – and I did the same to Elton John! I hadn’t a clue who they were!”

“I’ve always been fairly loquacious, so that didn’t really concern me at all, and I never felt it was a burden. There was often quite a lot of fun involved in it, and I was quite irreverent in the interviews I gave.”

things, because my policy is to go straight on to the next thing and keep forging ahead, and I don’t look back very much, so it’s lovely.”

The audience that had come to hear Norris speak and receive the award was comprised mostly of people in their twenties. “A lot of young people don’t realise it was a criminal offense, which surprises me,” Norris admits.

Senator Norris made headlines in 2013 when it was announced that he had developed cancer on his liver, and he had to undergo a transplant in late 2014 as a result. A month before receiving the Foy-Zappone Award, he signed off from his duties at Leinster House for a time, citing a chest infection. “I couldn’t breathe,” Norris explains, “I couldn’t do anything, and I was put straight into hospital […] Then they found I had a very severe form of diabetes […] But my energy levels, physically, are not what they used to be.”

Has Norris’s physical health impacted on his work in the Seanad? “I used to speak on absolutely everything,” he says. “But now I’m much more targeted. I select the issues on which I could make an impact, and I speak on those. For example: Alice Mary Higgins [Senator for the Civil Engagement group] put down a thing on the Canadian Trade Agreement, and I did my research on it and made a really passionate speech, and my speech led to Fianna Fáil abstaining, and the government were defeated […] which was good, but some of the other issues that are going around I just leave them.”

One issue that Norris has spoken about is the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment, which currently prohibits women from attaining legal abortions in Ireland. “I think [the eighth amendment] is dreadful,” he says. “I don’t understand how somebody outside a relationship, with no connection to the people involved, can presume in their arrogance to tell a fourteenyear-old girl who has been raped by a neighbour, that she has to keep the child. I think there should be choice: if women keep the child in those situations, or in terms of fatal foetal abnormality, or rape, or incest, then that’s wonderful and I admire them for it, but I definitely think they should have the choice.”

In 2011, Senator Norris entered the race to become the ninth President of Ireland, a position hotly contested by six other candidates. Support initially fell in his favour, with Stephen Fry even tweeting that Ireland “couldn’t have a more intelligent, passionate, knowledgeable, witty or committed President” than the famed Senator.

However, it was revealed in July of that year that Norris, over a decade previously, had used notepaper with the Oireachtas letterhead to send a letter to the Israeli High Court. He asked for clemency in the trial of his former partner, left-wing activist Ezra Nawi, who was convicted of statutory rape. Norris withdrew from the race

later that same month, but re-entered in September when it seemed support was moving in his favour again. Norris eventually lost to Labour Party candidate Michael D. Higgins.

Reflecting on this period, Norris calls it a “destructive and homophobic experience.” He elaborates: “RTÉ put out jokes that [said] ‘David Norris would like it up the Áras’ […] If they had said that kind of thing about women, they would have been burnt to the ground. They said I advocated parents having sex with their own children – I mean, crazy, crazy stuff […] And then also the Israeli Government were involved in releasing information which only they had about the case Ezra [Nawi] was involved in, which was actually a honey-trap by the Israeli police.”

Norris continues: “my whole campaign team -- bar three people -- buggered off and left me.

Not one of them officially resigned. I learned it on the Nine O’Clock News […] that the principle PR woman [was] no longer worked for Norris campaign. It was devastating – the utter scandalous disloyalty.” Despite losing after an embittering and dramatic race, Norris feels that our current President, Michael D. Higgins has done a stellar job. “I do think we have an excellent President […] He’s a little academic [and] if you tune into his speeches, if you’re tuned into his wave-length, they are brilliant.”

The Senator has seen huge political and social changes in his lifetime, particularly in the area of LGBTQ+ rights. Having been born into a state in which he was considered a criminal, Norris now lives in a country where he need not live in fear of incarceration simply because of who he is, where anti-discrimination laws exist in LGBTQ+ individuals’ favour in areas of employment, the provision of goods and services, and speech, and where he can not only adopt children, but also marry the partner of his choice. And this is to say nothing of the Gender Recognition Bill, which allows Ireland’s trans citizens to change gender on legal forms without interference from doctors or psychologists.

“I rarely thought about [the changes that were possible],” Norris explains. “I had a series of defined targets at each stage. The first one was knocking out the criminal law, and then building on the social and human rights legislations. So I was usually targeting an immediate object, and planning and strategizing for that, rather than looking beyond that, at the next thing, because that would have been a waste of time.”

When asked if he ever felt a burden of responsibility in being one of the first openly-gay public figures in Ireland, Norris responds with a firm and decisive “no,” adding: “I’ve always been fairly loquacious, so that didn’t really concern me at all, and I never felt it was a burden. There was often quite a lot of fun involved in it, and I was quite irreverent in the interviews I gave.”

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OTwo//music

BECAUSE THE INTERNET Luke Sharkey sets out to examine the ways in which the Internet has uniquely changed our attitudes toward listening to and buying music.

SINCE the birth of music as a mass-produced commodity in the early twentieth century, recording artists have been limited by the inherent economical rules of supply and demand.

The companies which control the means of production — recording studios, distribution lines — have usually only provided capital for music which they perceive there to be a demand for.

While this system makes sense on an economical level, and has provided musicians with the money they need to survive for almost a century, the last 15 years have seen a huge fault develop within it. You guessed it: the internet.

The commercial music industry operates on the principle that a certain sound becomes the predominant, most popular on the market and thus supplies music of that type for consumption and sale. This has been particularly effective since

“The commercial music industry operates on the principle that a certain sound becomes the predominant, most popular on the market.” the mid-1950s, when the idea of pop culture first began to come to fruition in the Western World.

Every generation, since the original explosion of Rock’n’Roll, sees themselves in a different light to the one that came before. This means a new aesthetic with its own values and, of course, its own soundtracks. A good example of this is the

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difference between the hairstyles of the metal generation of the mid-1980s, and the grunge style of the early 1990s.

While this, of course, provides young adults the chance to branch out and express themselves it also provides recording labels with a chance to find the pioneers of the new sound and cash in on them. But where does the internet fit in with all this?

