Vol XXII - Issue 3 - OTwo

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Contents

2 Letter from the Editors 3 What’s Hot and What’s Not 3 Mystic Mittens 3 Soapbox: Buskers - Roisin O’Mara 4 Kanye Q&A - Rebekah Rennick 4 Spitballin’ with Alison Spittle 5 Rome: A World of Its Own - Caoimhe Higgins

Letter From The Editors

FOOD&DRINK 6 Platers Gonna Plate - Rachel Gaffney 6 Cooks Corner - Aurora Andrus 7 Trick or Treat - Niamh O’Regan 7 Belfast Lager - Daniel Ryan

GAMES 8 Paint It Back - Fiachra Johnston 8 Distraint - Aaron Poole 9 Didn’t See That Coming - Adam Donnelly

FILM&TV 10 Old Paint, New Brushes - Aaron Murphy 11 Conor Horgan Interview - David Monaghan 12 The Queen of Ireland - David Monaghan 12 Brooklyn - Patrick Kelleher 13 Girls On Film - Síofra Ní Shluaghadháin 13 Top 10 Haunted House Films - Patrick Kelleher

CREATIVE WRITING 14 Southern Blues - Ciara Leacy 15 Selection of Poetry

CENTRE 16 Ireland’s Brightest Young Artists - Eva Griffin

MUSIC 18 Time May Change Me - Marissa Dinar 19 Album Reviews 20 Gig Guide - Aisling Kraus 20 Radar: Silent Interlude - Corey Fischer 21 Best Coast Interview - Adam Lawler 22 Julie Feeney Interview - Patrick Kelleher 23 Otherkin Interview - Owen Steinberger

FASHION&STYLE 24 Sugar Skull - Ezra Maloney 26 After The Walk - Helen Carroll 27 Dublin de Rigueur - Lucy Coffey 27 Balmain for H&M - Katie Devlin

ARTS&LITERATURE 28 Dublin Seven Review - Meabh Butler 28 Clare Shaw Interview - Adam Lawler 29 Frankie Gaffney Interview - Maebh Butler 30 Susan Barrett Interview - Fiachra Johnston 31 Fatal Fourway: Worst First Impressions 32 Fotografie

2

THat’s Eva and Karl

Oh my, hello there!

We are entering the third glorious issue of OTwo. Unfortunately we don’t have a pun this time, we’re not nearly that funny twice.

It is indeed midterm and many of you out there might be feeling the pressure, so why not kick back for a short while and let yourself scream internally while you take a gander at our excellent magazine.

This issue, we are once again visited by our resident magical whiskered friend Mittens with some predictions of what is to come. Of course what would OTwo be without What’s Hot, What’s not, courtesy of Rebekah “Shiny reclaimed iPhone” Rennick. It’s so hot that it nearly burned down the office.

In a quick trip abroad, we visit Italy this time, with the lovely Rome as our destination.

Further on in Food, Niamh “Spooky Snacks” O’Regan has some tips on Halloween eating. In Food you can also see an argument for why plates should be brought back into restaurants and a review on a particularly zesty craft beer.

A quick page over and we land in Games. Adam “3spoopy5me” Donnelly pens a feature on terrifying moments in family friendly games. Also reviewed, the recently released morality testing DISTRAINT and the quirky Paint It Back.

We roll into Film this issue with a wealth of content. David “Totally Radical” Monaghan interviews Conor Horgan, the director behind the recent The Queen of Ireland. You’ll also find a feature on animation in film, women in film and another review, this time on Brooklyn. Our Top Ten this time is on the most scary moments in film.

In Creative Writing, Roisin “Little Legs” Murray has a number of poems and a wonderful short story by the name of ‘Southern Blues’ for your perusal. Get your art on gurl.

A quick stop off at our centre, Eva “Secret Puke” Griffin speaks to four artists on their work as animators and illustrators.

In Music, Aisling “ermehgerd” Kraus guides you through upcoming gigs, while Julie Feeny and Otherkin are interviewed. As always we have our album reviews present and this time Radar picks up emerging band Silent Interlude on its scanner.

Nearing the end (liek if you criy evrytiem) of our magazine, our own Lucy “So Many Haircuts” Coffey will show you the meaning of Halloween fashion in this issue’s shoot. We also take a look at the physical hardships faced by models after fashion week (those heels do look lethal), and the leaked Balmain line.

Finally we have our Arts & Literature section in which Maebh “Sweet Enough” Butler interviews Frankie Gaffney and reviews his novel Dublin Seven. Also interviewed is Clare Shaw and Susan Barrett.

At the end of our glorious third issue Fatal Fourway sees four of our editors battling their Worst First Impressions, and Fotografie has... photos in it. They’re super nice though.

Lots of OTwo love, Karlton and Griffdawg Cover art by Sean Cunningham

what’s hot & What’s not

Soapbox BUSKERS

Hot

Not Hot

Irish Literary Scene:

Unexpected Bike Flat Tyre:

Last week, The Guardian published an article detailing the exciting new resurgence in Irish literature and the plethora of dynamic, creative and eclectic Irish writers comprising the literary community today. And the article did not lie. The Irish literary scene has steadily picked up speed in recent times, utilising the youthful energy of the young writers occupying its supportive space. From Kevin Barry to Sarah Baume, Banshee to Gorse; Irish literature is a dazzling portrayal of talent, so nab a book and get reading!

Harry Styles’ Hair: Yeah, yeah we know we said Kurt Vile’s hair was hot back in Issue 1 but Styles’ locks have transformed into a thing of great envy. From hairbands to space buns, the guy can do no wrong and many men and women swoon, not only for his boyish good looks, but his tousled mane of glory. Plus he’s making up for Liam’s inability to sort out his continuously unfortunate hair situation. Just us? Das cool.

Boogie-Focused Nightclubs: Ever spent a whole night out in the smoking area wearing the ear off someone about how you could have got an A in your Leaving Cert Music practical if you hadn’t messed up the second verse of “Free Fallin’”, while you should have been inside boogying your evening away? Just us? Well, regardless, more shape throwing and toe tapping behavior is needed in Dublin’s club scene, accompanied by the disco tunes we all know and love.

And to our delight there are some very clubs of those description raising their funky heads recently. Hit on down to Lumo on Friday 30th for some pre-Halloween shimming or shake down to South William for a night on the tiles soon.

So you’ve triumphantly cycled home, beating the wind and rain by a few moments. Another day of college done and dusted and you hit the hay early and contentedly, ready for the following early morning cycle back to UCD, for a day of knowledge and joy. However, your bike didn’t get the memo. Oh no, your bike is having none of it and has decided to flatten its tyre. But you seemed alright heading home last night, bike? Lies and subterfuge. Now it’s sitting there with its bloody stupid deflated redundant ring of rubber and you’ve no other effing way to college and you should have bought that tyre repair kit you saw in Lidl once and why do bad things happen to good people?

UCard only allowing €10 top-ups: Ah here. I can barely afford to keep myself afloat and treat myself to a reasonably priced bag of cans on the weekend, let alone dish out ten euro a pop to feed my little green student card with cash. Gone are the days of five euro online top ups on your UCard. Now we have to trundle around campus and engage with people/machines to top up, the misery! And they say the Celtic Tiger is dead and gone, eh?

Winter: It’s bloody not hot so it is.

Mystic Mittens Aries:

Libra:

Your knickers will unfortunately fall out of your locker in front of a group of lads while changing in the swimming pool. You’ll consider applying for extenuating circumstances due to the embarrassment.

Applies to both genders.

You’ll go for a few quite pints in the UCD Clubhouse only to realise you did the same thing last month and ended up in your underwear, telling bad jokes at the Open Mic Night. You opt for home instead.

Taurus: You misinterpreted SHAG day’s ‘Air Your Dirty Laundry’ campaign and your filthy towel has made itself at home in the Student Centre. Luckily for you others have mistook it for UCD’s new ‘vintage’ aesthetic.

Gemini: You’ll spot Marty Whelan outside the RTÉ entrance one windy early morning and realise he doesn’t carry the Winning Streak wheel everywhere he goes like you were led to believe. Sorry.

Cancer: You think you’re gas coming up with a witty Halloween costume, but believe us, going as a black bin bag yet again runs dry three years in a row.

Leo: Don’t eat that block of cheese. Just don’t do it.

Scorpio: There’s nothing worse than overstaying one’s welcome. This does not apply to lectures. You should probably go to your lectures this week.

Sagittarius: As a wise man once said, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”, so stop annoying the swans at the lake. They aren’t horses and they’re perfectly happy just having a swim.

Capricorn: The Bank Holiday weekend is not your friend, nor is it a friend of your liver’s and bank account. Now go hermit for a while and think about what you’ve done.

Aquarius: People always say you’re funny, but not ‘ha ha’ funny, just that your face is funny and you kind of have a funny voice. And a funny walk too. I think they call it “unique”?

Virgo:

Pisces:

This month you’ll get barred from a fancy tea café in town. We don’t really know why but best try and not abuse any tea leaves the next time the opportunity arises.

You contemplate joining Tinder to lull your continuous feeling of loneliness and self-doubt. You won’t realise you’re better then that until the guy you matched with has sent you a dick pic.

I LOVE living in Dublin. I love the sights, the people, and the general attitude of the place.

Nothing is better than wandering through town on a dry evening and just soaking up the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, every time I attempt to really revel in the peace of the city I now call home, my Zen is shattered by modern day street urchins, those people who congest the pavement and never fail to make me murderous… buskers.

Please don’t get me wrong, I love culture and the arts as much as the next person. I admire and envy people who are truly talented at any form of the arts, and a bit of street entertainment is simply unrivalled. My issue lies with the talentless tidal wave of selfpromoting, egotistical, obnoxious eejits whose entire self-worth seems to stem from standing on the top of Grafton Street frantically vying for my (and others’) attention in a futile attempt to validate their own existence.

In days gone by, if one had to pop into Brown Thomas, (please, hark at how posh I am) one had the ability to walk on the pavement to reach their destination, rather than circumnavigating the globe just to sight the building. For some reason street performers see fit to create a quarantine zone between themselves and their unsuspecting spectators which spans the width of the street. Perhaps they’re concerned they’ll catch a modicum of talent?

God forbid you dare breach these sacred spaces and walk through their ‘performance area’.

You may just have an obscenity screamed at you by a man who’s attempting to breakdance, but is more accurately depicting a spider having a Grand-Mal seizure. Terrifying.

There is one kind of busker who I detest over all else, if I find myself in their vicinity, I must quickly extract myself from any area where they infect. They are the Backing Track Buskers.

The Backing Track Buskers seem to have become endemic in recent years, metastasising as malignantly as an aggressive disease. They are those god awful people, who play the tinniest and most out of tune instruments I have ever had the misfortune to hear. They compound their insult to music with a knock off backing track played loudly from an old sound system.

These people, who could not carry a tune in a bucket, persist in the assault of my auditory system. They are the bane of my life. What really pisses me off about them is that they tend to appear around twilight, when you’re either going home for the day, or heading out for the night. Either way, they have the uncanny ability to turn me into a choleric. Thankfully, I elect to walk away from them rather than call them up on their poor excuse for artistic expression.

It’s a small mercy that I have developed some ability to hold my tongue when I encounter people such as those above. I’m afraid I could not be held accountable for my reducing of them to tears with my cutting remarks. All constructive criticism you see.

Roisín O’Mara

3

SPITBALLIN’ WITH ALISON SPITTLE

As Halloween approaches, Alison Spittle recounts her top three scariest moments over the years I’M DOING a chat show. I’m nervous; it’s in the Workmans at 8pm on Friday the 30th of October (spooky). It will have Tara Flynn, Aidan Power and my friend Giles who can do a great Pierce Brosnan impression.

I was going to do an article about talk shows and try and sneak in a plug. I won’t do that to you, it’s Halloween soon. I want this column to be spooky.

First off what are you dressing up as? I onced dressed as Mary Bale, the lady who put a cat in a bin and became a star on YouTube.

I need a new look this year. I’ve seen a sexy Starbucks worker outfit, a sexy bee and a sexy remote control (all real, please Google it). As a lady, this makes me sad. Emily Wilding Davison did not die at the Epsom derby for this. This year, I’m dressing up as a sexy U.N.E.S.C.O executive as a statement.

Here are my top three spooky experiences.

Photo Alison Spittle PERFORMING IN EDINGURGH

We panicked and ran more until we realised the sound came from the wind blowing through our hoop earrings.

2. One Halloween my friends and I tried a Ouija board. There was a goth in our friend group and she seemed to know what to do, she used a shot glass and put a ring of salt around us to ward off bad spirits.

We asked if there was anyone there, and the shot glass went straight to x. This was too much for me and I no longer wanted to speak to the dead, however as there were no adults in the house I didn’t want to eat pringles and watch ninja warrior in the sitting room as my friends summoned spirits in the kitchen. I volunteered to take notes like we were at a residents’ association AGM. So they started again: anyone there?

Yes. Are you a man?

Yes. What is your name? A-D-A-I-G-H... er adaighm? Adam? is your name Adam?

YES. We felt smug at our guessing. How old are you? 56. What year is it? 1936. We paused and looked at each other. “Ooooh what an interesting year.” We asked “did you fight in a war?” The cup moved very strongly towards YES. We got scared – from then on we complimented Adam and thanked him for his time.

We found out many things. Adam liked tea, he liked playing Gaelic football, he liked biscuits and he was also lonely.

''The house cat kept making noise all night and shat in the sink. It's like he knew what we did and was punishing us.''

3. While walking home from a Bryan Ormond concert with a friend on a dark, wet and windy night in Moate, we heard wails and screams; the sound could only come from a banshee. We screamed and ran but the sound got louder and shriller.

We did it in my friend’s house. He was worried that if we brought a bad spirit to the house his parents would never let him hold a house party again. So after a lot of preamble and preparation we readied ourselves to talk the the other side.

The last answer made us sad so we said goodbye.

We all felt spooked. we then watched Derren Brown, who told us we were eejits in a hive mind. We were all relieved. The house cat kept making noise all night and shat in the sink. It’s like he knew what we did and was punishing us.

1. I am a stand up comedian now and one Halloween, I recounted the séance experience mixed with anecdotes about wearing bin bags as a child (ha, so original, what a fresh take, those were the days). During my bit where Adam was asked if he was lonely, a beat after the question, the audience were quiet, the room was dark. Suddenly the spotlight fell from the ceiling and swung towards me. The audience screamed, I screamed and ran out of the room. I hadn’t been that scared since Richard Hilman drove Gail and the kids into the canal in Coronation Street. So the moral of this story is I don’t believe in ghosts unless I’m at a séance. It’s like my faith in God; I only believe there is a God if I’ve bought a scratch card.

Kanye 2020

Rebekah Rennick

Sir – Following your trajectory rise in both the music and fashion industry, I couldn’t help but wonder how you will draw people together to work towards a more culturally diverse society during and possibly following your 2020 presidential campaign? Shall you be utilising these two cultural platforms to integrate your ideas and further power into the mainstream and beyond?

Thank you. My trajectory has been fantastic thanks for sayin’, but I knew it was gone happen since the day I was spitting rhymes back in Chicago with my mama as ma only fan. Nothing in life is promised except death so I can’ go round promising this and that. I can promise though that I gone be the best.

The best musician, the best craftsman, the best philosopher, the best fashion designer and the best president y’all gone see. My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live – so I envy you and everyone else watching me on this stage Shakespeare homey once called life. I envy you as you watch me on those “cultural platforms”, cause I’m fly as f*ck and there ain’t nothing you can do about it. So to answer your question, yes. But you should only believe about 90 per cent of what I say. As a matter of fact, don’t even believe anything I’m saying at all.

Sir Yeezy, big fan here. Loved your work since ‘Robocop’; top notch tunes. Here, just wondering why you wear clothes that resemble pieces of cloth you’ve picked up from the ground? Cheers.

Kanye is not available to comment at this time.

Sir What initiatives would you undertake to make public transportation systems more attractive/accessible and what are your plans to improve public spaces particularly in urban settings?

Respect. I love improving infrastructure, especially when it’s my own infrastructure.

When I become president, the world will become my infrastructure. Public transport ain’t my vibe, my threads are too nice for public transport, plus it’s hard for Kim to use it in them heels you know. Visiting my mind is like visiting the Hermes factory – shit is real. And dammit is it attractive so my initiative will be to transpose the attractive interior of my mind into our infrastructure and public transport systems. I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things. I am the number one human being in music. That means any person that’s living or breathing is number two. And I’m gone be the number one president in 2020. My music ain’t just music – it’s medicine, and I’m gone heal our world with my own Yeezy cure.

If you have any further questions for Mr. West, please send them to kanye2020@ universityobserver.ie.

4

Illustration

by Joanna O'Malley

Rome: A World Of Its Own

Caoimhe Higgins is here to guide us through centuries of beauty, power and history, and the lasting appeal of Rome YOU WILL ONLY ever get to know somewhere by wandering its streets in daylight, watching the street lights eventually illuminate and seeing the city come to life. Finding a room as close to the epicentre of Rome as possible is key. There are plenty of decent but cheap youth hostels to stay in if you are thinking of interrailing, and The Roman Irish College welcomes tourists from Ireland every summer.