The internet is, essentially, a massive database for almost all the information that is available in the world, from new memes to MIT’s free online math degrees. It also operates on the principle of instant gratification. This means, however, that you don’t have to wait for next month’s edition of Melody Maker to find out what the coolest new band is. You don’t have to be in Seattle to witness the birth of the next big thing. Everything is available to you, the consumer, instantaneously.

This is great news for the consumer. Not so good, though, for the labels. This is especially true when you consider that the ageing lines and methods of distribution, which they held the oligopoly on, are not relevant anymore. This is largely due to online album streaming and the advent of home recording software.

How, then, does this affect the recording artist? The answer is quite bittersweet. OTwo has already written about the hardships which the modern musician faces trying to make a career in music in the modern age, so let’s have some good news now.

People often use a mirror as a metaphor for art. They say it’s the artist’s role to hold the mirror up to society and reflect what he or she sees. From this perspective, the internet offers a

golden age for artists on a puritan level. Artists are no longer restricted by labels pressuring them into making a sound that is marketable.

In fact, they no longer have to be pressured by labels at all. There’s nothing a label can do that a good social media presence and a clever way to market yourself can’t. This allows recording artists to make the music they see most-fit as the reflection in the mirror. Total creative control.

For musicians who aren’t fully invested in the

“The internet is, essentially, a massive database for almost all the information that is available in the world, from new memes to MIT’s free online math degrees.” financial side of music, the story is better again.

Online release platforms and easily downloadable home recording software means that artists can literally make whatever they want, even if they know no one will ever listen to it. There’s no real penalty for failing to make your music popular if it never cost you a penny to record in the first place.

This is why the world can listen to over a thousand different edits of Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’, with the bass-line from Seinfeld spliced in whenever the lead singer says ‘Rockstar’, looped for 5 hours. People turn their nose up at that sort of thing, and it does get old after the first 20

“We live in an age where people can make and mass distribute music just for kicks. That’s nothing to be sniffed at.” minutes, but we live in an age where people can make and mass distribute music just for kicks.

That’s nothing to be sniffed at.

It’s not all tunes from Shrek, though. Some recording artists have taken these online platforms and used them to make art of a genius calibre.

OTwo would highly recommend you check out an artist called The Caretaker on Bandcamp and pay the £5 for access to the Everywhere At The End Of Time project.

The project’s artist, James Leyland Kirby, is setting out to release six albums under the one title, which shall chart his journey through early onset dementia. The first part of the project was released in September 2016 and the last part is due for release in March of 2019. Each part of the release will be the sonic representation of the relationship that the artist has with his own memory at the time of writing. Conceptually, this makes Dark Side of the Moon look like a bit of a laugh.

Needless to say, a release like that, or like many others wouldn’t have been possible without the advent of the internet. So, is it better for musicians to have had limited creative control and a more certain pay cheque or to have complete creative expression coupled with financial uncertainty? The answer to that is for you to decide.

OTwo//Music photo Credit: alex gonzalez

Tribal Instincts “I’m just a big child making music.”

Patrick O’Laoghaire of I Have A Tribe sits down with Adam Lawler to discuss the power of presence, the mystery of art, and keeping a childlike point of view.

Meeting Patrick O’Laoghaire in a café under his studio space on the Northside, he starts with “I love people.” He’s been based here for a couple of months since he realised that, although fruitful, working alone with “a piano on the end of the bed” didn’t suit because he didn’t have anyone around: “When I came here it was like being in college again. When you come down here there’s a lot of movement and chat and swapping ideas. It’s grand doing it on your own but I don’t enjoy it so much.”

Naturally open and charismatic, the human element is important to O’Laoghaire. As we sit down with coffee, and a tea for him, it seems like he waves to almost everyone who walks through the door, and describes the people in the area as “magic”. “I’m not designed to do it on my own,” he explains, “I would miss the laughing of it, the pleasure of seeing what someone else sees in it.” Although, he acknowledges that alone time is important “when you’re trying to navigate. But then when you know where you’re at, it’s nice to go with others. You’d get a bit fuckin’ lonely on a mountain by yourself.”

He describes music as “instinctive, trusting”,

“You’d get a bit fuckin’ lonely on a mountain by yourself.”

and the way he speaks about the push and pull nature of performing in a band reinforces this emphasis on collaboration to find something new. “I might find something over here and you might find something over there and it’s lovely then to come back and…” Regroup? “Yeah, to say ‘What did you get?’ It’s not a conscious thing, you don’t have a list of stuff like a scavenger hunt, you just have a notion that there’s something there, and you’re curious as to what it is, so… will we go and have a look? That’s the mentality.” Turning over stones. “Yeah, and that’s very childlike.”

Retaining a sense of wonder at the world allows more space for growth. O’Laoghaire describes one song’s development using the phrase “growing pains” — but also keeps it fun. “I’ve found that the more laughing we do between playing the songs the more we get out of them.”

He grins. “I’m just a big child making music.”

At one point O’Laoghaire points out the soundtrack of sunny sixties tunes trickling from the PA, and says that the music in the café changes depending on the weather. This turns out to be a sentiment to which he can relate. The tunes he produces under the I Have A Tribe moniker are amorphous; raw, soulful affairs, with his wise and evocative voice cutting through the mix and an anything-goes approach to instrumentation that belies the earthy folk sensibility at their core.

His magpie approach attracts all sorts of people. On the demographic at his gigs, he says that “it’d vary in age a lot, which is good because you’re trying to make something where time is irrelevant. In one sense it’s very of now because you’re to be present and very much there in the moment but at the same time you’re trying to give a timeless quality to it. They’re playing sixties music here now and it’s not really relevant where it came from because it’s doing the same thing to everyone. People change and things change, but there’s a constant. You’re part of something ancient and also going forward, you’ve got this hand of time reaching out. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

He talks much of staying centred, finding the constant in a sea of variables. “If you’re playing with other musicians they’ll bring their own story to it. It’s kind of unspoken. The constant could be the people; we’re standing all together, and the stream of music is going around you.

Your job is to be fixed, but to be ready to sway with it.”

Sometimes capturing the feelings he wants leads to wandering down different avenues.

He says he’s sometimes more inclined to draw something than try to document it in words: “simple, like circles on a page”. He speaks of a joinery course he’s doing: “You have to cut it the right size. You can’t talk it into fitting”, and is in-

“You’re part of something ancient and also going forward, you’ve got this hand of time reaching out.

I’m still trying to figure it out.” terested in the colours of sounds. The goal is not attaining perfection: “You’re going to shift and change. You can’t splash around if you’re afraid of spilling, if you’re too aware of what might go wrong. Otherwise you wouldn’t get in the stream at all, you’d stay on the bank. My family come from Mayo, and there’s an amazing waterfall; it’s different every time I go. Now, there are some rocks that are always there. They won’t be there in a thousand years but they’ll be there next week when I go down, and I know the water running over them will be a bit different. I’m aware of that, and I’m excited for it.”

O’Laoghaire then provides a tour of the building, and cheerfully gives directions to a nearby park. He then disappears back inside, to turn over more stones.

“Beneath A Yellow Moon” is out now.

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OTwo//Music

R A D A R : T ob i as Synth-pop producer Tobias sits down with Luke Sharkey.

Dublin G ig Guide Seán Hayes offers a line-up of some of the best and most exciting talent playing around the city in the next few weeks.

Mano Le Tough — April 1st — District 8

DUBLIN-based producer and artist Tobias has just recently released his EP, Braiiinnns to the world.

Those of a musical persuasion should probably perk up and take a listen. The music is packed with vibrant synth leads and infused with lyrics of the everyday vernacular. Think the overall sound of artists such as The Weeknd mixed with a little Joy Division on the vocals side.

Where does the morbidity of a title such as

“I started looking at my brain as something separate to me, cause it doesn’t seem to act within my interests” Braaaiiins fit in? “Lyrically, I’m looking at a lot of moments in my life where I’ve felt totally out of control,” Tobias reveals, “when it comes to my thoughts and my head and the way I think. I started looking at my brain as something separate to me, ’cause it doesn’t seem to act within my interests.”

There’s a danger in breaking the fourth wall of consciousness too often, though, is there not?

Apparently so. “There’s a lot of fear and numbness to begin with in the EP,” he explains, “and in those four songs I try to fling that around and turn it into a sort of honest hope and a will to be looking at yourself and understand who you are and how you are in a healthy way.”

While certainly not out of place on a global

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“Genres are a bit funny anyway” sound level, Tobias’s neo-R&B vibe doesn’t seem to resonate particularly strongly with what musicians in Ireland are making these days. This is a thought which has struck him before: “I’m a bit scared of the Irish music sphere, especially the people on or near my level. I try [to] listen out for a sound like mine a lot. I’m worried I don’t fit here maybe?”

Does he get a negative reception from fellow musicians? “You meet someone else who’s a musician and you tell them you make mostly pop stuff and they sort of act like that means you’re not thinking … I don’t get that. It could be inside my head, though. Genres are a bit funny anyway.”

It would be surprising if anyone could listen to the EP and accuse it of thoughtlessness. In fact, there seems to be a painstaking attention to detail throughout the entire release. “I sit at the piano for hours and scream and shout and play and press my head to the keys like an absolute state. When I lived at home I think I used to drive my dad loopy in the room next to me, but he’d never say.”

That sounds almost therapeutic? For sure. “Writing is me taking stock … turning these moments that I figure over for hours into stories that I can sing to myself and others is a healing.” As they say, art is the best therapy after all.

Find Tobias Music and Braaaiiins on SoundCloud and Facebook

Niall Mannion, known better under the moniker of Mano Le Tough, makes a welcome return to his homeland next weekend, where he’ll play an ‘All Night Long’ open to close set at District 8. Formerly based in Berlin, and now living in Zürich, Mannion has become an important name in the electronic music scene both at home and abroad.

Since its founding in 2012, he runs the highly acclaimed record label, Maeve, which has released names such as Oxia, Shall Ocin and Baikal. From OTwo’s own experience, Mannion has been responsible for some of District 8’s most memorable nights over the past few years, and this set is sure to be no different. Tickets are currently priced at €18.

Honeyblood — April 8th — Whelan’s Scottish duo, Honeyblood, have announced tour dates across the country this April in support of their latest album, Babes Never Die. The band that burst forth from Glasgow’s DIY underground scene, recording cassette tapes in their bathroom and hosting parties in disused hairdressers have come a long way. Their latest album was produced by the acclaimed James Dring, whose work also includes the likes of Jamie T and Gorillaz. This somewhat unlikely collaboration has resulted in an urgent, clattering sound, not completely removed from their previous releases, but certainly evolved and developed. Tickets are available online from WAV Tickets for €14, with Whelan’s Indie Club sorting you out for the rest of the night afterwards.

District Magazine’s 3rd Birthday — April 14th — Private Manor District, Dublin’s leading arts and culture online magazine (after OTwo, of course), and having just launched their first physical issue a few months ago, is about to turn 3 years old. To celebrate, they’re doing what anyone else would do for their third birthday: throwing a sesh in a Southside gaff. The BYOB event, held on Good Friday, will play host to a number of both international and native names — names that have helped transform the Irish electronic scene into the burgeoning melting-pot it is today.

KOJAQUE, Staxx Lyrical and Bobofunk are just some of the artists who will be making an appearance on the night. While tickets are a bit pricey, starting at €54, and the location is being a kept under wraps for now, the night will also feature spoken word, art installations, and did we mention it’s BYOB? A unique night not to be missed.

OTwo//Music

Album reviews Gang Signs and Volcano Prayer Temples Stormzy

Drunk Thundercat

What Are You

Listening To?

DramSoc share their current favourite tracks with OTwo.

STORMZY has, quite literally, stormed the music scene, both in the UK and beyond with his debut album Gang Signs & Prayer. The album broke records, being the first grime album to reach number one in the UK, and rightly so, as Stormzy returns melody to grime in this album.