While in Rome, don’t do as the Italians do by using the trams and buses to get places.

Any trip to Rome will involve an unbelievable amount of walking, but it’s worth it; you might even be lucky enough to get lost. Be adventurous, spend some time walking around in your worn out shoes. Venture out from under the shadow of Rome’s buildings and see how each building on the tiny walkways in Rome is an outlet for Italy’s famous cuisine. The mouth-watering smells of pasta arrabiata and pizza are hard to ignore.

Flocks of tourists line the old stone walls waiting to be served every day of the year, so it takes a while to weave through the crowds as every foreign language imaginable can be heard echo through the streets. However, find the Via de Corsa, a main street in Rome which is overflowing with confused tourists, and you have found the yellow brick road to the most beautiful places in the world. This long stretch of road will lead you everywhere from the Spanish steps to the Trevi Fountain.

The beautiful Trevi Fountain is situated at the meeting point of three roads (the word trevi means three). As far as the eye can see there are people from all walks of life gathered to marvel at this astonishing piece of art. Lovesick couples sit on the edges of the fountain kissing while elderly people toss coins into the water and families argue outside the tiny, almost unnoticeable ice-cream shop standing to the left of the fountain. It is tradition that when in Rome you must throw a

Photography & WORDS: CAOIMHE HIGGINS

coin into the fountain as this small gesture means you will return someday.

Your next stop in Rome should definitely be the Pantheon, the embodiment of the Ancient Holy Roman Empire. Five huge, colossal columns hold up the roof of the structure as ancient symbols, patterns and Roman numerals cover the plaster. Once you step foot inside you’re met with cool air and a single streak of light coming from the ceiling. Look up. If you look up in this historical marvel, you will see what looks like a hole in the ceiling. The simplicity of the idea is breath-taking as it is the only source of light in the dark, echo filled structure. The inside of the pantheon is circular and within its walls lie many tombs of the once great leaders of Rome.

If you are a lover of history, don’t hesitate to visit the Forum and the Colosseum. The Forum basically looks like an archaeological excavating site as remains of every aspect of the ancient world reside here. From the famous steps of the Forum where Caesar is said to have died to the fragmented temples dedicated to various goddesses, you will find yourself entering a time capsule.

Of course one of the main attractions in Rome is the Vatican. Simply find the river and follow the crowds towards what is known as the Bridge of Angels. Cross this, turn the corner and you will be met with the road to St Peter’s. Stalls and shops take up every inch of the wide street leading up to the centre of the Catholic religion. You may be surprised, as I was, with what you will find in the Vatican.

The massive area in front of St. Peter’s is not only filled with tourists, but a flurry of women in wedding dresses. While I was there all I could see were white trains of dresses gradually crawl over the cobbled road and veils of the various girls gently blowing in the slight wind that was growing in Rome. One important thing to note in the home of Catholicism is you must cover your shoulders and knees before entering the church.

On entering St. Peter’s, people can be seen everywhere and there is nothing but the faint flash of a camera every few seconds as tourists try to capture the church’s many statues such as Michelangelo’s Pieta. Walking through the large arches, angels can be seen drifting in and out of the plaster as if guiding you through the church. Leaving St. Peter’s is always a struggle as you’re met with humid hot air and an ocean of people all walking in the opposite direction to you. At this point I would advise you to venture through the Vatican museum and take some time to experience the Sistine Chapel.

Another beautiful escape in Rome is the Piazza Navona, but it only comes alive at night. It was once used for chariot races back in the days of Caesar.

Nowadays, the piazza has restaurants surrounding it while musicians, artists, Italians and tourists sit on its steps in the centre. Music echoes through the air and there is a beautiful sense of anonymity about it. You could be anyone, the city is yours and time seems to slow down for a while. A trip to this beautiful city will stay with you forever as it is a world of its own.

''You could be anyone, the city is yours and time seems to slow down for a while.''

5

Platers gonna plate Rachel Gaffney has joined the cruasade to bring plates back to restaurant tables for the good of diners everywhere

Photographs courtesy of wewantplates.com

‘‘A GREAT MEAL wasn’t it? Pity about the plate though - would have enjoyed being served these chips in a children’s toy truck!”- said nobody, ever. It is highly doubtful that anyone has ever lamented being served a meal on an actual plate. And why would they? That is the sole purpose of the plate: to be eaten off.

The people behind the website, and subsequent Facebook and Twitter pages, over at “We Want Plates” would most definitely agree. Self-described as fighting the “crusade against serving food on bits of wood and roofslates, jam-jar drinks and chips in mugs”, the Twitter page alone has over 78,000 followers.

An increasingly popular, and some would say revolutionary movement, is perhaps an indication that this society has not yet been overthrown by hipster nonsense.

Prosecco in a spotted wellington boot, paté on a shoulder bone (hopefully not human and hopefully not real), ice-cream on a car license plate – the more ridiculous the better, it seems. One finds themselves asking firstly, why did this happen? What led to the conclusion that some “artistic” type was allowed to make and serve people food this way, or ever think this was a good idea? And finally, how much extra do they charge for

these shenanigans?

This could quite easily be a method of creating publicity, for restaurants to be talked about and remembered in an increasingly competitive food sector, but is serving the most Instagram-worthy dish a goal that these establishments strive to achieve? It could also possibly be an attempt to disguise and distract from a lower quality product. Another belief is that this trend is either a result of a social experiment conducted by those in the catering industry or simply an excuse to raise prices. Chefs could be laughing evilly at us from behind those swinging doors.

“Those idiots,” they could be saying, “paying almost double the price for those sausages to be served on a miniature toy skull. What else can we make them over-pay for?” Or maybe it’s the society we live in, obsessed with the new and the different, that has led to this irritation being added to the dining experience.

Presentation is undoubtedly extremely important, but how can it be distinguished what is going too far? It does not need to go from one extreme to the other – we shouldn’t have to choose between a meal

looking like it belongs in the dog’s dish or having to drink your cocktail with two hands because it’s in a jam-jar. If it hinders your ability to actually eat the food being paid for, then it would be reasonable to say that it has been taken too far (anything with sauce for instance, should probably not be served on a small slab of wood).

Often the worst offenders of these crimes against plates are the relatively small bars or gastro pubs. They are just trying to make a profit, but it surely costs less to simply serve their food on what it is intended to be served on.

Without naming and shaming the worst offenders (you know who you are), if there is enough public outrage at the plate shortage in restaurants hopefully this will resolve itself in the not too distant future, and we plate crusaders can rest easy knowing that this was just another silly hipster trend.

COOK’S CORNER

WHEN IT COMES to cooking on a school night, ideally you want to make something easy and cheap. An ideal thing to make is a stir fry. Stir fries are healthy, quick and very affordable.

This opular Asian dish is quite cheap to make and tastes great. The best part is that even if you think you can’t cook, making a stir fry is incredibly simple. Stir fries are also incredibly versatile, and you can add whatever ingredients you want. It is one of the most straightforward and basic dishes. Tesco offers a great deal if you don’t want to have to think too much about ingredients, where you can get a bag of mixed vegetables, fresh noodles and a sauce for five

6

euro (you also have the option to get more than 10 different sauces for less than one euro). But don’t forget that there are lots of ways to change up your typical stirfry ingredients.

Ingredients: Mixed vegetables: good options are green beans, sweetcorn, peppers, asparagus, broccolli, mushrooms, onions, sweet potato, garlic.

Fresh noodles or rice Meat of your choice (chicken, beef and pork are standard, but you can also use prawns, cajun sausage or turkey for something different).

Honey (3 tbsp)

Soy sauce (100 mls) Spices (if desired) such as ginger or paprika Method: Stir honey and soy sauce together in a bowl, adding honey to your taste.

Put your vegetable and meat ingredients in a hot oiled pan and cook for a few minutes, make sure to cook meat thoroughly.

Stir in honey and soy sauce.

Done. It’s that simple. If you’re vegetarian all you need to do is add more vegetables and omit the meat. For less than ten euro you can have a delicious meal that will serve you for several nights of the week

Stir fries are quick and versatile and, according to Aurora Andrus, should be a student staple

Trick or treat?

Finding the end of October fast approaching, Niamh O’Regan hunts for some Halloween worthy party snacks to fill up on

THIS YEAR, the feast of All Hallows’ coincides with the final of the Rugby World Cup. House parties (sometimes an array of them) are popular amongst the student population of UCD, and in many cases, rugby is too. To survive the intense festivities of screaming at the telly while dressed in a witty costume, food and drink are required.

Why not treat your guests (or yourself if you’re hosting a party of one) to something nibble worthy? As finger food is the most popular at standing events, the below recipes are intended to be easy to make in large batches, as well as easy and cheap enough to make overall.

Chocolate coated anything: Simple snacks are versatile and often all that stands between them and a theme (be it light hearted or gruesome), is a colour change. Chocolate is tasty and appreciated by most. Marshmallows can become ghosts and pretzels can be pumpkins.

In all cases, melt white chocolate by placing it in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water on a low heat and slowly stir. Once the chocolate is almost completely melted, remove the bowl form the heat and whisk to melt the last of it (this also ensures that you don’t burn the chocolate), then the fun begins.

Frankenstein’s monster: Add green food colouring to the melted chocolate, use mini chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth and use 1cm pieces of pretzel either side of the face as bolts. Allow to harden upside down on greaseproof paper so that the top of the head is flat.

Ghosts: Coat the marshmallows in the melted chocolate, use mini chocolate chips for eyes and mouth and allow to cool and harden on greaseproof paper.

Spiderwebs: Coat twisty pretzels in white chocolate and allow to harden on greaseproof paper.

Pumpkins: Add orange food colouring to the melted chocolate and coat the pretzels add a green sweet (M&Ms and Skittles work best) to the bow of the pretzel and allow to harden on greaseproof paper.

Puking Pumpkin: If aiming to please the easily entertained and possibly make someone’s nose wrinkle in bad taste, a carved pumpkin and some form of a dip (be it guacamole, salsa, cheese, hummus etc.) is your friend.

Gut the pumpkin, carve out two triangles for “eyes” and a semi-circle for a mouth. Arrange the pumpkin at the back of a large plate and empty the dip onto the plate in a straight line from the pumpkin’s mouth all the way to the edge, getting slightly wider the further away you are from the pumpkin. Arrange whatever nachos or crudités you have around the edge of the plate and voila: a vomiting pumpkin to entertain and mildly disgust the masses.

Shrunken Head Punch/Cocktail: Of course hydration is needed at these events too, and while a policy of BYOB is strongly supported, it can be fun to serve even some non-alcoholic refreshments that look good.

For the punch, mix cranberry juice and an orange mineral (such as Fanta) in a 2:1 ratio, in a large bowl or pot. Add red food colouring, (or grenadine) for a redder, bloodier look. If you do feel like adding some alcohol to the mix, vodka or rum works very well with a ratio of one fifth.

For the shrunken heads we turn to the ever used and underrated: apples (pears can also be used). Four apples will make eight “heads”. Peel, core and half the apples, carve out basic facial features (eyes, nose or nostrils, mouth) and bake “face up” in a 120 degree oven for two hours or for 30-40 minutes at 180 (until they begin to brown). Arrange the apples on top of the punch so it looks like the heads are floating in the bowl.

Beer Review: Belfast Lager

casual lemon and citrus follow up. The taste that follows fits this trend and the familiar taste of popular lagers comes across, but more well-crafted and fine-tuned than usual. The beer is reminiscent of a Corona, but with a more powerful and refined taste.

Coming in at 4.5% alcohol content, the lager would not be your first choice of craft beers if you’re looking to get a bit silly. If you’re more of a beer enthusiast on the other hand, this is a good choice. The beer is best served cold, as most are, with a tasty side snack to hit the spot. Suggestions would be barbecued food, chicken wings, burgers,

and similar types of food. The beer, thanks to its similar taste to Corona, does offer a summer feel so these sunshine foods accompany it well.

The beer’s downside, however, is that it is quite filling and after two or three you may begin to feel a bit bloated.

This means that if the case is that you’re looking to drink a lot of beer, you may have to look elsewhere. If you’re interested in a laidback treat and a reminiscence of summer however, this beer is the right fit and a safe bet.

IMAGE: LORD INQUISITOR 2012, VIA FLICKR

Daniel Ryan looks to Northern Ireland’s largest microbrewery for a taste of summer in the ongoing autumn

BELFAST Lager is a lager brewed by the Whitewater Brewing Company in Northern Ireland. Whitewater Brewing Company are known for their award-winning craft beers, which include Hoppelhammer and McHughs, and Belfast Lager is no disappointment. It looks tasteful on the outside with a neat and tidy bottle and simple label design. The brewing company opted to keep it simple with the look, and put the most work into the beer itself.

The bottle cap pops with a pleasant hiss and upon first pour the usual lager smell of bitter dough wafts through the air with a

These Photographs are courtesy of ameessavorydish.com & www.maplespice.com

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Paint it Back ON PAPER, Casual Labs’ PC port of their 2014 puzzle game for phones may seem like a shallow enterprise. However its deceptively simple premise and minimalist gameplay hide a surprising level of depth and fun which is held back by its at times frustrating difficulty later on.

Players assume the role of the assistant of an artist whose entire exhibit has been “scared off” by an unfortunately clumsy ghost, leaving it up to you to restore it. While that’s pretty much it in terms of the game’s narrative, Paint It Back’s undeniable charm comes from its Sudoku-style gameplay, where each row of the tiled canvas is given a number, and it’s up to you to decide which tiles are filled in. As you do so, a smaller canvas begins to fill with pixel art, giving you a rough idea of how to fill in the rest of the picture. Though it starts off with small 5x5 pieces that are simple enough to complete, the game gradually throws larger paintings at you, each with more and more aesthetically pleasing pixel art to boot. Although these may seem at first to be overtly simple mechanics, later levels require you to really consider which square is actually the one that needs to be filled. The game’s learning curve is satisfyingly gradual. With the addition of a ‘painting aid’ to point you in the right direction, you never feel like you’ve been tossed into the deep end.

It’s not perfect however. While the player is strongly urged not to guess which tiles to fill and instead to think about it logically, there are

paintings where it’s almost impossible to complete without some sort of guesswork by looking at the second canvas. This often forces you to retrace your steps or, in some cases, start over completely. And while there are close to 150 individual puzzles to solve, there’s no real incentive to go back to previously solved puzzles, giving the game a severe lack of replayability. It’s worth noting though that none of the puzzles felt particularly unfair; there was always a logical solution, even if not at first apparent. Fantastic for a puzzle game, especially considering it’s a game that feels quite family-oriented.

If you’ve already played its mobile counterpart on the app store, it’s really quite difficult to recommend paying even more money for the PC experience, given that it’s more or less the same game without any new incentives on top. Furthermore, a game of this nature benefits greatly from the pick up and play portability a phone can provide, and is somewhat stifled by the PC’s lack thereof. That being said however, Paint It Back is a fun distraction that has enough meat on its bones to keep you coming back to it. It may not innovate much, but its addictive puzzles and charming art style will keep you hooked for a few hours at least.

Despite its lack of measurable content worth replaying multiple times, there’s enough here to justify its relatively cheap price tag. If you have time to kill, and enjoy a decent puzzle game, Paint it Back is a solid game that’s easy to just pick up and play.

Title: Paint it Back Developer: Casual Labs Publisher: Casual Labs Release: 14th October

Words: FIACHRA JOHNSTON

DISTRAINT Title: DISTRAINT Developer: Jesse Makkonen Publisher: Jesse Makkonen Release: 21st October

Words: AARON POOLE

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THERE’S a problem with horror games today.

The market is overly occupied by experiences that have forgotten the meaning of the word horror. The likes of Five Nights at Freddy’s and its sequels suffer from a lack of substance, opting to utilise cheap jump scares and a weak plot point to force a quick scare out of its audience. It is the simplest of scare tactics, requiring little thought and build up, ending with a release of tension that should have been maintained throughout the game’s entirety. DISTRAINT, however, discards these tropes by default; as a 2D platformer, the player has visual access to everything around the main character. The game therefore is solely reliant on the atmosphere it creates, as well as what it makes the player feel.

The game follows the morally-conflicted Price, a man who is working as a newly instated repossession officer for real estate agent McDade, Bruton & Moore. Price’s role sees him tasked with ousting of families and individuals from their homes, something which he sees as morally wrong, and impacts his conscience so much that he eventually starts to break down. From the outset, the tone is set to be dark and tense, and this only intensifies as the game progresses and as Price’s guilt becomes too difficult to manage.

Gameplay wise, the player is presented with a story that lasts roughly two/two and a half hours, with a fairly simple control system to complement the game’s length; A and D move Price left and right, E allows one

to interact with certain items and store them in your inventory (accessed with space) and Fallows enables the use a never-extinguishing lantern. The inventory exists to carry items which you will be using to solve puzzles, using correct items to access areas in a fairly traditional model. This system gives rise to a larger focus on the storytelling element, as well as the changing details of the environment as Price’s mind further deteriorates.

A large aide to the game’s unsettling atmosphere is its art style. In a level and character design reminiscent to the 2D plaines of Fez, DISTRAINT features large headed sprites and dark shaded, flexi-pixeled environments that create an uncomfortable setting for the player. This is further aided by one of DISTRAINT’s best features: its sound. The sound design offers P.T levels of creepiness, especially in the later stages of the game.