There is exactly the right amount of juxtaposition between gritty grime songs, like ‘Cold’, ‘First Things First’ and the lead single ‘Big For Your Boots’, and soulful, almost choral, collaborations like ‘Blinded By Your Grace’. Whether or not the contrasting styles were a deliberate choice to showcase Stormzy’s wide range of musicality, it makes for a highly listenable debut album. Gang Signs & Prayer as an album is far more cleanly produced and sophisticated than Stormzy’s first release, ‘Shut Up’.

The two years between his first single and album release have given Stormzy time to develop as an artist and it is evident in this powerful first release. Although the album has many raging diss tracks directed at his competitors, Stormzy often shows vulnerability in his lyrics, discussing depression, breakups and belief, topics often left out in the cold in the world of rap and grime music.

The collaborations on Gang Signs are a list of some of the most outstanding voices in contemporary R&B and grime: Kehlani, MNEK and Wretch-32 to name but a few, the former two bringing softness to Stormzy’s slower tracks on which the influence of Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill are clear. Overall, Gang Signs is an entirely unpredictable grime album with both soul and swagger.

In A Nutshell: An addictive debut, shame about that Ed Sheeran remix.

Ezra Maloney

TEMPLE, an English synth-pysch group, have just released their new album Volcano, the follow up to 2014’s excellent Sun Structures. The album proves to be a colourful escape that, although falling short of mind-blowing, offers tonnes of listening pleasure.

While initial and perhaps dismissive comparisons to Tame Impala will surely be made (smooth, boyish vocals flying over wavy instrumentals), this album and band have their own unique merits. This comes in the form of livid and vivacious tracks that relish in psychedelic rock’s immersive effect. One such track is ‘Open Air’, which is suffused with shimmering synth pieces and a driving beat, coupled with supremely audible vocals, which at first makes itself heard but is at last cast adrift and melts into the wave of instruments.

The track ‘(I Want To Be Your) Mirror’, flaunts similar glittering qualities, pairing lead-singer Bagshaw’s dreamy summertime vocals with a dance floor-ready beat. What sets this album apart from anything Tame Impala-esque is its philosophy of happiness over sorrow. Settling for the swaying, carefree submission to things not unlike the last moments as the sun sets at a festival.

The lyrics on the album do, unfortunately, dwindle into the background, but the general sense is there, particularly in tracks such as ‘The Guesser’, where he tells us to: “Take a look with your eyes closed open.” In other words: tap into other senses, listen to colours, trace the music with a blithe hand. You get the gist.

What this album does best is deliver impressions, whether of joy or longing or awe, and sets them alight with the union of Bagshaw’s crystalline vocals and synthetic instrumentations, evoking a sense of transience reinforced by many of the tracks’ abrupt conclusions.

VERY few artists come with as much universal respect as Stephen Bruner, known also as Thundercat. The bass-slinging groove-merchant is a native of California, while the release of Drunk marks his third full studio album release. The anticipation for it has been well earned; recent collaborations with George Clinton and Kendrick Lamar, to name but a few, have seen the artist grow in popularity across the board.

Bottom line, Drunk tends not to live up to the expectation overall, though this may be an unfair measure of quality for the release.

Throughout the album it’s clear that Bruner is reaching for a totally new sound. For lack of a better word you might call it neo-neo—funk.

There are times when this sound reaches its full potential, such as ‘Bus In These Streets’ and ‘Lava Lamp’. These highlights, however, come a little too infrequently for the album to consistently sound great.

The production on the album is solid. Most of the tracks are laced with liquid drum sounds and the warm thickness of Bruner’s bass, which is undeniably fantastic. The biggest problem, however, with the album is the song-writing itself. Not that each individual song isn’t great, but that the album has a whopping 23 songs, most of which are between a minute to three minutes long in length.

This tends to result in the quality tracks slipping between the cracks of the mediocre ones.

Unfortunately, it also gives the album a slightly unfinished feel. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to have 12 longer tracks full of killer, rather than 23 which need so much filler.

In A Nutshell: Close, but no cigar.

Luke Sharkey

“On Avoiding People”

We Cut Corners Leanne Bergin, Tech Manager

“In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company” The Dead SouthDonagh Ruane, Treasurer

“Greedy”

Arianna Grande Lucia Kennedy, Freshers’ Rep

“I Can Be Your Man” Wallis Bird

Seán Mac Dhonnagáin, Auditor

“Feel It Out (feat.

Farah Elle)” Bantum

Seán Butler, Events Manager

In A Nutshell: Less melancholy than Tame Impala; good company for spring cleaning.

John Vaughan

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OTwo//Fashion

made for style Key make-up trends for the spring & summer season

lip service Photographer: Camille Lombard Model and Make-Up Artist: Dee Alfaro

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OTwo//Fashion

getting cheeky

Baby pink strapless jumpsuit Peach Peter Pan blouse & white culottes

Supplier: Fran and Jane

eye-spy

Floral dress Blue oversized T-shirt

Supplier: Costume

Stylist: Ailbhe Keenan Model: Debbie Oshaks Photographer: Nikhil Wali

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OTwo//Fashion

Catwalk, Click, Checkout Shane Cullen discusses the online shopping surge and how catwalks are now readily made for the digital checkout. year olds, has taken the success in their stride, with the help of glossy TV ads and a clever social media presence.

Ten years on from its launch, Boohoo

“The rise in the online retailer is far from a phase like a fashion trend, as they are using their growth to take opportunities.”

image via prettylittlethings.us

RETAILERS and designers are always conscious of the expiry dates that come with fashion trends, but now there is a movement of customers opting to buy that new LBD or a casual shirt online instead of going to the high street. The rising increase of online shopping means there is now even more competition between stores than ever before, as the likes of Boohoo and Missguided are giving established retailers such as H&M and River Island a run for their money.

With an impressive 2.6 million followers on Instagram alone, Boohoo.com is arguably the leader of the pack in online shopping. The clothing giant, with a target audience of 16-24

founders Carol Kane and Mahmud Kamani have a lot to celebrate as it is reported that the retailer had a 130% profit increase and over 4 million customers in August 2016.