The truly horrifying moments of the game, which of course means the most enjoyable, are the moral challenges which it forces you into.

The game is essentially asking you to put your job before other people’s lives, a notion that provides DISTRAINT with its strongest element; it’s relatability. Rarely is it that a video game will set out to teach you a life lesson, least of all a game of this genre, but DISTRAINT constantly has the player thinking about the characters’ actions, and what repercussions might follow. It is in this that true horror is explored, examining the psychological effects of a moral antithesis, and dealing with its side effects.

DISTRAINT is a great departure from the horror games of late. Contained within a small, unsuspecting package, developer Jesse Makonnen has created a gem within the commensurate world of horror games. The fantastic atmosphere created by its story, level and sound design keep you on edge as you attempt to solve its puzzles. The only legitimate hang up is that, with a completion time of sub three hours, it simply isn’t long enough.

However with a development time of only three months, this length becomes more understandable.

Photographs courtesy of indieruckus.com

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HALLOWEEN: a time for the supernatural and the sublime. As night falls with the Autumn leaves on this fated October eve, who knows what monsters lie ahead, waiting to ensnare us in the shadows. It’s a place for the living and the dead to gather in mischief and malevolent merriment. There is but one rule: you will know fear. And what you expect the least will scare you the most. Indeed, for that which is never intended to be scary usually ends up being the most frightening of all, like Donald Trump running for president or having a midterm assignment due the same day as the feature you’re meant to be writing for OTwo. Videogames understand this principle better than anybody, and have mined the frightening potential of the unassuming for decades.

When somebody sees a horror film or plays a horror game, they can armour themselves in the anticipation of being scared and thus, the predictably scary scares aren’t that scary.

But when something catches them off guard, juxtaposed against the rather tame landscape where it resides, that’s when it becomes truly dread inducing. In the spirit of this, OTwo celebrates the scariest moments in otherwise family friendly games.

The Piano (Super Mario 64) Part of the appeal of playing Mario games is unearthing the uncharacteristically creepy material that manages to find its way into the game. Super Mario 64 is a pretty safe game by anyone’s standards. It’s bright, colourful and cheerful… until you get to the Boo’s Mansion.

The atmosphere in this level is genuinely chilling, with eerie whispers following you wherever you go and the cackling of the undead spirits taunting you as try to find your way out of the diabolical madhouse. That said, while spooky, it would be a bit sensationalist to call it flat out terrifying. Then there’s the piano: a seemingly inanimate object, alone and silent in one corner of the drawing room, a monument to the ordinary. Why is it here?

There is nothing else like it in the level. As you creep cautiously toward it, the thing suddenly springs to life, snapping and biting at you, each chomp punctuated by a pounding, off-key musical notes, thus giving children everywhere

e c ror gam h t d oun on-Hor r a n wee ents in n o l l a H With ning mom e fright

another reason to ditch piano lessons.

The Goose (Rugrats: The Search for Reptar) Rugrats: The Search for Reptar is perhaps the most unintentionally terrifying product ever released into the marketplace for children. Everything about this game is just wrong, from the PS1’s graphical limitations making the characters look like mutated deformities of their former selves to the droning music that dirges along to the action. It’s as though somebody had a bad fever dream featuring the Rugrats and then decided it would make a solid foundation for a game. Exhibit A: “Grandpa’s Teeth” a level that tasks the player with navigating an endless maze to soul destroying music, while evading an ever present, ever hunting goose. Seeing this thing pop up from literally nowhere, honking and snapping was no doubt responsible for reducing many children to tears.

Maybe it’s only scary as the player is experiencing the monstrosity from a baby’s perspective, in which case Rugrats on the PS1 is the highest form of art that ever there was.

Snacker The Shark (Banjo-Kazooie) Banjo-Kazooie is a game that assaults the senses with its relentlessly cheerful vibes. The game’s second level, Treasure Trove Cove, is an island paradise featuring sentient buckets, hippo pirates and greedy treasure chests that don’t want to share their plunder with you. What could possibly be amiss in this sandy slice of heaven? Nothing, as long as you take extra care to stay out of the water. Go skinny dipping too far from land and you’ll attract the attention of Treasure Trove Cove’s resident predator, Snacker: the shark with an insatiable appetite for bear, accompanied by his own Jaws-esque theme music. There’s no way to defeat him so you’d better start swimming. It’s not so bad when the shore is but a stone’s throw away but there’s nothing worse than falling into the briny blue from the tallest platforms, unable to get back up without confronting the terror of the deep. What’s worse is that game puts mandatory collectibles way out in the ocean. What a mean thing to do!

The Spider (Rayman 2) For a game rated as suitable for all ages, Rayman 2 is very dark. There’s a very surreal expressionist overtone that permeates the limbless wonder’s quest to free his friends from pirate enslavement that’s not altogether cheerful. The levels are brooding and

the monsters are truly monstrous. Yet, the scariest of them all plays on an age old fear: arachnophobia.

Piercing strings, reminiscent of that infamous Psycho shower scene score, alert the player to the impending nightmare: a giant spider with its bloodthirsty sights set on Rayman. You can fight it, but it will overpower you. The first and best instinct is to run. But where?

The creature can scale all manner of surfaces at lightning speed. It’s a wonderfully intense encounter where the ensuing chase that will put anyone’s platforming skills to the test.

''Exhibit A: 'Grandpa's Teeth' a level that tasks the player with navigating an endless maze to soul destroying music, while evading an ever present, ever hunting goosE''

Shadow Temple (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) Zelda games are reliably upbeat but are known for their complete tonal whiplash. That said, nothing can sufficiently prepare for the horror show that is the Shadow Temple. Every enemy that appears in this dungeon, from ReDeads to Gibdos, is worthy of being in this feature but the one that takes the cake is the Dead Hand: a pulsing, almost tumorous mass of bloodied mummified grossness that moves slowly and kills Link even slower. Its extra limbs shoot out of the skull encrusted ground and hold the Hylian Hero in place so that the torso can consume his being.

Milla’s Mind (Psychonauts) Like the best things in life, Psychonauts sports originality and weirdness in perfect harmony. It’s a splendid platformer that tasks the player with traversing through the subconscious of the characters where each level features gameplay mechanics relevant to the character’s personality. In the mind, nothing is sacred and the darker aspects of the personality are free to explore. Psychonauts features often miserable slideshows detailing the more tragic elements of its characters’ past, but they pale in comparison to one devilish easter egg found in the mind of Brazilian psychic Milla Vodella. Lively and full of positive vibes, it’s only logical that Milla’s mind is one big bouncing fiesta. Until one enters the small room off to the side, and stumbles upon a repressed memory that relentlessly haunts her. In a former life, Milla was responsible for an orphanage that burnt to the ground, sparing none of the kids inside. In this flaming room, the player is surrounded by the spirits of the dead orphans chanting the likes of “why did you let us die?” and “why didn’t you save us?”. Lovely.

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Old Paint, New Brushes

Animated entertainment has become commonplace in the last decade. Aaron Murphy looks at the change in the writing of these shows as a response to their rising popularity

ANIMATION has grown a lot since Steamboat Willie. set the scene, therefore, for all the new shows to come, with the new rule being entertainment for its It has grown into a multi-billion dollar medium in own sake. the last 15 years with huge critical applause across Many things changed in the making of animated the board. A new category was included in the shows. Professional voice actors were hired, Oscars in 2002 to honour Shrek. Today animated artists were given places at the storyboard table, productions are regularly the highest grossing films animating became cheaper and quicker, and at the box office each year and the actors behind writers began to recognise the uses of an art form them are often the features of magazines and late that wasn’t constrained by any natural laws. But night talk shows. This popularity is definitely in part more importantly, a niche was developed into a due to the more widespread nature of animated norm. Children still got their cartoons, but those entertainment, which itself is due to the advances cartoons were (occasionally) interesting, deep made in making and marketing these productions.

Animation was once just a way to tell a story and and entertaining enough to be viewed by older viewers who love the medium (see: Avatar, The Last have it look magical without going for expensive shoots. Snow White and The Seven Dwarves back in Airbender, Invader Zim, Adventure Time). Animated shows were also written for adults (see: South Park, 1937 was the first animated feature film to receive an Academy Award. It was totally hand drawn Family Guy, American Dad) and fumbled with many and it was a different ways of heralded as telling a story. ''This was a bitingly “enthralling”, King of the satirical, crude, zany kind “magical”, Hill was an early and attempt at making of comedy that appealed “wondrous”. a character led to everyone in some way.

This was in animated show some ways for adults and its This form of physical due to the poor performance Technicolor was down to and character based spectrum the fact that is entertainment could being a was an ordinary novelty, but comedy/drama not have been done in livealso due to with uninteresting the facts that action mediums without characters done this was the through animation. significant time and longest any South Park still animated critiques and expense.'' work had criticises today’s ever been, world with a it was in colour, it did things that special effects mixture of coarse themes and language, unerring weren’t capable of, and the voice acting was good. determination to shock, and clever deconstruction The film told an old story with a new medium. of dogma – it’s hilarious at its best and awful at its Over time, Disney began to understand this worst, but still popular. The Seth McFarlane comedies, market they had created and cornered. They Family Guy and American Dad (never mind The established the animated studios that went on Cleveland Show) used a new form of joke in their to produce original stories (such as Pocahontas) three-act structure: the reference, or flashback. This joke was done to death, losing its hilarity slowly but that were told in feature length productions in a surely. Later shows showed it could be used right, recognisable, cell-shaded style. These stories were using it for expositional jokes rather than filling gaps often aimed at kids but were compellingly told. in the writing. Something became clear in all of They received a lot of acclaim at the time for both these shows though: that physical comedy is always their scores and their innovation. appreciated.

In the mid 1990s Disney hired a new partner to help make their films, a small animation company Archer and Rick and Morty are animated shows owned by Steve Jobs called Pixar. The release of Toy for adults who had seen these developments. They applied the lessons and came out with the formula Story led to the biggest recognition for animation for an adult animated show: tell a cool story that since The Simpsons won its first Emmy. This was could never happen, tell it quickly and with jokes, followed in a few years time by the release of Shrek with clever characterisation, and without relying on

by Dreamworks Studios, prompting the inclusion any particular gimmick to drive the plot. Rick and of an award for Animated Films in the Oscars.

Animated films from then on have been aimed at Morty is a parody of South Park proportions, and children primarily, and while filling up theatres, yet it’s always a new situation, a new joke, a new they have been stand-out performers at the box flaw to a character and a new reference. It relies office ever since, with Finding Nemo in 2003 being on all of these to the same extent it relies upon its expansions of the universe and suspension of the highest grossing film that year. That’s a money disbelief. It’s self-aware and it is entertainment for train that won’t be stopping or changing rails any entertainment’s sake. Archer has done a similar thing time soon.

At this time on the smaller screen, a very with a very different idea and it is the most popular different culture of storytelling was beginning to show on FX right now. It isn’t totally episodic. Instead, emerge, triumphantly led by The Simpsons. This it has focused itself on a character-based form of comedy that isn’t situational but ironic. It’s found a was a bitingly satirical, crude, zany kind of comedy way to apply the reference in a novel way by never that appealed to everyone in some way. This form actually using it to show something new, instead only of physical and character based entertainment to expand the view of the character we already have. could not have been done in live-action mediums The format of the show allows for new situations without significant time and expense. The Simpsons

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to explore, and the host of background characters supply only more variables.

This form of entertainment has gone from being niche to being the norm (certainly among the age profile of twenty-somethings). Animated productions are all comedies almost without fail, but they’ve

learned from their predecessors; integrating all the methods that made their predecessors great has led to a winning formula. The methods of telling an animated story have matured somewhat in the last 20 years, but what has really changed is our view of animation in response to the saturation of the

market. Whether it’s the children’s films or the TV shows that are filling up Netflix, animation is now more than ever before an art form for everyone, and it isn’t going away.

Filming a Queer Revolution: Conor Horgan David Monaghan sits down with Conor Horgan to discuss his upcoming documentary about drag queen activist Panti Bliss, The Queen of Ireland

This Photograph is courtesy of NBCUniversal

IN Photo: PANTI BLISS AND CONOR HORGAN

CONOR HORGAN is the director of the moment.

The man behind the woman of the biggest LGBT documentary to come out of Ireland this year, he has no doubt found himself inundated with interview requests and press junkets. Tapping away on his phone he breaks intermittently to apologise.

“Sorry,” he says. “This week has been manic.” No doubt. One cannot make a documentary about the country’s most outspoken drag queen and the biggest social revolution we have experienced in the 21st century without experiencing some attention.

The Queen of Ireland maps the journey of Rory O’Neill from his childhood in the market town of Ballinrobe, County Mayo, to his accidental activism as Dublin’s charismatic Panti Bliss. Filmed over a number of years, it captures notable events in O’Neill’s life such as the infamous ‘Pantigate’ fiasco, as well as the viral sensation that was the Noble Call at the Abbey Theatre, where Panti Bliss made a rousing speech about the RTÉ controversy. The speech went viral on YouTube, amassing over seven hundred thousand views. And finally, he captures the historic marriage referendum in May 2015, which saw the Irish people vote overwhelmingly in favour of same-sex marriage. “I always knew that interesting things would happen,” says Horgan.

“We had no idea how interesting or what things indeed, but we started filming because I knew Rory and I knew Panti and I knew that we had this really interesting central character who’s very politically astute, extremely articulate, and wildly entertaining… Then when the actual story arrived, it arrived in spades,” he laughs.

time, does Horgan hope to fill this gap? “Basically, Irish thing.”

“And another thing about Rory is that Panti is almost everything of that, that exists, is in the film.

The film ends, rather surprisingly, with Rory always camera-ready. Panti is always very sassy and returning to do a show as Panti in his native Ballinrobe. All a minute and a half of it. RTÉ would have gone in very quick and very smart and very funny. There’s there with a camera crew maybe twice. We looked Why was this ending chosen over the more obvious such a disparity between them as characters.” So at elsewhere to see what else there was, and there really passing of marriage equality? “It was our decision what point does this disparity become noticeable? wasn’t anything else. Does it fill a gap? I suppose any [to do that]. When we first approached Rory, he said, “All of the front of house stuff happens through Panti, documentary, especially when it’s about, ultimately, ‘you’re not going to ask me to walk down the street in and Rory is really quite shy. If they were both exactly how a country is changing is going to become part of Ballinrobe wearing a dress, right?’ It was quite a big the same kind of character, just one wore a dress and the historical record of that country.” deal for him to agree to that… The film is about the the other one didn’t, I don’t think it would have been The passing of marriage equality on interesting.”

May 23rd marked a significant turning point Production on '' I knew it was a big deal for him, in Ireland. With overwhelming support this film began for the ‘yes’ campaign, it signified to immediately after not least because he comes from many that the country had finally moved Horgan’s last feature on from a repressive past, 22 years after film had been a small country town... He has a homosexuality had been decriminalised released, and was in Irish law. “I think the entire country was born of a meeting horror about being seen to have gobsmacked by just how big a deal this between him and was,” Horgan says. “Everybody I knew had his producer, Katie notions about oneself, which is a this emotional investment and really felt Holly. “She knew it when the thing went through, because I knew Rory. I’ve very Irish thing.'' it was about the country becoming a known Rory since better place for everybody.” Conor had the the mid-90s, when privilege of being at the centre of events. “There was intersection between the personal and the political, so I started doing pictures of Panti for the Alternative you have a political climax, which is May 23rd, but then nowhere else in the world I would have rather been Miss Ireland posters.” The Alternative Miss Ireland was for that day, other than chasing Panti around with a the personal. As Rory actually says himself in the film, an annual drag queen beauty pageant organised to camera.” the personal always trumps the political.” raise funds for Irish AIDS charities. The very last one, In the film, O’Neill describes the secrecy that held in 2012, is depicted in the film. “Rory, when we The Queen of Ireland is the director’s second came with being gay in Dublin in the 1980s. As they first approached him, said he’d been approached a feature film, following One Hundred Mornings in danced in underground nightclubs, straight people number of times before but he never really felt like it, 2009. A post-apocalyptic drama filmed in the Wicklow went about their everyday lives, totally oblivious to but he trusted me enough to say yes. I knew it was Mountains, it details the breakdown of society and the what was happening. Gay people had to hide away a big deal for him, not least because he comes from loneliness that would ensue from such an event. “Of and there are huge gaps in Irish LGBTQ+ history as a a small country town… He has a horror about being all the lies we tell ourselves,” he says, “the greatest result. By featuring footage and interviews from this seen to have notions about oneself, which is a very is that there’s any world worth living in that involves

the breakdown of society. A lot of people, especially younger people, just go, ‘well great, it’ll be like Spring Break forever, except with guns, and we can do whatever the hell we want and go tearing around the place and shoot people and all bets will be off,’ and it wouldn’t be like that. It would be boring, and cold, and lonely, and scary, and I just wanted to make a realistic film saying, ‘is this what you want?’” One Hundred Mornings won an IFTA for Best Cinematography and a Special Jury Award at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival.

So what can we expect to see next from the filmmaker? “Nothing. I’m retiring now, that’s it,” he laughs, before his phone starts buzzing once more.

“No, I’m working on a science-fiction love story with another writer called Pierce Ryan and we’re having a lot of fun doing that, so that might very well be my next film.” Quite a departure from following a drag queen around Ireland.

The marriage referendum created reverberations all over the world, as did the story of Panti Bliss and her noble call. This film captures that story and acts as a time capsule for this unique period in Irish history, and it is thanks to director Conor Horgan that it is on record. Whether he is detailing the breakdown of society, or following a man in drag, he undoubtedly has interesting things to say about the changing social landscape in Ireland.

The Queen of Ireland is in theatres now and is reviewed on page 12.

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THE QUEEN OF IRELAND

Director: Conor Horgan Starring: Rory O’Neill (Panti Bliss), Niall Sweeney, David Norris.

Release Date: 21st October/Out now

‘‘MY JOB as a drag queen is to commentate from the fringes, to stand on the outside looking in, shouting abuse.” This is the battle cry of Rory O’Neill, also known as drag queen Panti Bliss, the subject of Conor Horgan’s new documentary The Queen of Ireland . The director’s first feature-length film since his post-apocalyptic drama One Hundred Mornings , it details Rory’s journey from childhood in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, to international recognition as a key gay rights activist.

The documentary captures a huge moment of social change in Ireland, the passing of Marriage Equality on May 23rd 2015. While Panti was at the centre of events, and it plays a huge role in the narrative, it is simply used to punctuate the film by appearing at the beginning and end.

Equal emphasis is placed on Rory’s upbringing, his anxieties about growing up gay in small country town, the club scene

in 1980s and ‘90s, and how he dealt with his HIV diagnosis.

Any one of these subjects would have made for an interesting documentary, but The Queen of Ireland manages to balance all of the above without faltering; at no point does a discussion feel like it has overstayed its welcome.

Where the film really succeeds is the way in which humour is balanced with the serious. Comedy underpins every aspect of this film; after a very solemn opening that briefly recounts the events of May 23rd, we are immediately transported to a dressing room in which Panti is getting ready. She converses with herself in the mirror: “Panti,” she says, “you look fucking amazing.” “I know,” her reflection responds. This sets the tone for the rest of the feature.

When Panti returns to do a show in her home town of Ballinrobe it is a significant, poignant, and emotional moment for both the character and the audience. When she

gets up on stage, however, she immediately tells people that she is “crapping it.” Whenever moments of serious reflection are introduced, they are hushed almost instantly. These two aspects of the film never feel disparate or at odds with each other; instead they come to reflect the contrasting sides of the Ms. Bliss’ personality, and make for an emotional rollercoaster.

Another aspect of the film that must be commended is its editing. Conor Horgan followed Panti around and filmed the events in her life over a number of years, and likely had days worth of footage to sift through as a result. To condense all of that down and make it into a coherent 82 minute narrative is truly astounding; not once does it feel like a moment in Panti’s life has been skimmed or not treated with enough gravitas.

Also of note is the positive message the film carries for LGBTQ+ people. The drag queen’s power, as discussed in the film, comes from taking something that was once used as

an insult (being too ‘girly’ or effeminate) and turning it into something powerful, and this is exactly what Panti does, meaning the greatest voice of the Marriage Equality Referendum was a man in a dress. And that’s nothing to be scoffed at.

In A Nutshell: The Queen of Ireland acts not only as document of a changing Ireland, but also as a powerful LGBTQ+ piece about our country’s most outspoken drag artist. Funny, emotional and poignant, this is an unmissable piece of work.

DAVID MONAGHAN

BROOKLYN THERE IS the fear at first that Brooklyn is going to be a standard film about Irish people made for Americans: twee and awkward, with embarrassing accents and a lot of green fields. However, Brooklyn is a pleasant surprise.

It succeeds in being a beautifully acted, intelligently written story of Irish emigration and the attempt to build a new life across the Atlantic Ocean.

Brooklyn tells the story of Eilis Lacey, a young Irish emigrant in 1950s Ireland, who decides to leave for New York. Leaving her loving sister, Rose, and her aging mother behind, she is plagued by homesickness.

However it is not long before she begins to make a life for herself in New York. Ultimately, she must decide where she will settle and spend the rest of her life: with the family she loves, or her new home.

Brooklyn’s principle attraction is undoubtedly Saoirse Ronan and Emory Cohen, and their on-screen romance.

Ronan, who is already being tipped for an Academy Award nomination for this performance, has the ability to convey emotion with the smallest gestures and simplest actions. She captures the emigrant experience with depth and emotion. Cohen, as the main love interest in the film, gives a similarly stunning performance. He seems constantly at ease in front of the camera, and his endearing and often heard-rending performance is something of beauty.

The film is not without its flaws, however. The first half is too much of a fairytale, and the writing shows a selfconsciousness about this. Jim Farrell (Domhnall Gleeson) is introduced into the film for seemingly no reason other than to inject some much needed tension. He appears

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only to subvert the trajectory of bliss enacted between Ronan and Cohen in the first half of the film. Gleeson’s performance is lacklustre and bland, because he has nothing to work with. His character is utterly two-dimensional, thrown into the mix like a disappointing cardboard cut-out. Gleeson’s acting capabilities, which he has more than proven in other films, are entirely wasted here; he tries his best with weak material, but even he is unable to salvage his boring and flat character.

Gleeson’s disappointing character aside, Brooklyn is a triumph in its depiction of human relationships. Eilis’s relationships with her mother and sister are convincingly fraught with the pain of leaving. Their conversations are clipped and reserved, with each character conveying the painful experience of separation expertly.

Beautifully filmed with excellent acting, Brooklyn is well worth seeing. It succeeds in being one of the rare period dramas that captures the essence of a time perfectly. The performances of Ronan and Cohen show some of the strongest young actors working in film today. Their performances glean off each other, and they are convincing for every moment they’re on screen.

Brooklyn is a stunning film that captures a time and a place beautifully, and despite the unstable and confused attempt at injecting tension through Gleeson’s character, it still succeeds as one of the standout Irish films of recent years.

In a nutshell: Beautifully filmed with some incredible acting, Brooklyn is one of the best Irish films of recent years with a stunning performance from Saoirse Ronan.

PATRICK KELLEHER

Director: John Crowley Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters Release Date: 6th November

“Girls on Film”: The Long and Troubled Affair of Women and Hollywood Following an article written by Jennifer Lawrence, Síofra Ní Shluaghadháin looks at the sexism inherent to the Hollywood machine In recent weeks, Oscar winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, in an article written for Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter e-newsletter, criticised the structure of the industry in which she works. It is an industry which idolises and objectifies, glorifies and demeans women. None of the content of Lawrence’s essay – which included the not so shocking revelation of a gender wage disparity in the Hollywood film industry – came as any surprise to anyone, yet it sent reverberations around the internet, with comment from celebrities and Joe-soaps alike. What is it about the troubled relationship between the film industry and the women who work in it that has the world fascinated? And why, in an industry populated by some of the most influential women in the world, hasn’t change happened already?

The first challenge for a woman in mainstream cinema is to find major roles. A lot has been written on the topic of gender bias in the industry – a quick Google search reveals thousands of articles, from every grade of source. From the evidence, it is clear that strong female roles are thin on the ground, and that this has been the case for the entirety of Hollywood’s short but glitzy history.

Big-ticket roles are very rarely those which would warm the cockles of a feminist’s heart. From the beginnings of modern cinema, through Hollywood’s Golden Age, in Bond films, action movies, and even in the romantic comedies of Woody Allen, women are seen as passive, as objects of desire. Very rarely do we see the sort of hard-hitting roles that

are likely to inspire young women. Strong women in cinema are either vile antagonists, or will, at some stage over the course of a two hour film, turn up as a body in a refrigerator.

Some of the most famous actresses and roles in cinematic history – the roles taken by Marilyn Monroe, Bond girls, Audrey Hepburn, Scarlett O’Hara, or even more recently, Scarlett Johannsson – have been prized, not only for their skill, or the importance of the part, but also for their beauty. Certainly, cinema is not the only genre to fall prey to the fine tooth comb of feminist critique, but also true is the fact that there is no industry that generates the same hype, that has the same influence or that can command the same sort of budgets as that of film.

It’s a topic that has come under increased scrutiny in the last thirty years or so. Perhaps the most revealing, and the most jarring commentary on the subject comes from a comic-strip by cartoonist Alison Bechdel.

The Bechdel test, which started as a satirical look at women in cinema, has since become an unofficial benchmark for female representation in films. It’s a simple test: in order to pass, a film must: a) have at least two women in it, b) they must talk to each other, c) their conversation must be about something besides a man. Depressingly, most major blockbuster films fail.

This test has gone on to inspire other feminist critiques of films, such as the “sexy-lamp test”. If a female character can be removed from a plot, and her place taken by a sexy piece of furniture, the film fails, which reiterates the glaring inequity which exists on-screen.

Indeed, mainstream Hollywood fails with such almost overwhelming certainty that when, once in a blue moon, a role and a character appear to fulfil even some of these criteria, that film must be raised on a dais and praised for its progressive and forward-thinking casting. In any other context, this sort of lacklustre performance would be seen as far too little, and certainly much too late. In a similar way, the lack of opportunities for women behind the camera also leads to any successful woman – think of Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar nomination for Best Director some years ago – being used as a symbol of how the industry is surely changing.

In light of all this, the reasons why women fail to have the same clout in the film industry as their male counterparts is clear. In some respects, they are the same reasons why women fail to rise in many industries – as Lawrence called it in her article, a fear of looking like a “spoiled brat” for speaking out, a reluctance to negotiate, and an often ingrained sense that women ought to be grateful for the opportunities presented to them and not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Why it matters so much in film has less to do with monetary value, at least not to those directly involved.

It matters instead to the women these actresses inspire, the girls who grow up wanting to be actresses, or through the trickle-down economic impact. For an industry that thrives on the times, it seems Hollywood has missed the memo.

''Some of the most famous actresses and roles in cinematic history... have been prized, not only for their skill, or the importance of the part, but also for their allure, and their beauty.''

top ten Haunted House Films

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

What Lies Beneath

While not without its flaws, What Lies Beneath is actually a fairly frightening film. Despite an irritating performance from Michelle Pfeiffer, and the fact that it is subtle as a brick through a window, there are moments of real fear in it. It will leave you nervous of the bath forevermore.

The Woman in Black Daniel Radcliffe’s turn as an actual adult

in this haunted house film of recent years offers a few scares that will leave you peeking out through your fingers. It starts to drag in places however, and soon the jump scares and creaking house will leave you yawning, poised to change channel.

Insidious Another recent film that succeeded in the rare feat of actually being scary, Insidious was something of a triumph for the tired haunted house genre. Besides some dodgy acting and the occasional clunky dialogue, Insidious is one to make you jump.

Paranormal Activity Yes, the filmmakers went on to make lots of awful sequels, but the first Paranormal Activity was terrifying. They make the film unsettling in the smallest of ways. Just having somebody pulled from bed during the night by an invisible force can keep you awake months later.

The Conjuring One of the rare ghost films of recent years that has managed to excite, The Conjuring features lots of creepy happenings. From children being thrown about the place by odd forces to ghosts pushing people down the stairs, this is one to make you scream and maybe cry a little bit (it was something in my eye, I swear).

The Evil Dead Director Sam Raimi expertly merged bizarre comedy with outright terror in his cult-classic. It’s one of the rare haunted house films that will leave your jaw hanging in shock more than in horror, and will leave you laughing in parts where you’re not sure if laughing is even appropriate.

The Shining While more of a haunted hotel rather than house, it doesn’t detract from the isolation and closed-in feeling of haunted house films. Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece features some particularly haunting spiritual manifestations, most notably the eternally creepy twins that loiter in the hallways, taunting us all.

The Others Two terrifying children, a creepy old Irish lady, and a very worried looking Nicole Kidman conspire to make this one of the most unsettling ghost films ever made. Its triumph lies in the claustrophobia that surrounds at all times.

The Orphanage Praised upon its release for the lack of cheap scares, The Orphanage manages to bridge the gap between the horror of ghosts with the emotional impact of loss. A triumph for the genre, it is is undoubtedly one of the best ghost films made in recent years, and rarely gets the credit it deserves.

The Innocents Deborah Kerr’s turn as governess in a home in Victorian Britain is one of the most tense and discomfiting ghost films out there. Perhaps its greatest strength is its ambiguity: are the ghosts real? You decide. You may also start to speak in a very refined British accent after watching this.

Words: PATRICK KELLEHER

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A short story by CIARA LEACY

The air is heavy, storm clouds pressing down. It’s hard to breathe in the sultry, sticky heat. A thin sliver of silvery moonlight peers through the heavy blanket of black cloud. Far away, thunder rolls. Cicadas chirp creakily. The day’s heat can still be smelt on the sun-baked, dusty, pot-holed tarmac of the road. The parking lot is almost full, packed with battered Chevys and decrepit Buicks.

The bar itself is dilapidated and ramshackle, missing several slates and with cracks in the filthy windows.

The door hangs off its rusty hinges, and inside, the place is heaving with people. In one corner, a small jazz band squeaks and creaks through a long list of clichés, and are blatantly ignored by the customers. Almost everyone is a certain degree of drunk, and there’s been two fights already tonight. People break into song at unexpected times, shout loudly and laugh even louder. Everything is blanketed by a thick fog of cigarette smoke. It’s poorly lit, and in one dark corner, a solitary man sits silently, staring into his glass.

He’s hunched over, shoulders slumped in defeat, head bowed down. His tanned skin is lined and wrinkled, and so he appears much older than thirty. His hair is grizzled, and he is unkempt and unshaven. His roughened hands are cupped around an almost-empty glass of Budweiser, his dark eyes fixed on the golden liquid. He seems detached, lost in thought, but looks up unexpectedly, hearing something from the next table – an interaction perfectly innocuous, yet one that brings him back to his youth. A boy no older than seventeen tries to hit on a woman about ten years his senior, and fails miserably.

She tries ignoring him, tossing her long blonde curls and staring straight past him, but he’s persistent, this one.

She eventually becomes irritated and flips him off, sending him slinking sheepishly back to his gang of jeering friends.

It doesn’t seem that long since he was trying similar stunts. He and his mates would hang around in the bar back in his hometown, looking for a beautiful woman from the city in a short dress and high heels. They’d buy her a drink, compliment her, and would usually be told to get lost. He used to fancy himself as a bit of a ladies man, a real-life Don Juan. That was long, long ago. Looking back, he sees just how naïve he was. How childish.

A rowdy group of young men interrupt his reminiscing. They’re the loudest group in the bar, downing beer and bourbon like there’s no tomorrow, showing off and peering around to see if anyone’s noticed them. He hears them boasting, telling tall tales of all the women they’ve slept with, how much they’re getting paid, what car they drive, and even how much they can bench press.

They’re all walking, talking clichés.

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All the bragging reminds him of another part of his life. Aged twentythree, he moved out of the small town he had grown up in, and headed off to the city – Memphis. He arrived, lost, broke, overwhelmed by the towering skyscrapers and the labyrinthine streets. The group he fell in with were all the same, country boys in the big smoke, wandering among the hundreds of thousands of lost souls that crowded the surprisingly lonely city. They hid their glaringly obvious insecurities behind a façade of big talk and hard drinking, hoping that no-one would notice just how vulnerable, how childlike they really were.

He’s glad he left that group behind after a few years. Most of them are in prison or living on the streets, washed up and marginalised after taking one too many risks. Since that time he’s grown, he’s learned to recognise trouble when he sees it and to run as fast as he can in the opposite direction. What seems like a good idea at three o’clock in the morning might seem a little different in the unforgiving light of twelve hours later. Some things can’t be forgotten. Some slates can’t be wiped clean.

Back in the bar, and two tables away, a couple are sharing a drink in a secluded corner. Somewhere in the latter stages of their youth, both wearing engagement rings, their love as potent as electricity, tangible even from a distance. They giggle at private jokes, read each other’s thoughts, and even unconsciously mirror each other’s body language. No-one tries to interrupt them. There’s no point. They have eyes only for each other, and are perfectly content to remain undisturbed. He looks away, giving them some privacy.

His eyes return dismally to his glass.

The things he remembers now aren’t quite so pleasant.

He met her one night on a street corner in the city. He’d been drinking, heavily, and was sitting on the sidewalk staring into the gutter, wondering how the hell he was going to get back to the poky bedsit he was currently living in. He had to be at work in four hours, and his boss had warned him that the unemployment office was only another late morning away. Then she walked by, and suddenly even the prospect of losing his job stopped mattering.

She wasn’t a beautiful woman, not really, but she was striking. There was something about the way she carried herself, even half-drunk, tottering down the street at five o’clock in the morning, that captivated him. He was to spend the next four years in love with everything about her, from her hair, black as sin and braided down her back, to her toes that pointed without her realising; a legacy of ten years ballet training. But it was her eyes that enthralled him the most – deep ochre pools, almost bottomless, with an angry, raging fire burning within. She always had a slightly surprised, wary look – the same look a fox had when it was caught in a truck’s headlights, a kind

of panicky, ready-to-bolt look. There was something not-quite-human about those eyes, something almost animalistic. He should have known One night, after a particularly heated he’d never manage to contain her.