The rise in the online retailer is far from a phase like a fashion trend, as they are using their unprecedented growth to create new opportunities. Kamani’s sons, Umar and Adam are the faces behind Boohoo’s sister project, PrettyLittleThing. Having both studied fashion, the Kamani brothers had a clear scope of how they wanted their label to progress.

Like with Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing has followed suit in promoting their brand with attention grabbing TV ads and the launch of a smartphone app to accommodate the faster shop experience. PrettyLittleThing has had equal success, with famous faces including Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall spotted donning some of the retailer’s designs.

With the likes of the online “e-tailer” having a major influence on the rapidity of contemporary trends and shopping habits, what are the established high street retailers doing to keep up with this? River Island have focused their attention to online sales after seeing a 30% growth. The clothing chain have introduced a happy medium to attract customers to using their online and high street stores in the form of a “click and collect” service, allowing the buyer to pick up their preordered Saturday night outfit in store for free.

Campus Chic Name: Enya photos : louise flanagan

Favourite thing about your outfit?

“My boots. They go with everything.”

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Name: Michelle Course: MA in Film Favourite thing about your outfit?

“It’s a tie up between the tights and the shoes…it’s very hard to find shoes that have pointy toes.”

The high-street outlets are turning to new creative forces in the hope of drawing sales to their stores, with H&M teaming up with a new

“River Island have introduced a happy medium to attract customers to using their online and high street stores in the form of a ‘click and collect’ service.” high fashion house every year; most noticeably Balmain in 2015, in an attempt to appeal to the younger buyer. H&M have also tried to generate interest by featuring rapper M.I.A. in their TV ad campaign for World Recycling Week.

The new online retailers, however, seem to have the upper-hand with advertising to their target audiences for now, with Sofia Richie featuring in PrettyLittleThing’s TV advert, after being announced as the face of the brand.

When it comes to retail, it is now anyone’s game as online sales increase as rapidly as the wishlist basket.

OTwo//Fashion

Masterpiece On A Hanger As the countdown to the annual Met Gala gets underway, Lucy Mortell asks the question: is fashion art?

“Audiences don’t go to her shows to catch the latest trends but rather to witness the enactments of ideas.”

us “to rethink fashion as a site of constant creation, recreation and hybridity, she has defined the aesthetics of our time.” Audiences don’t go to

“The reality of fashion today is that it goes so much further than the visual.” her shows to catch the latest trends but rather to witness the enactments of ideas.

In keeping with Kawakubo’s innovation, the exhibit at the Met will be unlike any other. Gala attendees will be at eye-level with the designs.

There will be no physical barriers between them and the art — and art is the best word to describe Kawakubo’s designs.

Her designs go beyond our norm. She explores fashion at a much deeper level, working in the grey area in-between boundaries. Her work requires active viewing from spectators as she seeks to inspire new ways of thinking about fashion, art and the body. This approach, while intriguing, prompts the question – at what point does a fashion show become an art exhibition, and is there a difference?

Museums like the Victoria and Albert in

Photo credit: Mike alle via flickr

“BULBOUSLY sculpted”, “screwed up brown paper”, “swirled blobs” – not a description of a pre-school craft project but rather words used to describe Rei Kawakubo’s AW17 collection for Commes des Garcons at Paris Fashion Week.

Fashion critics were perplexed as they watched shapes and forms, not even close to resembling clothes, shuffle down the runway. When asked, Kawakubo simply described the collection as “the future of silhouette.”

It was announced in October of 2016 that the theme of this year’s Met Gala was to be Kawakubo’s Commes des Garcons. This is the first time since 1983 that the Gala’s theme will be based on a living designer. Kawakubo established the brand in 1973 and has consistently brought the outlandish to the catwalk since.

Andrew Bolton, curator in charge at the Costume Institute, has said that Kawakubo invites

London are permanently showcasing fashion in their exhibition halls and it’s clear that society has already adopted fashion as art. Recently, the V&A showcased designer Alexander McQueen’s body of work in an exhibition entitled “Savage Beauty”, it became the most viewed exhibition in V & A history with over half a million people queuing up to see his work. The reality of fashion today is that it goes so much further than the

visual. It’s not just about clothing one’s body; it’s now yet another way to communicate concepts and emotions.

Fashion and art are intricately entwined and the entwining is getting ever more complex. Of course, they have their differences but as Karl Lagerfeld said; “Art is art. Fashion is fashion.

However, Andy Warhol proved they can exist together.”

Fashionably Uncool

image via pursuitist.com

Alice Kelly examines the decline of the athleisure trend, charting the return of some classic staples.

WITH Chanel’s space age inspired collection drawing fashion month to a metallic close, there appears to be one thing missing from the copious amounts of sequins, tailoring and flares of this season’s runways — not a spandex legging or two piece sweat suit in sight. With athleisure reaching a natural, and very suitable, peak at the 2016 Rio Olympics it was inevitable for it to plateau in the Spring 2017 collections, and it is now losing ground.

There could be no other fate for a trend that

incorporate it into new styles have become tired. (We’re “Fashion is looking at those heeled boots and velour tracksuits, Kim K.) becoming selfInstead, luxury brands are aware again, straying away from athleisure in order to remain creative. shifting away from As a direct push against athsporty comfort leisure, Calvin Klein, Alexander Wang, Celine and Alexander towards tailored McQueen all welcomed the formality.” return of the pantsuit. Even streetwear brands like Yeezy and Fenty x Puma have swapped sweatpants for jeans and plaid skirts. dominated the industry like leisurewear. From Fashion is becoming self-aware again, shiftthe revival of brands like Under Armour and ing away from sporty comfort towards tailored Victoria’s Secret VSX, high fashion collaboraformality; and perhaps this is necessary in tions like Ricardo Tisci and Olivier Rousteing order to stop the rise of the “€100 legging as for NikeLab to celebrity collections such as pants” phenomenon. Even Laurent Potdevin, Beyonce’s Ivy Park or Rita Ora for Adidas, the CEO of the overpriced athleisure empire Lulu market became saturated, leaving no room for Lemon, predicted to The Robin Report in innovation.

August 2016 that the athletic wear trend would Athleisure, like denim in the 90s, has roll over. become so normalised that it can no longer The same report declared that fashion buybe considered a trend, and even attempts to ers were purchasing little growth for athleisure

in Spring 2017, turning their attention towards the return of denim instead. The demise of athleisure has marked a change in footwear too, the Chanel sneaker was nowhere to be seen this year with Karl Lagerfeld, and many other designers, debuting riding boots and loafers as part of their rediscovered formality.

However, like any great trend, athleisure has left a Nike Roshe shaped dent on the fashion industry. While classic trends, like the Oxford shirt, have returned to runways such as Self-Portrait and Claudia Li, it has been sloppily reinvented to strip away corporate connotations. Flats still reign supreme; flares and frays are keeping denim comfortable and even the tailoring in this season’s collections has been less stiff and heavy than ever before.

Athleisure may not necessarily ebb but, instead, evolve in order to combine comfort and wearability with innovation and style.

Of course, we can all agree to allow for the occasional oversized hoodie and leggings day, but it would appear the fashion industry is calling us to invest in some high fashion gym bags to store our pantsuits in for when its time change out of leggings.

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OTwo//Arts&Lit

Writing Emigrant Lives With emigration figures still on the rise in Ireland, Síofra Ní Shluaghadháin takes a look at the legacy of emigrant literature in Ireland.

“Ireland is certainly no stranger to the idea of the emigrant writer.”

“Unlike any particular national literature, the narratives of migrants share a tenuous set of common features.”

“Experience does not define humanity, and migrant literature reinforces the fact that, under it all, we are all human.”

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IT’S well known that emigrants and narratives this literature is that of community; the Irish the Caribbean and the American South, to abroad tend to congregate together. of emigration and immigration have formed the tales of migrants in London’s East End. Further afield, migrant communities the backbone of some of the most influential Storytelling is a way of maintaining and have found solace in telling their stories works of the 20th and 21st centuries, not re-enforcing identity, and it has been used in in their own way. Using every medium, only in Ireland, but around the world. a powerful way to describe the choices faced these authors, dramatists and poets have Emigrants face a unique set of challenges by migrants when they are far from home. told stories of finding new identities, and and experiences, and their stories touch Recently, writers like Monica Ali have negotiating old ways of life with new. One upon some of the things that emphasise our highlighted another form of this story, the shared humanity. In a world that is becoming of the most fascinating elements of the voices of the first and second generation, genre of migrant literature are the ways in increasingly divided along various different caught in that very real struggle between which different narratives have been linked lines, and with anti-immigrant sentiment on their present, and their cultural past. These the rise, is it time to look again at some of the together. struggles take many forms, such as language, Unlike any particular national literature, best and brightest voices that have travelled education, even food. These characters are the narratives of migrants share a tenuous far from home? representative of a struggle to belong when set of common features, highlighting Ireland is certainly no stranger to the they exist with a foot in two very disparate the fact that each narrative and journey idea of the emigrant writer – some of our camps. is intensely personal, regardless of their finest literary voices, including Samuel Migrant literature allows the sense of shared commonalities. Colonial narratives, Beckett and James Joyce, spent decades in the “other” to be brought home; the central such as Eva Ibbotson’s Journey to the River forms of “cultural exile”, fleeing from an message always giving a resounding sense of oppressively conservative culture, and a Sea, highlight a certain desire to “make like the fact that they are just like us. Experience regime of censorship which saw much of their home”, and how, in failing to embrace their does not define humanity, and migrant work rendered unpublishable in their home new surroundings, some migrants can wall literature reinforces the fact that, under it all, country. themselves off from the world. we are all human.

This outsider status gave these writers a Such is also the case with Enda Walsh’s Encompassing a range of different unique view, not only of the lives they were play, The Walworth Farce, where the viewpoints, there is little doubt that the living themselves, but also of the country characters spend their time negotiating stories of migrants are ones that need to be they had left behind. Irish writers are no between the memory of home and the reality told and heard. Using their voices, and their strangers to any part of the world (which led of the present. Within this genre of fiction, stories, the reader can see through their eyes, recently to an article in the Irish Times which there is often a sense of history being made reconciling the “Other” with themselves, thus asked if there is an Irish novel set in every present. ending the separation between migrant and country in the world).

This can be seen throughout literature, native.

On the other side of such stories, the from slave and post-slavery narratives of effects of emigration on communities at home has also featured heavily in the Irish mentality. From the page to the stage and screen, the “American wake” and the desolation it left behind it appear repeatedly in Irish literature. These are stories of loss and grief, but they are tinged here and there with a certain sense of optimism. This tension is what makes the story of leaving one which we are willing to read again – it is a tension that cannot be simply resolved, and there is no formula to deal with it. Many have tried, from Brian Friel to Anne Enright, but the hunger for home, and the trouble of being an outsider in one’s own community remain a static struggle in these tales. One Paris, where the likes of Beckett went to live and write of the recurring themes on both sides of

OTwo//Arts&Lit

Written Warning: The Poetry of Crisis Art has always been the antidote to crisis, especially in contemporary times. Ezra Maloney discusses the writing that characterises times of crisis.

WHAT is the role of art in times of crises?

Numerous people have puzzled over this for countless decades. It is certain that the role of poetry and literature, in times of huge change and upheaval such as war, political turmoil and societal problems, is to give a voice to the masses, who otherwise would remain voiceless. Art also serves as entertainment in times where the population are occupied with misfortune and disaster; it creates relief for the troubled soul. From the trenches of the first World War and the poetry of Rupert Brooke and Edward Thomas, to the contemporary spoken word artists of the Repeal and Black Lives Matter movements. Without art, the world in crisis would be a much more desolate place to inhabit.

War poetry has long been a feature of the literary scene, each and every war has had its memorable voices, often outspokenly antiwar. Many of the most well renowned poets of the 20th century feature indicting war poems amongst their oeuvre of work, whether it be the cynical humour of Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry or the bitter, disillusioned tone of Wilfred Owen’s legendary ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’.