It wasn’t like their years together confrontation, she started throwing her were easy either, no way. They were clothes into a suitcase, screaming she still young, little more than teenagers was going to live with her mother. Instead really, but hell, they could fight and of stopping her, the fool, he let her go. He never heard from her again. scream like wild, raging animals, His mother always told him that when wildcats or coyotes. Stupid things he was hurting, Jesus would take care of at first, wounds easily healed with a kiss and a murmured apology. At him, but that must have been Jesus’ night that stage, the good far outweighed off. He found his solace in the bottom the bad, and despite the fights, that of a bottle. The bar became his church, was the best time of his life. But the the barstool his pew, and the drink his preacher. He was lost, perpetually arguments got more frequent, and more vicious. One or both would wake wandering. He’d never realised just how much he’d depended on her, not ‘til she up with a black eye, or a swollen was gone, her number deleted from his cheekbone, or a bruised jaw. They phone, the scent of her perfume faded were slowly being driven apart.

from their apartment. Her departure broke him, and a long time afterwards, he still drinks alone. He returns to his glass, still brooding, tuning out the boisterous, unruly crowd around him.

Outside, rain starts to fall, first just a few gentle drops, but within seconds, a torrential flood. The wind begins to pick up, rattling the bar windows and lashing the raindrops against panes of glass. It whips viciously along the wide open interstate highway, tearing past neat suburban homes with white picket fencing, howling and whistling through dodgy city streets. Lightning flashes and crackles, thunder roars and rumbles, and far, far away, a lonely, regret-filled woman sits in a ramshackle bar. Her hair, once black, is now streaked with grey, and is gathered into a long braid. Her ochre eyes are filled with guilt, staring at the almostempty liquor glass on the bar.

POETRY

Curse of the Bright Lights

I only have one memory of my mother Sat at her dresser, class like no other Dressing for an evening event Bottles and perfumes almost spent Sure promises of a magic potion She would paint her face with great devotion White powder settling on her skin And lips of scarlet and secret and sin Catching my reflection looking over her shoulder She would smile and wink, growing bolder and bolder Laughing like she knew something that I did not Whilst she tied her hair into an intricate knot And then, certain as the passing of time My mother would chime -Now I can be whoever I want to be -And so can you, my little prodigy And I did

I chased my clichéd dreams all the way To the soulless capital of nightclubs on her the day hands With the vision of success Endless nights in the city between anonymous Riding on the fact that I sheets was pretty Another scandal, Fresh faced, lean and another week mean They began to call her Naivety radiating like a disgrace sunbeams And then she started The bright lights, they to lose her face did embrace me White powder And finally I felt free disguising her nose But I came to resent all Her mouth like a the adoration corrupted rose No negations, only Lipstick smeared affirmations across her cheek A sea of faceless friends And no words had she Strings of compliments left to speak that never end Yes, you can be The dull aching of whoever you want to emptiness be Never much absent from But what if that person my chest is not me?

But dwell I would not I am not going to rot Roisin Murray I put my face on, And pretend I’m not half gone Life in a prosecco haze Eyes dead behind an empty haze Reality seemed to slip away I lived, instead, in pretence bay Looking in the mirror to see But the girl in the delusional image was not me No, she lived on newspaper stands Crawling out of

First Word The sharp claws of my familiar sinking I inspected the hall sideways Stink of sweat and salty fall, familiar wallow, blame and all Wallow ate everything, even me, never filled, always wanting Never ending, and always haunting Someone speak to me for Christ’s sake. Not you.

I mean the other someone, not me.

Did I hear what I said?

You have no-one.

I have no-one?

Rolling out of the way as black clouds about me laugh I daren’t say my first word too loud In case gawkers talk or talkers gawk I wish I could, I would, I should be adjusted but it’s a bloody trap The first word is the hardest to pull out Then, warming the sorries with glow Upon my chapped and shoreless bitter You, an obsessed happy thing Infuse my dark scratch with friendship glitter The shiny presence sprinkles the full of me I mumble the word You don’t look away You reach in Happiness finally has its say A voice that’s on your side, inside, my side Watcher and sunshine breathing out I made a friend today

Tina Fitzpatrick

Illustrations on pg 14 & 15 by Louise Flanagan

Beginning Breathe in, breath out…

Beginning is the art of having courage.

As a painter staring at the white canvas Amused and frightened by the darkness of the unknown, We stand on the edge of our new answers to questions we did not know.

Breathe in, breath out Beginning is our unconscious fed up with our static self.

Breathe in, breath out…

To start breathing people do not think of, it just happens as you did.

Breath in or breath out?

The world looks more barren Today outside my window Maybe it gave me some of its pain

Cruel Optimism I’m caught up now, Tied to you, Dragged along behind.

I need you to know I’m here, And still I try to hide.

I’m tugged along, My heart in chains, Afraid to find myself free.

I am forever linked to you, But will you ever be linked to me?

I hope one day That you’ll be caught As I was caught by you.

I hope one day you’ll look behind And you’ll be chained up too

Elliott Greene

I wonder why you had to leave Trapped between these cold sheets I need to get out as I know, deep down in my now empty womb; Every day is a new canvas that needs me to paint.

Chiara Pizzi

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Sean Cunningham

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Katie O’Meara

WORKING under the moniker of Paperbag Animator, and a frequent collaborator with fellow artists, Sean Cunningham is, as the name suggests, an animator. Though he primarily works in 2D software, he says that his background in classical animation helps him apply those techniques to his digital work.

“When it comes to illustration, I like to use a mix of Photoshop, watercolour and pencil. Most prints that I make are pencil sketches coloured using watercolour, but I’m starting to make more purely digital stuff.”

“A childhood of Chuck Jones, video games, anime, and doodling in books while not paying attention in school,” gave birth to his love of animation, but the idea of pursuing art as a profession and his choice to study animation in college was home-grown. “I have my dad to thank for that, he was the one who convinced me to pursue a career in what I enjoy, instead of having a crappy job that I don’t.”

The evolution of his style seems completely dependent on personal direction, as he seems confident enough in his artistic abilities not to feel the need to make his work marketable. “I used to try too hard to make things ‘gritty’ but that got a bit joyless pretty fast. My ‘style’ is constantly shifting because I want to keep developing, and I’m continuously learning from different artists who influence my work in different directions all of the time.”

Though working for the love of it is ideal, the money question can hang heavy on any working artist’s head. “It’s difficult enough starting out, and there’s a bit of luck involved too. Right now I’m working a full time studio job and doing freelance on the side, and it’s not making me a huge amount right now. In future I could pursue getting well paid studio work that would help me live comfortably, but I’d like to see how far I can get on my own, even if that means the financial gain struggles a bit. As long as I can afford food and video games I’m happy enough.”

Though his inspirations range from Hideo Kohima to our own Francis Bacon, Cunningham produces work that feels distinctly his own. Racking up an impressive amount of views on his animation Bugg and Mr Hill, and receiving an honourable mention at this year’s Dublin Animation Film Festival, his effort has been paying off. “It’s very taxing if you take the route I tend to take (frame by frame hand drawn animation), but it’s incredibly rewarding and it’s an amazing feeling to make someone laugh, gasp have any kind of reaction to making my silly drawings move about.”

While his own career moves from strength to strength, he has this to say to aspiring artists: “Share your stuff constantly, don’t get comfortable with your work, and always thrive to better yourself. Listen to constructive criticism, don’t wait until you’re ‘really good’ before you get involved.

IN HER professional alter-ego as an animation compositor, Katie O’Meara works a standard 9 to 5 desk job that Dolly Parton would be proud of given its creative output. “It’s a post-production job which involves assembling everyone’s backgrounds and character animation towards the end of a project, adding effects, fixing up the lighting and colour schemes and so on. It can go both ways with how technical or creative it can be, but more than anything else, it really pushes my sense of colour and light, which I think is reflected in my personal work.”

This emphasis on colour and light lends itself beautifully to O’Meara’s favoured subject when it comes to her personal illustrative work: Pokémon. Growing up with a love of all things fantastical, it’s unsurprising that she turns to something with such a wide berth of imagery for inspiration. These prints are often sold at conventions and can be seen infiltrating much of her Tumblr and DeviantArt pages. “It always feel great when a con-goer comes up to my table and says that they follow me on Tumblr or saw one of my pieces online somewhere. It’s wonderful, seeing that my work is actually reaching people.”

Of course, O’Meara isn’t always hunched over doodling Pikachu in various poses, and is open to any chance for inspiration to strike. “These days, I get huge amounts of inspiration from my brilliant friends, and the stories, characters and scenarios that we come up with. Most of my practice comes from those dumb doodles that we share with each other.”

In terms of style, she tends to take a chameleon approach, pushing herself to change and adapt to an ever-growing artistic scene. “I actually try to avoid tying myself down to a specific style, as I feel as though it limits what you can potentially create. Like a lot of young artists, I did spend quite a bit of time in my teenage years fussing over developing a recognisable style; something that always seems to be considered extremely important on sites like Tumblr or DeviantArt. I think when an artist has a style, like a specific way of drawing a face or if they have certain colour pallets that they default to, it’s less of a deliberate decision on their part, and more so the easiest way that they personally can convey an image, if that makes sense.”

This burgeoning nucleus of creativity on our fair isle still isn’t all-encompassing, but its intimate nature lends itself to tight bonds that allow each artist to grow with steady support. “Because the Irish comics/ animation community isn’t very big, everyone knows everyone, so as soon as someone reveals a new project, you’ll find all of these people who are willing to support you.”

For O’Meara, it seems whether this community blossomed around her or not, she would always stick to her grounding in art. “To be honest, going into art professionally was more of an inevitability than a decision.”

With Dublin’s artistic scene coming to life under the pens of student artists, Eva Griffin talks to four animators and illustrators for a sneak peek into their inspirations and aspirations ANOTHER lover of traditional based animation, Emilie Kelleher swears by

Dylan Quinn WORKING primarily as a digital artist, Dylan Quinn uses a range of techniques that allow him to achieve a “traditional painterly look” when using a tablet and pen. Though his work is grounded mostly in character illustration, his goal is to move into the realm of children’s books. “I’d like to start working on my first children’s book. I’ve had an idea stewing in the back of my mind for about a year now and I feel like it’s ready to become something, so I’m very excited about that.”

Having picked up the pencil as a child, Quinn made the decision to start working on a portfolio as early as fifth year, so confident he was in his childhood passion. “I knew at that point that if I went for it, art would be something I could turn into a career.”

Unfortunately, things weren’t as clear cut, but the initial misstep soon lead to steadier footing. “I spent some time studying Fine Art in NCAD after I left school, but it didn’t really turn out to be the sort of artistic environment I needed. I was finding it hard to apply myself and felt like I was forcing myself to create artwork that I had no interest in, so I dropped out. I had a much clearer idea of what I wanted to do by the time I left and now I’m studying Illustration in Ballyfermot College. I’m enjoying it a lot and feel right at home on the course.”

Not everyone chooses to pursue art in college as a means of working towards their career, and Quinn is quick to point out that whether you apply to a course or not, the most important thing for an aspiring illustrator is practice. “I’ve always thought of someone being good at art (in the traditional sense), as a reflection of how much time and effort they’ve put into developing their skill, as opposed to any kind of talent or gift. With enough practice, study and effort anyone can master a skill eventually. A college course can provide you with a lot of useful tools and information, but the most important thing in my opinion is developing your skillset with practice.”

Key to this is a regular flow of inspiration, and Quinn has found his own golden rule to having a continuous supply. “Adding fellow illustrators and following pages on Facebook has clogged my feed with artwork and it comes as a constant source of inspiration and motivation to create my own.”

Having grown up on the ‘geekier’ side of the grass, Quinn has noticed his niche childhood passion explode into the mainstream, and inspiration for like-minded artists is ripe. “All of a sudden liking comics is cool and the rise in the popularity of comic book movies has a lot to do with it. It seems to have made it ‘ok’ to like comics and the negative stereotype that once went along with it is disappearing as superhero movies continue to dominate in cinemas. The rapid development of video games as a serious medium and art form has also played a part.”

TV Paint for animating, though she uses her years of painting on Paint Tools Sai to inform her technique. Confidently walking OTwo through her artistic process, Kelleher seems meticulous in her approach and never falters while breezing through her method.

Of course, a fundamental understanding of the character she’s constructing is critical in getting the animation right. “The first thing I do is that I get an idea in my head. I think of the character, I think of what traits they’d have, what’s their personality, how would they pose... and then I would go about sketching on the computer.”

Not content with simply having a well-drawn character, Kelleher knows the importance of the big picture and strives to make her work cohesive.

“If I have a background in it I’ll put in the grid points for the layout and the symmetry of the piece and how it frames the elements. You have to have visual cues in order to bring the viewer across the screen, so it’s important that you frame your characters properly and that you have enough lighting and enough silhouettes to ensure that they get the most out of the piece.”

While figuring out how to get the most out of a piece, Kelleher is constantly questioning what can be done to improve her work. “Where would be best to put in a texture brush? Where would be best to put in a plain brush here or add in some light?”

Having also turned to Ballyfermot’s prestigious course for animation, Kelleher has difficulty settling on just one aspect of animation to ground her career in. “I’ve gone through wanting to be an animator to a 3D animator and now layout artist, background artist, colouring...”

Her experience in college has given rise to numerous opportunities for her to test her strengths and pin down her passion. “We worked on a film together last year called CleanUrPlate, and I was the texture and colour designer for the entire film.” But it seems her calling beckons her away from most of her peers. “I think I’m the only person in my class at the moment that likes ‘cleaning up’”, she says.

Explaining the process, it seems her current love grew from her roots in painting. “When you have a piece of animation and it’s roughed out, you need someone to go back in and do a more straight line so that it looks cleaner and more professional. I love doing that as well because I’m so used to doing it now from painting all these years in Paint Tools Sai.” With her final year in Ballyfermot looming, what does the future look like for her? “At the moment I suppose I want to look at colouring techniques and shading techniques for films, or else to be an animator myself.”

Emilie Kelleher

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Time May Change Me

Halfway through this decade, Marissa Dinar meditates on how bands that have been dominating the airwaves since the nineties and noughties stay relevant today

ARCTIC MONKEYS Photo: COURTESY OF WEALLWANTSOMEONE.ORG

THE WORLD OF MUSIC on which we so often rely in times of sadness, joy and a myriad of emotions is a universe of its own. Countless nights have been spent head-banging to Roger Plant’s thrilling vocals front running Led Zeppelin, shower moments spent emulating Freddie Mercury’s majestic delivery of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ or disco dancing to Boney M’s ‘Rasputin’. We will never be without the means to transport ourselves back and forth, transcending time to pass time with music.

Just as time does to so many things in life, it changes sound. Musicians’ muses are different. The blueprint of a successful band has altered significantly. As it happens, the influential groups mentioned above were not subjected to the dilemma of keeping up with the rapidly changing times in which we live today. However, some bands that arrived on the scene as long ago as the nineties and are still thriving today have tried to evolve their music in a way that would keep them bobbing along mainstream airwaves.

It is undeniably a commendable thing to change one’s influences to stay in the game.

In order to survive in today’s charts, most of the favoured bands of decades gone by would have had to incorporate current genres such as EDM into their music. This may be a good thing, or a sad thing – it all depends on how fans view a band’s progress. Take Oasis, for example. The band of brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher dominated the British music scene

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mainstream compared to its predecessors, in the nineties and noughties, and stayed and they wanted the familiarity of what they true to their Britpop/Rock sound throughout knew Coldplay to be. Nonetheless, songs their seven albums, but some would say that like ‘Paradise’, ‘Every Teardrop is a Waterfall’ their sound never progressed, innovation was and ‘Hurts like Heaven’ lacking and their vision proved that in this new was one-dimensional. '' Their musical artistic venture, Coldplay Frontman Chris progression still had what it took to Martin and his posse come up with brilliant collectively known made no sense; songs. as Coldplay have Coldplay’s next provided us with songs how could songs full-length release was that sing to the soul. like A Sky Full Ghost Stories in 2013, Their first four albums which captured the feature predominantly of Stars which feeling of an ethereal, alternative rock with were repetitive whimsical album. Its obvious Britpop sound progressed further influences. Fans were in nature and towards synth-pop, then surprised when lacking lyrical infused with heavy mid 2011 brought emotions. The songs are along Mylo Xyloto. The artistry, compare haunting, which makes album features songs to Violet Hill or the album title apt. brightly infused with However, fans yearning electronic and acoustic Clocks?'' for the old sound of elements, the band’s first test of producing music that actively takes the earlier material were not won over by this album. Some said that their musical into account what the commercialised music progression made no sense, and wondered industry produced at that moment: upbeat how songs like ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ which were and colourful tunes with infectious dance repetitive in nature and lacking lyrical artistry, vibes. It is almost psychedelic at times - an could compare to ‘Violet Hill’ or ‘Clocks’. This elephant onesie with a man in it was seen was when Coldplay was accused of trying to running around a desert in the music video emulate the dance pop culture of the current for ‘Paradise’. Some fans were disappointed music scene, with its minimalistic take on with the direction that Coldplay’s music took verses and choruses. on in Mylo Xyloto. They saw it as being too

Arctic Monkeys are another band that have been flagged as recently diverting their music from their original style. Alex Turner as principle songwriter and vocalist has possibly caved in to the demands of producers for songs that could break further into the American music market. This makes sense, since they had always a distinctive indie-rock style throughout their first four albums which all had a definitive British feel that was apparently lost on many American listeners. These albums share unifying trends: aggression and pleasantry mixed with rapid, meaningful lyrics delivered by a Sheffield accented lad.

As 2013 approached, Arctic Monkeys also decided to produce a new album which would display their attentiveness towards the masses. Their latest album, AM, appealed more than the band’s previous work to the newer generations of music fans. Stating a more hip-hop influence, Turner and his Monkeys came up with mega hits like ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ booming with an impossibly addictive beat. In the eyes of some, these songs depicted a straying away from Turner’s lyrical talents, to fall into the abyss of average songwriters writing about love and club life in the simplest way possible. But to most, this reinvention paid off, and records showed that their album hit big time.

‘Do I Wanna Know?’ was voted by fans as the best single ever produced by Arctic Monkeys. It also went up to No.1 on the US

Alternative Chart. Furthermore, they played at their first sold out show in the famed New York Madison Square Gardens. Finally, Arctic Monkeys take America. It seems that progression from garage-punk and revival influences to hip-hop and R&B brought the band out of stateside obscurity and into global mainstream.

The line between staying true to one’s sound and the need to advance has always been very fine. A time comes when a band will have to decide whether floating along the music industry’s flow will pay off better than to stick to what they know they’re good at. It is a beautiful thing how tastes change, as people get older and preferences change according to personalities. Only by experimentation shall the obscure rise up, and known legends join them to celebrate music for music.

'' These songs depicted a straying away from Turner's lyrical talents, to fall into the abyss of average songwriters writing about love and club life in the simplest way possible.''

Raury

Beach House

All We Need

Thank Your Lucky Stars

RAURY has been discovering the joys of hip-hop since his 2014 Indigo Child EP. On this collection, however, you’re just as likely to find flourishes of lilting folk and throaty tribal chants as you are round trap beats; hardly Fetty Wap, then. Like a true millennial, Raury treats genre as relative, hopping and mashing to his heart’s content.

Lush production marks out the unique textures achieved from combining elements as disparate as bongos, Spanish guitar and thrumming 808 bass on the off-kilter ‘Revolution’.

‘Devil’s Whisper’ is blood-pumping. Dark and spiritual with upbeat handclaps and a stuttering synth bassline, Raury’s authoritative delivery reflects the enticement of sin. It’s thrilling to listen to. On the opposite end of the spectrum lies ‘Crystal Express’, which swings with airy abandon until reaching a euphoric peak in the “you give me life” chorus. When everything comes together as it does on these tracks, the results are undeniable.

The songs in between these highlights, however, are what ground the album. ‘Forbidden Knowledge’ combines André 3000’s flow with Frank Ocean’s atmospherics yet falls utterly flat.

Spoken word interludes recall Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city but come across as out of place.

Raury’s lyrics are in turns galvanizing and broad; he too often dilutes his message with clichés and generalisations, evident from the first track on which he airily sings: “Don’t hate my brother / God is our friend”. The passion is evident throughout, the ability to communicate it, however, isn’t. The politics are as heavy-handed as one would find in a reactionary Tumblr post. The more personal moments, such as the RZA-featuring ‘CPU’ on which he cribs from the Daft Punk School of Vocoder Loneliness, are most affecting, but there aren’t enough of these to give us any sort of complete picture.

On All We Need, elements of sounds, genres and big themes are thrown together but haven’t coalesced into something coherent or truly unique. When they do, Raury will have a masterpiece on his hands.

WITH THE release of Beach House’s album Depression Cherry just two months ago, the arrival of the band’s sixth LP Thank Your Lucky Stars comes as quite a surprise. For a band that has up until now casually released music at comfortably spaced intervals, the Baltimore dream-pop duo have pulled off this tactical, unannounced release with admirable form.

However, the new record coming so soon after the last may leave the listener lacking time for the usual mental readiness and transition needed for album to album progression. Although this doesn’t prove to be too much of a problem as Thank Your Lucky Stars does not stray far from the usual Beach House sound.

The album starts off sticking to the band’s usual, signature soft grunge fused with the dream-like indie feel that Beach House never fails to bring out in their music. ‘Majorette’ is the opening song and is an undeniable highlight of this 9-track album. Victoria Legrand’s whimsically droning vocals gently bring us into the pace of the songs which, whilst maintaining the standard Beach House structured forms and complex effects, are definitely of a different mindset to those on Depression Cherry.

The emphasis on the retro organ sound is as present as ever but now, along with this comes a driving guitar focus in songs such as ‘Somewhere Tonight’ and ‘All Your Yeahs’, giving this album a new personality and solidly setting it apart from its predecessors.

Stand out songs on the album upon first listen are opening track ‘Majorette’ followed by ‘All Your Yeahs’, ‘Rough Song’ and ‘Somewhere Tonight’.

The album serves as an excellent introduction to a new side of Beach House that listeners can hope to see more of.

In A Nutshell: A pleasant surprise and a solid addition to the growing Beach House catalogue.

Daniel Ryan

Chris Walla

Fuzz

Tape Loops

II

AFTER LEAVING world-renowned indie band Death Cab for Cutie in 2014, multi instrumentalist and producer Chris Walla has not been idle. Be it a deliberate attempt to distance himself from his former band or simply the following of a new artistic drive, Walla’s second solo album Tape Loops (which comes seven years after his solo debut Field Manual) takes a completely new shape and sound to anything that we have heard from the thirty-nine year old so far.

Tape Loops is, coincidentally, a thirty-nine minute instrumental work comprised of five separate tracks; however, it could just as easily run together as one long epic track. Walla has left the guitar behind in favour of the keyboard, resulting in largely atmospheric melodies, which define the overall tone of the album.

The introductory track ‘Kanta’s Theme’ sets the overall mood for the album, using repeated uplifting notes which are almost lost in the echoing abyss. These melodic motifs are looped throughout the entire album, creating a moody and atmospheric fusion of basic chords, and as the music develops the uplifting notes shift to something much more ambiguous and searching.

On complete exposure to what the album has to offer, it is clear that it is a work of experimentation for Walla. This is evident not only in the music itself, but also from the track titles. For example, the song titled ‘Introductions’ features second on the track list and the eleven minute-long track ‘Goodbye’ features second to last instead of as the closing track. Walla undoubtedly appears to be on a voyage of musical self-discovery, and is not afraid to stray into unknown waters in search of a unique and very altered sound to what he has released prior to Tape Loops.

IT’S EASY to see why “prolific” is an adjective which litters every article and interview related to Ty Segall.

Before the official October 23rd release date of II, Segall had already announced the formation of a new band named GØGGS. II is Fuzz’s second album, featuring Segall on drums, Charlie Moothart (Moonhearts) on guitar and Chad Ubovich (Meatbodies) on bass. The epic 14-track double LP is a relentless album, best described using the band’s name itself — fuzz. II is not life-affirming, nor career-changing, but it does one thing and it does it well. The entire album consists of riffs upon riffs upon even more riffs. Fuzz is undoubtedly a “garage” rock band, churning out heavy, Californian bluesy rock. II is all about the meaty stuff that makes teenagers pick up guitars, much to the chagrin of parents worldwide.

The trouble is, fourteen tracks is just too long. The tracks become indiscernible, especially given that most of them hover around the same tempo. The only — albeit short-lived — respite from the “fuzz” is the first half of ‘Silent Sits the Dust Bowl’. The surprise introduction of harmonised string instruments gives way to distorted guitar and chugging bass.

This restores the timbre of the song to the rest of the album. Listeners unfamiliar with this style of music will see the album pass them by at a 130bpm haze of noise, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Segall is a formidable drummer on this album, cracking out a snappy snare tone that highlights the production value of the album. Fuzz makes you wait the entirety of the album to really let go and break out into being “jam-y”; it’s arguably worthwhile.

The white limited edition is already sold out, but if you do buy the double album, use one vinyl as a frisbee; you won’t notice the difference.

In A Nutshell: A mature and mellow composition of soothing and relaxing melodies which may induce listeners to thoughtful daydreams, or else lose them entirely in the opening quarter.

In A Nutshell: If you like heavy fuzzy rock, you’ll appreciate Ty Segall’s drumming chops. If not, give it a miss.

Amanda Cheng

James Holohan

In A Nutshell: An intriguing and sometimesbrilliant indie-rap hybrid from an undoubted creative talent who could benefit from a bit more focus.

Adam Lawler

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GIG GUIDE Aisling Kraus gives the lowdown on the highlights of the Dublin gig scene in the coming weeks

Radar: Silent Interlude Corey Fischer chats to Silent Interlude about the Dublin indie band’s rapid progression, from jamming sessions to record deals

Alabama Shakes Photo: COURTESY OF ALABAMASHAKES.COM SILENT INTERLUDE PHOTO: COURTESY OF SILENT INTERLUDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE Alabama Shakes / Olympia Theatre / Tuesday 3rd November Having formed in 2009 in Athens, Alabama, this southern roots rock band have yet to do wrong in their career. Alabama Shakes’ 2012 debut album Boys & Girls was met with great acclaim and three Grammy nominations, and this year’s sophomore full-length release Sound & Color debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The bluesy five-piece band are fronted by self-taught multi-instrumentalist and singer/ songwriter Brittany Howard, whose colossal voice brings huge force to the group’s soulful, energetic performances. After a summer filled with festival appearances, Alabama Shakes’ Dublin audience can expect a powerful and polished show.

Radical Face with Lord Huron / Button Factory / Friday 6th November Ben Cooper, also known by his stage name Radical Face (which Cooper chose upon seeing the phrase on a flyer), is a prolific musician, singer-songwriter and member of three other musical acts. Cooper produces stirring, thoughtful, melodic sounds akin to those of fellow one-man band Villagers. Lord Huron is the creation of Michigan-born musician Ben Schneider in a songwriting exercise inspired by nature. They craft jangly, harmony-driven indie folk music, producing something very much of the same ilk as Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut album. The two acts will share Dublin’s Button Factory stage for what is certain to make an intimate and memorable show.

Stiff Little Fingers / The Academy / Friday 13th November One of few great things to come out of the Troubles in 1970s Northern Ireland, Stiff Little Fingers started as a schoolboy rock cover band. The original four members soon discovered punk rock and began writing their own material, drawing on their experiences of Belfast life during the Troubles for much of their lyrical content. The result: anthemic songs like ‘Alternative Ulster’, which lead to their Rough Trade deal and many years of writing, recording and touring. Fast

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forward to 2015, where after ten studio albums and countless personnel changes, the band is still touring relentlessly, delighting rowdy audience after rowdy punk rock audience.

Kurt Vile & The Violators / Vicar Street / Sunday 15th November Seasoned multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, former co-frontman of The War On Drugs and lover of Dylan and Springsteen, Kurt Vile began making his own recordings at the tender age of fourteen years, and he hasn’t stopped since. Having churned out a number of EPs and six studio albums of folk-y indie rock music as a solo artist, backed by his band The Violators, Vile has achieved great acclaim as a writer and musician. He is credited as being a natural performer with a low-key style, dry sense of humour and an undeniable charm that never fails to win an audience over.

Ducktails / Whelan’s / Monday 16th November Originally the solo project of Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile, Ducktails formed in 2006 and began making music which has been assigned a bizarre array of genre labels including “hypnogogic pop”, “woozy, horizontal pop” and “chillwave”. Whatever you want to call it, its mellow groove is utterly infectious: lazy drum beats combine with hazy, low-fi guitar distortions and gentle, husky vocals to result in something that induces a virtually irresistible urge to sway along. The Northampton, Massachusettes band make a Dublin stop on their European tour in support of fifth studio album St. Catherine, released in July.

''We're just getting more comfortable and more confident. We haven't thought of ourselves as having gone big or mainstream.''

THIS YEAR Silent Interlude has taken Dublin’s indie world by storm. In less than a year since the group’s formation they’ve managed to release an EP and were featured in this year’s Electric Picnic lineup, a stunning feat for any fledgling band. With a sound that moves between indie tones, folksy feels, and heavier metal rock vibes, Silent Interlude have taken three different styles of sound, meshed them together, and made them their own.

The band’s lineup includes Niamh Walsh on vocals – she happens to be a third year geology student here at UCD – her brother Sean on bass, Niall Cooke on guitar and Shawn Brennan, Niamh’s boyfriend, on drums. These four have known each other and jammed together for years but only formed their own band this past February, taking the name Silent Interlude as a way to “grab people’s attention and make people stop and think ‘who are they?’” according to Brennan.

The year has been a whirlwind for the band. Silent Interlude won a spot at Electric Picnic after emerging victorious from the King Kong Club’s semi-final event at The Mercantile this past June. At the same event they also won a twoweek stint in a recording studio to record their first album, an album launch event at Whelan’s, and the production of a music video for one of their songs.

Niamh says that “It’s just surreal that we’re doing this. We’re just writing now, getting stuff together, and we’ll start recording soon enough. We’re looking to release the full album either the end of this year or early in 2016.”

Despite having accomplished so much in such a short span of time and a recording deal now in the mix, the band maintains that nothing has really changed since they started. Sean Walsh says that “We’re just getting more comfortable and more confident. We haven’t thought of ourselves as having gone big or mainstream. We know our way around now and it’s just more relaxed for us.”

Because the group has known each other for so long, songwriting collaboratively comes naturally to them. As Sean Walsh says, “Everyone

comes forward with their ideas, where they think certain music should go and everything just kind of melts together. We can just play and play until we have too many ideas and have to scale back to fit them into a song.” What’s also interesting is that the music comes first and the lyrics follow. Although somewhat unorthodox, Niamh says she’s “never had a problem doing it that way.”

The band says that while they do have a very indie, folksy sound and they listen to bands that have that same sound, they’ve never tried to imitate or recreate that. “Being in one category just kind of happens for us,” says Cooke.

“We make what we want to make. And while we wouldn’t call ourselves a folk band the influences are definitely there. But we are progressing and moving into more of a heavier rock sound, so we’ll see where we end up.”

Through it all, the band has been thankful for its fans and growing profile and is excited to see where things go from here. Cooke says that “the whole experience has been grand and has moved so fast. It’s grounding really.”

Be sure to check out Silent Interlude’s EP Fate or Faith on their Facebook or Soundcloud pages and be on the lookout for this Dublin band’s first album sometime in the near future.

West Is Best A week before Best Coast’s first headline gig in Ireland, Bethany Cosentino speaks candidly with Adam Lawler about growing up, the pressures of touring, and comparing crystals in Cali

ON THE SURFACE, Bethany Cosentino is the personification of every Californian stereotype you could imagine. She takes a while to say everything, and speaks at length about New Age spirituality and feeling connected to the universe. When asked what she’s listening to at the moment, she says that she likes listening to the same things over and over because she “likes to be chill.” Like the music, then.

Formed in 2008 with co-conspirator Bobb Bruno, Best Coast play sunny surf-rock which pours languidly out of the speakers like a whole summer was taken and recorded onto a CD. The music is as much of an homage to the Golden State as their name. Why then, upon deeper listening, does the music feel like it’s questioning itself?

'' There's a lot about California that I think is very spiritual.

When I come home I instantly feel re-centred and reconnected with the universe.'/ 'I wanted to make a record with the underlying vibe of what does it all mean?''

“It’s funny,” Cosentino says. “Whenever I go to the East Coast people are like ‘you’re from the East Coast, right?’ And I’m like ‘no’. That might be because I’m very neurotic. There’s a neuroses in people from the West Coast too, it’s just a bit different.”

Some see California as a wonderland of opportunity where, in true Dylan style, you go when you’re at the end of your road with nowhere left to run. In Cosentino’s case, it took a stint in a New York university to make her appreciate her home state: every part of it. “I think there are times in any city you’ve lived in your entire life when you feel like you could see yourself going elsewhere, but I don’t see myself doing that. At the end of the day California is so much of who I am. I was raised in a place where my mom could take me to a doctor that would put crystals on my forehead and say ‘okay, you’re gonna feel better’. It’s something I love about where I’m from, that you can go up to someone and say ‘hey check out this new crystal I bought!’ and they’re like ‘yeah, look at mine!’ There’s a lot about [the place] that I think is very beautiful and spiritual and when I come home I instantly feel re-centred and re-connected with the universe. I know I’m making myself sound like the biggest California stereotype right now but to me there’s a vibe, and that’s what I wrote the song ‘California Nights’ about - the vibe in the air, there’s just something about it that feels totally different to any other place I’ve ever been.”

Best Coast try to take that “cool, chill, California vibe” with them wherever they go, especially on tour, but it’s taken a while to get to the point where they can pull off this easy-going presence. “Our live show now is a lot different than it used to be. We play as a five-piece now, so it’s a lot bigger and louder sounding and we present ourselves in a more relaxed sort of way. I don’t talk as much between songs

BEST COAST PHOTO: COURTESY OF WINDISHAGENCY.COM anymore. I used to be so uncomfortable that I’d just start talking or laughing a lot during our shows. But for this record we come out, play five songs without stopping, and then I’d say ‘thank you’. There are a lot of people that really like that, and there are a lot of people that are like ‘what the hell, this band takes themselves too seriously’ or whatever. We’re just there to play the music. When I see a band I don’t wanna watch the singer up there doing stand-up, I’m there to hear the music.”