These poems speak of the brutality and futility of war: “If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/Come gargling from the froth-

“Art has been a means for man to free himself of his troubles and it continues to be so”

corrupted lungs/My friend you would not tell with such high zest/To children…The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est, Pro patria mori.” To a highly patriotic nation, Owen and Sassoon’s poems were considered shocking as ever since Roman poet Horace coined the phrase, ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, it had been considered an honour to die for one’s country.

Yet the British war poets opened the eyes of many to the true nature of war, one which held no glory or romance. By the end of the First World War, a generation of European men had been wiped out and the optimism of earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke was long destroyed. War poetry was not only written directly from the trenches, though. Upon the outbreak of the World War II, ‘September 1st 1939’ was written by English poet WH Auden as far away from the trenches as New York City, proving that the effects of the war could be felt far and wide. Although many war poets such as Brooke, McCrae and Owen died at war, their poetry allows their legacy and anti-war sentiment to live on throughout history.

Since the time of Percy Shelley and William Blake in the Romantic period, poetry has criticised corruption in society and politics, as well as racism. In the early 20th century, writers such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright wrote about the growing prevalence of racism in the United States. The Harlem Renaissance was born from writings such as these and allowed African-Americans a space for their art, music and poetry without criticism or violence from the white population.

During the extreme difficulties faced by African-Americans during the 20th century, many memorable writings came about such as the historic, ‘I Have a Dream’ speech from Martin Luther King and Maya Angelou’s autobi-

ography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Protest songs were also important to the Civil Rights movement in both the United States and Northern Ireland, often crossovers occurred in songs sung such as ‘O Freedom’ and ‘We Shall Overcome’. As police brutality and systematic racism continue to be a problem not just in the United States but across the world, poetry protesting racism still flourishes with such poets as Steven Taylor, Raven McGill, and Francis Duggan writing on the topic.

Since the beginning of time, art has been a means for man to free himself of his troubles and it continues to be so. Whether it be the war poets of the Great Wars, the writers of the Harlem Renaissance or spoken word artists such as Mercedes Holtry, Neil Hilborn and

Sabrina Benaim who discusses issues varying from the Presidency of Donald Trump and OCD, literature continues to allow many to survive crises. The crises may be personal, national or international and all are valuable through literature, creating a legacy for writers who choose to voice their opinions during times of turmoil.

2017 is no less of a time of upheaval than any other with growing dissent towards abortion laws in Ireland, conservative politicians gaining power and the recent revelations of horrific abuse in so-called mother and baby homes. Undoubtedly, authors and poets have had and will have much to say about these issues, which will empower others to join forces against oppression and civil rights abuses.

“Since the beginning of time, art has been a means for man to free himself of his troubles” War Poet Siegfried Sassoon

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OTwo//Arts&Lit

Scene To Be Believed Síofra Ní Shluaghadháin offers her view on two plays in Smock Alley Theatre’s Scene and Heard festival of new work.

IT is a rare and pleasant experience to get access to the artist’s studio, to get to see the bare bones of a work in progress. Such was the feel of this double bill in the Boys’ School in the Smock Alley Theatre. Sitting up on the balcony, looking down on the performance beneath us, we were treated to an hour of bold and fresh Irish theatre: two short performances which were part of Smock Alley’s Scene and Heard festival of new work. The atmosphere at the Temple Bar venue was a particularly casual one, with the performance beginning at 18.15, an unusually early time for a theatre performance, but not an unpleasant change.

What transpired over the hour that followed was an emotionally charged set of plays. The first, Fizzy Drinks with Two Straws, is written by Joyce Dignam, co-founder of Tea and Toast Theatre Company, and directed

by UCD student Méadbh Hennelly. The play is like so many of the best works, a story about children, but absolutely not intended for children.

Based around the premise of two sisters, Lara and Rosie, who are “too young to understand” the turmoil at the heart of their family, the play was powerfully acted; the simplicity of the stage lending a particular child-like poignancy to its content. This is a play about childhood, growing up, keeping secrets, and learning what it is to be an adult.

The costuming also added a compelling element to this work as both actors donned the garb of young children to add to the reality of their roles. It is also a play which demands every ounce of your attention, and when the lights finally went down, there was a tangible sense of shock amongst the audience. It is a testament to the entirety of the cast and crew, along with the playwright, that such complex and fascinating storytelling could be delivered within such a limited time as 25 to 30 minutes.

For the audience, it was a joy to watch work of such calibre; a new voice, unweighted by the conventions that often hamper more “traditional” theatre. In the case of both of the plays, there is a lot to be said of the merits of a small cast and a limited budget. Part of what made the piece so gripping came in the explicit yet unspoken contract between the stage and the audience

— we were to suspend our disbelief for the hour, while they worked their magic. It paid off.

Meanwhile, the beginning of Infinity, written and performed by actor and playwright Nessa Matthews, signalled a definite shift in the dynamic of the performance. This is a work which utilised beautifully the space available within the Boys’ School, using the lack of a raised stage to engage directly with the audience.

Beginning as a confessional, discussing the difficulties of bringing a piece of art to fruition, Matthews skilfully weaves a narrative that is equal parts truth and fiction.

Infinity speaks about the “What Ifs?” within all of us, making the audience question what it is to be alive and the meaning of their everyday lives. Infinity offers something unusual: science-fiction, stripped down and brought to the stage, as the two mediums rarely mix and yet Matthews mingles them effortlessly. It’s effect lay in its universality; it would be safe enough to assume that few, if any, of the people present that night were astronauts, but Matthews’ tale of loneliness, long distance travel and the fear of the blank page ahead spoke volumes to us all.

What came from the evening, overall, was a sense of shock and awe, to borrow such a hackneyed phrase. To borrow another, it was a perfect exercise in the first rule of good writing. In these two works, the audience was exposed to a masterclass in “showing, not telling.” Theatrically, it was also a masterclass

“It is a testament to the cast and crew, along with the playwright, that such fascinating storytelling could be delivered within such a limited time.“ Fizzy with Two Straws and Infinity, two new plays performed at the Scene + Heard festival in the Smock Alley Theatre

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“Both Fizzy Drinks with Two Straws and Infinity offer a great sense of hope for the future of Irish Theatre.” in its own right: a showcase of using space, movement and the spoken word in perfect tandem.

It is not often that such deep and complex themes and concepts are brought to stage in such accessible formats as those seen in both of these plays. Both Fizzy Drinks with Two Straws and Infinity offer a great sense of hope for the future of Irish Theatre. The youth of both playwrights also offers an exciting insight into what is to come from both Irish and international theatre over the coming years.

Fizzy drinks with Two Straws is showing until 8th April. For more information or to book tickets see www.theatreupstairs.ie

FATAL FOURWAY Most Inspiring Movie Scene

Louise Flanagan The Lion King

David Monaghan Aquarius

David Kent Coach Carter

If an inspirational movie scene was ever to be manufactured by a machine I think the opening sequence from the Lion King would be pretty close to what it would spit out. It ticks a lot of boxes in the “what you need to make an inspirational movie scene” criteria: atmospheric music, a life changing/affirming event and a crowd coming together for a united cause. In this case to celebrate the birth of their future king, the lion cub Simba.

Five year-old me wasn’t so aware of all this inspirational-criteria-breakdown when I first watched it though. What I was aware of was the hoards of exotic animals crossing the African plains to a frenzy of harmonic chanting and the soaring vocals of the “Circle of Life”, with the shimmering red and gold sunrise for a backdrop.

Everything about it seemed so graceful. In this wonderful world where birds and monkeys could be friends with lions, my young, but world weary self could believe in life again.

The best part of this opening sequence is undoubtedly when Rafiki, the wise stickwielding monkey, held up Simba to the crowds of animals below. There they were, looking down from the perch of Pride Rock, the sun breaking through the clouds and hitting the little lion cub’s face, gifting him with a halo of angelic light. And then they all cheered, all the animals below, in whatever noises that were appropriate for each species.

Seeing that baby lion being held up and bowed down to by hundreds of adoring animals made me think “fuck I want to be a baby lion prince too. That looks great.” I dreamed of that for a long time. Alas, the power hungry five year-old me did not get her wish.

For my fatal fourway I have chosen a film that is still in cinemas. Edgy, I know. So before you proceed, beware: there are spoilers ahead.

In Aquarius, the new film by Kleber Mendonça Filho, we follow the ageing Clara as she fights a construction company who endeavour to take her apartment (she is the last person left in the building, the other occupants having left or been bought out previously). She refuses their initial offer, and the company turn to nefarious means to persuade her. They stage orgies, parties and prayer groups in the apartment above hers to persuade her to consider leaving.

This does not work however, as the everdetermined and always headstrong Clara simply refuses to budge. Arguably the film loses momentum in its final act but it delivers one of the most satisfying and inspiring climaxes in recent history, and here be the spoilers: it is discovered by Clara, her family, and her friends that the construction company have planted termite colonies in an abandoned apartment upstairs, and they have begun to spread.

Clara unearths documents that could potentially harm the construction company, and leaves to confront them with suitcase in hand.

At this point we are led to assume that she has decided to leave after all, and has packed up all her things to bring with her. However, when she meets with her tormentors, she throws her suitcase up on their conference table, opens it up to reveal planks upon planks of rotted timber filled with termites, and slowly but aggressively throws each one on the table, causing the timber to burst open and the termites to fly across the room.

A character who reels against aggressors throughout the film, and a cancer survivor, this final act of determination leaves us believing that this character can overcome any hurdle, no matter how big or small, and this is exactly how I want to be when I’m old and grey.

Indeed, my movie knowledge is a bit scarce – so I went with a scene from my favourite.

A crap high school basketball side that lose every game are taken over by Samuel L. Jackson, the angriest basketball coach in the history of film. Suddenly, the team become amazing, but they’re absolutely useless at school. So Jackson pulls them out of competition after competition.

When a young Channing Tatum and his team mates lock themselves inside the library because Samuel L. Jackson got sacked as their basketball coach, before one of them stands up and declares ‘our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure’. Not going to lie, it’s pretty much that quote that’s the inspiring bit, even if it applies to a lot of political leaders (*cough* Trump) today.

Because that’s realistic. Students being so close to their coach that they’ll stop their season to get him re-instated. Maybe that’s the only thing Dublin have left to do. Or the UCD side could lock themselves into James Joyce, like the final year students do every couple of weeks.

If you ever need to feel a pick me up then throw on Coach Carter, watch teenagers in shirts and shorts three times too big for them and chuckle. In reality, the quote is the inspiration, but hey, it’s a Samuel L. Jackson movie where he doesn’t swear!

Martin Healy Space Jam “I believe I can fly.” I mean – I didn’t think I could – but inspiration appears where you least expect it.

A passion to succeed and thrive can appear in the most mundane places, or it can appear in the 1996 motion picture Space Jam. Life is difficult. Life can be bleak. We have to strive for something better; for ourselves and for those around us. While yes I may be unfit and I’m about 5’10’’ but maybe some day even I could be a shooting guard in the NBA. At least that was the pearl of wisdom passed down from the GOAT himself: Master Jordan.

The film’s climax, which sees our heroes the Toon Squad just a point behind the evil Monstars with just ten seconds to go, is an inspiration to a generation. Even despite the cheating from the Monstars, our hero Jordan (AKA “His Airness” or “The Shoe God”) dunks the ball all the way from half-court, because he believes in himself. His Airness believes in himself to such an extent that his hand magically extends about twenty feet, allowing him to strike the winning blow.

This is the kind of self-believe we need to teach to our youngsters. Sure, these days Michael Jordan might be a meme (as well as owner of a mediocre basketball franchise on top of being a gambling addict and just generally being a bit of a grump) but his heroics have stayed with me until this very day.

Would I like a self-help book? Absolutely not, as everybody get up, it’s time to slam now. We got a real jam goin’ down. Welcome to the Space Jam.

Illustrations : Louise Flanagan

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A PERTURE //perspectives//

Camille Lombard “no cape“

alex Floss-Jones

Louise Flanagan Ryan O’Donnell

If you are interested in submitting photographs or illustrations for Aperture please send them to design@universityobserver.ie nikhil Wali

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