However, it’s not all a breeze. “I think that when artists are constantly on the go it can do a lot to your psyche,” she says. “It’s important to take a week to disconnect yourself from everything. But I enjoy touring and it’s a big part of what I do. It’s about finding the balance, which is hard to do when you get

home and you’re like ‘what am I doing?’”

The first two Best Coast records undoubtedly boast this “chill California vibe” but present on deeper inspection is a strong undercurrent of anxiety and selfdoubt. It sounds as if the band members were going through one hell of a quarter-life crisis. The new record California Nights is vulnerable in a more relatable way than ever. Lost young souls will relate to ‘When Will I Change’, which might as well be called ‘The Exam Season Song’. However, its strongest moments are the ones so confident they almost verge on nonchalant (the first track and single is called ‘Feeling Ok’). It rocks with the heartening purpose of a person who has come out of the end of a long period of growing pains, not unscathed but, as Cosentino puts it, “feeling okay”.

If she comes across as a typical chilled out Cali girl, it’s

because she’s gone through everything and is more sure of herself than ever.

“I started Best Coast when I was 22, and I didn’t start it with the thought that ‘I’m gonna be famous!’

Or ‘I’m gonna make an impact’, I was just writing and playing music with my friends and trying to figure out what I was doing. When your life changes drastically, overnight, it really puts everything into perspective and forces you to grow up, even though being a touring musician keeps you almost childlike.

I’m turning 29 in a couple of weeks. I went through a lot [in my twenties]; I did a lot of soul-searching and I think that this record really shows that. It shows that I still deal with the ups and downs of just being alive, and with this record it’s like ‘Hey, I’m the more grownup version of Bethany but I’m still confused and still

unsure of what the meaning of life is.’ I wanted to make a record that was confident and strong and bigger and fuller but also still had that underlying vibe of ‘what does it all mean?’, because I think that’s very much who I am as a person - without giving people the idea that I’m cured, I’m fine, my anxiety and existential dread are gone. Nope, it’s still there. It’s just a bit more confident now.”

Best Coast play The Academy on Saturday 31st October.

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AS A SINGER, songwriter, orchestrator, producer, multi-instrumentalist and composer, it is safe to say that Irish musician Julie Feeney is something of an enigma. She has been surfing on the wave of the music industry now since her debut album, 13 Songs, was released in 2005. Highly individualistic since her beginnings, 13 Songs was self-financed through bank loans. Her latest album, Clocks, released in 2012, was funded through the funding website Fundit. Why is she so individualistic, insisting on doing everything on her albums from start to finish?

“I think it’s because I hear the whole thing in my head, and I just want to realise that basically,” she explains. “I never really consider collaborating with someone to make an album, although now that I’ve made three albums there could be a time when I’d do something like that.”

This stance makes a lot of sense when looking at Feeney’s musical influences. Her music is an anomaly, and is impossible to fit into one genre. Mixing elements of orchestral, traditional and choral music, amongst many other influences, there is something awe-inspiring about just how varied it is.

“I would definitely say that my influences go right back, it would probably come from a lot of the exposure I’ve had as a professional choral singer. I’ve sung in a lot of churches, here and abroad,” she says.

“I’ve always been drawn to plain chant, medieval music, renaissance anyway, in terms of vocal music, but then of course working as a professional choral singer, performing that music, there’s definitely an influence. Traditional music in terms of phrasing, in terms of how a line works. The melody in traditional music is quite sophisticated I think. Irish musicians have a kind of innate way of phrasing things. I’m not really a traditional Irish musician, but definitely in my blood I feel it, it’s innately there.”

These influences are apparent in most of her live performances, which are an exciting look into the mind of a creative wonder. She has been wowing critics now for years in her live shows, and explaining the process of how she makes these performances happen is something of a challenge for the singer.

“I think when I… discovered that I loved performing, which was around 2009/2010, I had already released my first album and I was well into it at that stage. And once I realised how much I loved it, I become not another person, but I definitely kind of transcend things, and I go to another place, completely different place, and I love being there.

And I think that seems to have… illuminated stories more for people… Before that I was very shy… you know, not wanting to stand out, and being like an orchestral singer almost, even though my first few shows would have been like that. I would have just stood there, really, I didn’t really do anything… I was very self-conscious, and a lot of people still are self conscious... but I’ve crossed over that, and I’ve gone to the stage where I like to experiment with modes of performance. You push the boundary to go somewhere else.”

This self-consciousness of performing was not worn away overnight, but rather was a long process.

A major part of this was in her elaborate and unusual costumes that she wears onstage that enable her to change her persona.

“When I’m going somewhere else in my performance, being in a costume enables me to do that… I feel that I kind of have license to do it…I find it kind

A NEW MODE OF PERFORMANCE As Irish singer-songwriter Julie Feeney takes some time from touring to create her fourth album, Patrick Kelleher talks to the singer about her performances, influences, and what the future has in store

of funny that Lady Gaga will walk down the road in a turnip or an apricot or something, and she’ll just be walking down to get milk! I would never be like that… I completely retreat, I’m extremely private… like if I go to the doctor I almost feel selfconscious talking about what I do for a living… so I like to be that character when I’m onstage…I think what I like to do is to have a little bit of that license created by that costume.”

While performing in costume can enable her to distance herself from the music, Feeney agrees that much of her music is quite personal, and sometimes in ways that you wouldn’t expect. “I think it has to be a combination of a number of things, because you could end up with an abstract song that wasn’t really terribly personal, but somehow makes this musical globule of bits that are made up with syllables and notes of different seniorities that just work,” she explains. “You could end up with something that is extremely personal, but you sometimes move away then from what it was originally about… You’re finding new layers in things, you know, life is so wonderfully complex and multi-layered.”

The line between the personal and the impersonal is a fine one for Feeney, who finds that music can be personal without it having necessarily been based on her experience. “There were a few songs – in ‘Julia’, I do find that quite emotional when I do play it… I have a song called ‘Grace’ that could be about any particular state of mind that I’m in at the time, same with ‘Aching’.

I couldn’t do the same with my song ‘Julia’, because it’s about my grandparents, so that’s really definitely my grandparents’ song in a way. I can kind of see the tree where they used to meet.

And it’s very emotive, so that is one song that is very personal actually, and I do have to really concentrate and not think about them when I’m singing. It’s like if you’ve ever sung at a funeral, it’s very hard. It’s one of the hardest things to do.”

When performing songs like ‘Julia’, it is important for her to separate herself from the songs in some ways. “Your job isn’t really to get up there and get really emotional and have like a therapy kind of thing on stage. While it might be therapeutic to do it, you’re actually there – the reason you’re there – is to move other people and something in what you’re expressing – they can hopefully be made to – and you’re sharing something with them, and it can mirror something in them that they find very satisfactory hopefully, and bring them to a new place. So you do have to be very careful with that emotion.”

The live performances she has come to love won’t be coming to an end anytime soon, as Feeney confirms that her new album will be out next year. While she is taking a break from touring, it is for the creation of her fourth album.

“Writing is where I’m focusing on now… I’ve been trying to keep a low enough profile so I can concentrate on writing,” she says. Besides this, she is also continuing work on her opera, Bird, based in part on Oscar Wilde’s story ‘The Happy Prince’. Whatever happens with her next album, it is likely that she will continue to astonish critics and fans alike with her bizarre and eclectic mix of musical influences.

Photo: Eoin WRIGHT

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Learning on the job: Otherkin As Irish band Otherkin work on their first full length album, Rob Summons speaks to Owen Steinberger about breaking into the music industry THE FRESH-FACED, Dublin-based rock group Otherkin recently released their first studio effort, The 201 EP. Four tracks packed with energy, though not to the point of bursting, so as not to disturb the clean, clear mixing. Lead guitar up front, thrumming bass lines, all filled out by familiar, driving drum patterns; radio friendly, but with a bit of an edge. Distorted guitar passages and manic vocal performances elevate these songs above similar pop-rock fare. Despite being quite early on in their music career, Otherkin have already managed to construct a unique, recognisable sound – no small feat.

An affable Rob Summons speaks to OTwo, and he seems genuinely excited to be speaking about the band’s music. The drummer spoke excitedly about their beginnings, marked by a quick rise to radio prominence. With only a short, three day tour of Ireland and a single, “Ay Ay,” under their belts, they have launched into a flurry of activity, putting out an EP and scheduling “something like eighteen dates to play in a row” across the EU. “We always hoped it was gonna go well, but I suppose it’s always kinda nice when what you visualise starts to come true,” Summons says.

“We’re absolutely delighted. We’ve got a great team working behind us. It’s all down to them, I suppose.”

For a new band, entering the music industry can be quite a daunting experience – seemingly impossible. “A huge thing that helped us along the way is that we got a really good management team

behind us, and then we signed to Rubyworks, an amazing label,” Summons says. “I think that having all these extra people behind us now, who know the industry really well, they’ve got the right contacts…For a long time we did everything by ourselves – I’d encourage anybody to do that – but it’s great to have other people alongside you that have the expertise, and know what shows you should be playing and, just know the way to approach it. The music industry is a very complicated, difficult thing to break into. We’re delighted to have the right people giving us the right advice.”

Despite their relative inexperience, Otherkin’s sleek image and well-tailored sound shows both natural talent and the results of careful preparation. Summons himself is behind what he calls “the visualisation of the band”, from his experience at design college.

“I think I understand how powerful the visual side of things can be,” he agrees. “So you’ve kinda got it as one: I try to think of the band as a brand. Enough bands don’t do it, I think it’s really important, you have to have the right look and be consistent in the way you’re going to be shown to the world.

For us, that has really helped people take us more seriously. It was a huge part of getting signed with the label. We took how we looked, and took our interviews and music videos incredibly seriously. That’s hugely important to any successful band.”

Just a day before OTwo’s conversation with Summons, he made the decision to defer education for a year, the last of the four members to take the plunge into working on the band full-time. He spoke highly of his bandmates, all “very intelligent men” who understand how to turn music into a business.

While the business and branding is important, the band had to start somewhere, and that was with their musical influences. The group’s have been heavily influenced by some of the bands that they listened to growing up.

“When we started off we said we were gonna be an indie band. Which is the most naïve and silly thing… At the start we were a really dark sort of band, we listened to a lot of Interpol, Joy Division. We still love those bands but once we started playing more upbeat rock music – we’re very much a live band – we got a better reaction to the faster songs, the more upbeat songs, and it just felt right to keep going that way. We do have a huge load of influences, of course. There are bands we always reference, like The Strokes, Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys. In their own rights, legends. We aspire to be someone like them.”

Summons says that he is speaking from the studio while the group was “knuckling down” on their debut album, and that they aim to have it ready in a year’s time. He noted that the symbolic significance of the group’s first album cannot be overstated, especially when

The Strokes are one of their chief influences.

“Since you only get one chance on a first album, It’s very important to us that we make a statement with it. We’re not gonna do a 2-hour long album, it’s gonna be around 11 songs, 33 minutes, in-and-out and energetic. That’s the aim but, who knows, it’s gonna be about a year until it’s done so who knows.”

Otherkin stands out from the horde of Irish rock groups currently scrambling for the spotlight. Their sound is crisp and clear, their hooks catchy and driving, their image recognisable, even evocative. Even at this early stage, their music bears hints of real talent. Whether or not Otherkin will nurture this talent moving forward is impossible to predict, but the confidence and critical self-awareness that Summons shows during his conversation with OTwo show a bright future. The group takes branding and marketing very seriously, but refuses to compromise on their sound for the sake of image. Honest creative intent, backed up by business acumen, has the potential to take them far. Perhaps their debut album will live up to their own high expectations, perhaps not. Either way, the group has taken the plunge, and their careers are only just beginning. Otherkin are certainly a group to watch, at least to see where the current takes them.

''The music industry is a very complicated, difficult thing to break into. We're delighted to have the right people giving us the right advice.''

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Treat Or IN MANY WAYS October is a month of 180 degree angles. The weather suddenly kicks from mild to freezing, you go from having minimal work to masses of midterms, and for one night you find yourself unwrapping the warm jumpers you’ve just begun to don, to traipse through town in nylon bodysuits stretched to breaking point. Indeed, Halloween is the one night when people actively work at finding that perfect wardrobe balance between Elle Woods and Vivian Kensington, instead of being most firmly one or the other. However, in recent years many people have been opting for the third alternative which is neither sexy nor silly: actually scary. In this spirit, OTwo has looked at how make-up artists put spins on classical and sexy looks.

One of the oldest and all-enduring looks to rise through the years has been the Vampire. A staple for Halloween goers, the ghastly white pallor, bloody red lips and soul absorbing eyes are recreated on Jessica with one all-deciding change. Instead of making her face chalky, foundation and white face paint were blended together on her skin to add a luminescence that draws attention to the sharpness of her cheekbones as well as making her eyes more distinct. Purple eyeshadow, applied in a banded technique reminiscent of the Chanel 2015 walk at PFW draws attention to the dusky plum-coloured cat eye built around her lid and contrasts the bloody streaks falling from her waterline to the apples of her cheeks.

The supreme vampire element, the blood red lip, has been deepened with an alluring purple hue – perfect for snapping up any prey you might come across. The key change that strays from the typical vampire look is the softness of Jessica’s foundation. It allows the rest of her features to stand bright and strong – one thing the usual stark white face paint look doesn’t permit. By keeping your base subtle but fair you allow yourself a lot more freedom to play

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up your truly startling features.

Similarly, when dealing with one of the other most popular guises, the Mermaid, we looked at how you can blend the surreal and the real to make a stunning contrast. As the quote goes, “Rainbows and mermaids are proof that imagination and beauty go hand in hand”. In the spirit of this we’ve taken aspects of Aquarian colour and supernatural visage and combined them into a cool contrast that serves to both update and revitalise a somewhat tired look. Valerie wears a lightly applied base but her cheeks have been contoured with a light blue powder and accented with purple in a fishnet pattern. This breaks up the look into individual scales that pop and blend together in a bright shimmer. This technique was repeated in a soft triangle on her forehead which extends from the base of her hairline to just above her eyebrows. This binds the look together and gives symmetry to her features, while a slightly deeper blue serves to set her eyes apart and adds depth to the overall look. The key change in this look is the lip colour. Many would opt for a blue or green as a lip-finish but instead a soft pink was chosen and then a gold sheen was spread over the bow and centre of the lip. This adds a warmth and subtle sexiness to a look and is especially vital, as blue or green has the capacity to sometimes make the wearer look bloated instead of brilliant. It’s through the use of subtle shimmer that the look communicates an oceanic and fairy-tale vibe without making the wearer look two-dimensional.

The final look re-imagined for this series was the Pierrot or Clown look. Inspired by John Caglione’s imagining of the Joker in The Dark Knight , we looked at erasing the hilarity usually associated with the look and instead concentrated on the scary underside of the smile. Completely eradicating the lines of his face, Dan was painted an alabaster white from his jawline to forehead with his eyebrows

whited out to separate any indicators of emotion. Black paint and powder was then worked into the hollows of his eyes and blurred at the edges to create void that would provide a startle point on his eyes. The grand finish was the application of a bloody Glasgow smile over the edges of Dan’s beard to give an uneven and sinister end to a truly terrifying look. The key change from Heath Ledger’s look lies not in the make-up but rather in the set of the hair. It looks at both the modern version of the Joker and older applications of the Joker’s look, as can be seen in the asymmetrical sit of the hair – one side appears to have been attempted to be flattened while the rest is buoyed up with gel and grease. This adds to the instability of the look as well as questioning the character of

the wearer.

Truly terrifying, there is far too much of a gap between Dan’s look and the happy-go-lucky clowns of yore to make any real comparison. In fact, the ingenuity of makeup artists worldwide has caused more than a resurgence of scary in recent Halloweens. It has created a gap that puts the tacky and silly looks of the past so far behind that we can no longer see them as having any real relevance in a world of vampire queens, mermaid seductresses and dark clowns. The bump in the dark is back and the question is no longer ‘What will I be?’ but rather, ‘How will I be?’

LUCY COFFEY looks at re-interpreting the quintessentially scary this Halloween

Terror

Re-masking Halloween ''In the spirit of this we've taken aspects... and combined them into a cool contrast that serves to both update and revitalise a somewhat tired look.''

Make-Up Artist: Elizabeth Wuraola Aluko Photographer: Amanda Cheng Models: Jessica Price, Valerie Oyiki, Daniel Baker Stylists: Lucy Coffey &Â Ankita Biswas

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Sugar Skull: Appropriative or Appreciative?

TO wear or not to wear? That is the question. Ezra Maloney looks at the implications of wearing Sugar Skull make-up this Halloween AS HALLOWEEN approaches so too does the rush to come up with inventive, interesting and even sexy costumes. Unfortunately, as we hurry to the costume shops we often come across several questionable costumes on our way. Blackface, Native American headdresses and the Islamic Thawb are just a few of these distasteful costumes that rise with the desperation for a ‘funny’ costume.

The Sugar Skull (or Calavera in Spanish) is one of the most featured make-up looks for women during the Halloween period. This make-up was taken from the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations where decorative representations of the human skull are created either as gifts for children or altar offerings.

The popularity of Sugar Skull make-up for nonMexican related celebrations began sometime around 2010 when our lovely, rather oblivious society decided to adopt it as the latest and hottest trend for Halloween. At the height of its popularity the Sugar Skull look was even featured in Elle Magazine.

Sugar Skull make-up, among many other culturally appropriated looks such as the festival season’s bindis, is in the midst of a controversy. Can these looks be seen as appreciative of different cultures from our own?

Or are they merely insensitive appropriations ripped from other cultures, often without their knowledge or permission?

In the opinion of many, if you are to wear

the style of another culture, it is vital to have knowledge and respect for the culture that you are taking it from. In the case of the Sugar Skull make-up look, are people wearing it aware of the culture that their ‘creative’ and ‘fun’ costume originates from? Sadly, in many cases, the answer is a definitive ‘no’. In light of this the Sugar Skull trend is consistently viewed as more of an appropriation than an appreciation of Mexican culture. So this year, as we yet again leave costume-shopping until October 30th, steer clear of dodgy glitter bindis, saris made from table cloths and cheap Sugar Skull makeup kits and use your imagination to come up with something more alluring and less obscuring.

Photo: BLENDSPACE.COM Photo: DLEVEC PHOTOGRAPHY

After the Walk

Helen Carroll examines the price of walking a show during Fashion Week

HEAD UP HIGH, back straight and looking directly forward: models who get to New York, London, Milan and Paris appear to have it made. It seems that their career is well and truly set once they walk down that runway.

But pictures have recently emerged of the battered and bruised feet the models end up with, the result of a “one size fits all” idea when it comes to the fashion they are flaunting on the runways.

Many of the clothes and shoes provided for the models come in one size only, and while this is not as much of a pain when it comes to clothes as models can go up or down sizes within a certain margin, it is an issue when it comes to shoes. This is because most runway shows only provide size 40 shoes, a seven in UK sizes. If a model’s foot size is too big or too small for the shoes, they have to wear them anyway for the whole show, regardless of comfort. As a result, models often end up with sprained ankles and bruised, cut feet from squeezing into ill-fitting shoes, leaving them to deal with painful swelling and blisters for weeks afterwards.

Models have quite a demanding job to begin with. Their weight is strictly controlled by agencies, and their hair and skin are subjected to

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extreme stress during catwalk season.

Models often talk about lumps of hair being pulled out as it is scraped back into extreme styles, and of skin that breaks out in rashes and pimples as a result of the make-up products being used that don’t agree with them. Boot camps run by agencies sponsoring the shows have them practice for hours upon hours each day on how to perfect ‘that walk’, leaving them exhausted, stressed and in pain.

It was recently revealed that Marc Jacobs often uses glue to make sure shoes don’t fall off the models while they are walking down his catwalk. For him, this is about his career and one slip-up could really make his business and his reputation fall into disrepute. In order to try to prevent this from occurring, wig glue is used to stick the shoes to the feet of models. Models have told newspapers that, in the weeks following the shows, makeup artists have to remember to bring body makeup with them to photoshoots so that they can cover up the bruises and cuts, often using Photoshop to get rid of the unsightly swelling.

In an effort to counter these conditions, some models stuff the bottoms of the shoes with cotton wool if the shoes are too small, but those whose feet are too big usually just have to suck it up and accept the blisters and pain. Some models, notably Abbey Lee

Kershaw, have begun to refuse to wear the “sky-high” heels that no one can walk in, and that would never be seen on the high street, but many models continue to suffer the abuse in the hopes of furthering their career and making their way to the tip-top of a clearly secretive and uncomfortable world.

''Boot camps run by agencies sponsoring the shows have them practice for hours upon hours each day on how to perfect 'that walK', leaving them exhausted, stressed and in pain.'

Dublin de Rigueur A slice of UNIVERSITY Fashion Name: Conor Carroll Studying: English with Drama “I got my jacket in Urban Outfitters, my bag in Topman and my shoes in Office. I really like the jacket, it smells like crayons.”

Name: Amy O’Neill Studying: Science “I got my coat in New Look and my shoes in River Island. I like the coat because it’s quite bright red’s my favourite colour.”

PhotoGRAPHER: AISLING MCGUIRE

Balmain for H&M: Haute or Hot? Katie Devlin evaluates the Balmain and H&M craze and wonders is it too haute or just hot enough?

OLIVIER Rousteing’s #Balmaination is officially taking over. High street favourite H&M’s highly anticipated collaboration with Paris fashion house Balmain won’t be released until November 5th, but a recent online leak caused the premature unveiling of the collection.

The leak made one thing perfectly clear – it’s definitely Balmain.

From the signature structured tailoring, to the rope design embellishments to the lavish sparkle, it’s undeniably a collection of claim-to-Balmain. In fact, it’s so ‘Balmain’ that numerous pieces are almost identical to looks taken straight from the runway.

Herein lies the problem with the collection: it’s too high fashion for it to be wearable. In comparison to previous H&M collaborators such as Alexander Wang and Isabel Marant, whose pieces were toned down reflections of their runway counterparts, the Balmain collection

feels almost out of place on the high street.

The dresses are some of the most realistically wearable pieces in the collection, and are perfect for the forthcoming Christmas party season. However pieces such as the pictured black, white and gold metallic mini, which was tested on the red carpet by Gigi Hadid, will put you €500 out of pocket and, some would say, out of place.

As a standalone, the collection is decadent, indulgent and just downright stunning. Yes, it’s very 80s and ever so slightly gaudy, but it’s just the right amount of flashy for it to be fun and fashionable. The embellished blazers with dramatic, exaggerated shoulders, such as the black and white beaded piece debuted by Kendall Jenner, could be easily incorporated into an everyday wardrobe if paired with jeans or a simple dress as modelled in the campaign shots. The leather jackets are also versatile

''It's so 'Balmain' that numerous pieces are almost identical to looks taken straight from the runway.''

investment pieces that will stand the test of time. However certain items, like the satin harem pants may be significantly less wearable, especially when teamed with other pieces from the striking collection.

Overall, the collection is hitand-miss. It is beautifully and unmistakeably Balmain, and those who are fashion forward and were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the collaboration will no doubt be wearing pieces throughout the season. However, the casual high street shopper might be intimidated by the sheer drama of the collection and unsure of how to wear the pieces. All in all, an exciting collection for those brave enough to buy it.

Photo: H&M STORES

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Review: Dublin Seven

maebh butler reviews Frankie Gaffney’s debut novel dublin seven, a coming of age story set in dublin city GRITTY, honest and comical at times, Frankie Gaffney’s Dublin Seven tells the story of protagonist Shane, as he comes of age in Dublin’s north inner city. At first glance, Dublin Seven appears to be exactly what it says it is – “a cross between Goodfellas and Love/ Hate”. There are certainly familiarities with the popular RTÉ drama and its characters’ complicated lives. Dublin Seven however manages to top Love/Hate’s authenticity and gripping storylines with its skilfully thought out framework and its devotion to language.

The introduction to the novel begins with an extract from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. “And one man in his time plays many parts,/ His acts being SEVEN ages.” This line subtly sets up the scheme for Gaffney’s book. The “seven ages” of Shane’s life, each designated a chapter, reveal more and more about the character, his family and his peers. Not only does each chapter traverse one of seven ages, but it is designated one of the seven deadly sins, and also a designated theme; a scheme which, as

Gaffney says, is something a little like what James Joyce did for Ulysses . He shows that deep and difficult do not have to go hand in hand, as Dublin Seven can tell a contemporary tale without being cast aside as an ‘easy read’.

Although incredibly flawed, one cannot help but become attached to Shane, seeing

novel that will have you turning page after page without even realising. The novel is an insight into the lives of teenagers in Dublin city and gives the reader captivating glimpses as they grapple with growing up in a disadvantaged area. Dublin Seven shows the cruelty and dangers associated with gangland Dublin, yet its message is clear: despite their undeniable flaws and involvement with criminality, Gaffney sheds light on the characters as human beings. This fate is almost unavoidable for some, and it becomes a vicious circle from which there is no escape. They are more than just the criminals splashed across front pages.

With absolute attention to language, Gaffney crafts a dialogue between the characters that depicts an accurate picture of Dublin city. The novel teaches us that there are complex levels to people’s behaviour and that the world is simply not black and white, good and bad. An insightful and thrilling read, Dublin Seven offers readers something with a difference to choose from the Irish literary scene.

''Dublin Seven is a fast paced and exciting novel that will have you turning page after page without even realising.'' him slowly slip into the clutches of the criminal underworld. His first act begins as an infant, and we are given an insight into his world; a broken home and some friends who all seem to be veering off onto the wrong track. There is a dreaded sense of inevitably shrouding Shane’s fate throughout the novel, as Gaffney portrays the difficulties for him and his friends to remove themselves from their poisonous lifestyle and put their talents to good use. A task which becomes near impossible when money can be earned so quickly.

Dublin Seven is a fast-paced and exciting

Clare Shaw: writing across disciplines

Adam Lawler speaks with author and playwright Clare Shaw about the unique process of writing CLARE SHAW started out as a journalist writing parenting guides, but the itch to write fiction did not subside until her first novel, The Mother and Daughter Diaries, was released in 2008. An author and playwright born with a pencil in hand, Shaw has been writing since a very early age, ever since reading out her first stories at age six. As a student in London, her father brought her to the theatre, and according to her she has a lot to thank him for in her creative career.

A great deal has happened since then, with her most recent release being Sageism , a humorous look at growing older: what keeps her writing?

“I write because I feel compelled to,” she says. “It is the only thing that keeps my attention so much that I lose myself completely; I lose all sense of time and am always surprised when I find how much has passed.”

Shaw cites writers such as Margaret Atwood, Virginia Woolf and Kazuo Ishiguro as inspirations, wishing she had written The Remains of the Day because of “the way the characters are so well-drawn through very subtle means.”

Aside from novels, she has written in just about every medium one could think

of. She has two plays under her belt: one, Naked, she wrote with her daughter, Jessica.

Quoting Joyce Grenfell, Shaw professes her love for radio plays, of which she has written two, including Selling Shoes On Southend, with more in the pipeline. She has also

published has been important. “I think you gain a lot of confidence once you’ve been published and confidence helps you push on. I also think I have found my voice now.

To start with, you are almost imitating writers you admire; then you become yourself as a writer.”

Unsurprisingly considering her track record, Shaw is writing something “very different” at the moment; “less planned than usual and a bit more stream of consciousness. It’s a bit of a risk but so far I am very excited by it.” Whatever it is that she does next, there is no doubt that what she offers will be intriguing and different, and will continue to break boundaries.

"I write because I feel compelled to. It is the only thing that keeps my attention so much that I lose myself completely.''

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performed her poetry at the Fling Festival and has an “itching desire” to perform again.

Shaw’s writing process varies. She begins with an outline, with a definite plan and structure, but as she says, “that doesn’t mean I stick to it.” She writes every day, whenever the mood takes her, saying she likes “early mornings and late nights”. She can write at home, while enjoying classical music and jazz, but has no qualms with writing in busy environments like cafés and libraries. “There are more distractions at home,” she says. “If I get stuck, I find I have an overwhelming desire to dust a shelf. In a café, there’s nothing else to do but write.

And eat.”

When asked how she has evolved creatively, she says that the process of being

IN A FAR corner of one of Dublin city’s cafes, over a pot of tea and a coffee, OTwo meets with Frankie Gaffney. Currently completing a PhD on literature from a linguistic perspective, it quickly becomes clear that his passion for language and dialect spreads wider than just within his studies at Trinity College. He says that, in retrospect, his undergraduate degree left him with a feeling of dissatisfaction at the depth of study they did on the prescribed literature.

“So the PhD is on the novel. I started doing it because, when I finished my undergraduate degree in English, I kind of looked back and thought, we could have just been talking about audio books.

I’m looking at visual aspects like punctuation, typography in the novel. The whole novel.”

As he speaks, Gaffney appears to talk about language with a newfound relish, an enthusiasm that is admirable in the writer.

It is almost hard to keep up with his detailed discussion of the Dublin accent, and how he wanted to portray it so specifically in Dublin Seven, his debut novel. Gaffney says that there is an “accordance between Elizabethan English and ‘Dublin English’ that people don’t realise. ‘Jacks’ is in Shakespeare, for the toilet… ‘Poxy’ as well. Most English speakers don’t say that, but we still say it.” Certainly an interesting connection, OTwo ponders over whether Shakespeare would be more engaging for students if they were aware of such accordance. “Absolutely. You know, if you read Shakespeare in a Dublin accent, it works perfectly.”

Gaffney, who himself has a strong Dublin accent, stresses the importance of the inclusion of this accent in Irish literature; an accent which seems to not have established itself fully in our wide berth of fiction. The only author who seems to come to mind is Roddy Doyle. Although certainly representing ‘Dublin English’, Gaffney says he thinks that Doyle does not completely commit to the cause. “I wrote a thesis on Roddy Doyle’s use of ‘Dublin English’, and he is actually quite standardised, in that he apostrophises. If he cuts off the ‘g’ from something, he’ll put an apostrophe there.

He doesn’t use the compounds…‘yourman’ is a single word, because the syllables can’t take unequal stress. But he’ll have ‘your man’. It’s reverting back to standard all the time.”

Gaffney makes it clear that by all accounts, he certainly thinks that Roddy Doyle is a “comic genius” but that he “wanted to do a different approach to it.”

In not “standardising” his dialogue like Doyle, there is the possibility of restricting his readership, yet Gaffney says that this is not something which worries him. “Irvine Welsh represents the Edinburgh dialect just as it is. Totally unmediated and without any concession to readers. He has obtuse, sectarian, slang words that we’d have no knowledge of and it didn’t inhibit his sales or popularity.” Clearly, the important thing for Gaffney is to convey to readers the significance in representing people, their accent and dialect, as it really is.

In being so particular, Gaffney must have

come head-to-head with editors. How much did he allow them to alter? “Not much, not much. I was a very difficult author, I think, for the editor.

Sam Tranum edited at Liberties, and he’s just amazing. I think he had to be very tolerant of my demands. I’d sat with it for so long at that stage, I was very clear about what I wanted… In saying that, he spotted some absolute clangers where I’d missed, not so much in the language but in terms of the little things happening, that would have really made me look stupid. He saved me from looking foolish on numerous points.” Liberties Press played quite a part in Gaffney’s writing, as he says it was there where he experienced his first feeling of success. “That someone had read it, and enjoyed it, and entered emotionally into it. That’s all I wanted.

Even one person.”

One cannot dismiss the idea that there must be some relation between Gaffney’s experiences, and his array of characters. “For me, I saw a lot of friends, and contemporaries, and peers end up in prison. Some ended up killed. Things like this. I think what saved me from that fate, escaping that world, was just that me ma [sic] always read to me and always bought me books. She came from a kind of background where some people aren’t so lucky to have that. I think that is it. It’s a large element of luck that way. I wanted to represent that.”

With a sense of disappointment, Gaffney continues in saying that for many teenagers like Shane in Dublin Seven, the problems they face are “generational”. He wants to emphasise the difficulty for young people in Dublin who are growing up in more disadvantaged areas. Even when they are given a chance, it is sometimes not enough. “I remember I went to a course out in Ballyfermot and there was a whole host of young fellas out there. One of them, it was a radio course actually, and one of them was running a pirate radio station. He fell out of the course because he wasn’t able to do essays. No one in his family had gone to college. No one was academic. And that was it. This fella was able to deal with what the course was designed to teach you, but the system just completely failed him. I wanted to show that for some people, how difficult it is for them, to get out of the situation they’re in.”

Despite similarities between Gaffney’s experiences and the characters’, he says that it is not an autobiography; rather it should be viewed in terms of its authenticity at representing his characters. “I suppose the temptation for everybody is going to be to read it autobiographically. But I suppose people that know me know that I’m not really like Shane. There’s words, there’s sentences, there’s incidences, that I’ve taken from real life, from my friends’ lives, and I’ve mixed them around… I suppose the important thing for me, in terms of authenticity, was not that anything did happen, it’s that it could happen. I think it’s as real as it could get. I haven’t seen any portrayal of that world, in any medium, that I think is more faithful.” His obvious passion for authenticity and language has resulted in an incredibly accurate portrayal of the realities attached to Dublin city life for many people.

OTwo’s time with Gaffney comes to an end, and the tea has gone cold. One to watch out for, Gaffney poses an undeniable promise and enthusiasm for writing that will have you reading from cover to cover.

''I think what saved me from that fate, escaping that world, was just that me ma always read to me and always bought me books.''

Representing Dublin: Frankie Gaffney Frankie Gaffney sits down with Maebh Butler to discuss his debut novel, his love of linguistics and the complexities of gangland Dublin

''That someone had read it, and enjoyed it, and entered emotionally into it. That's all I wanted. Even one person.''

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From Stage to Screen: Susan Barrett

Actress Susan Barrett takes a break from her busy schedule to talk with Fiachra Johnston about her upcoming projects and her experiences of going from the stage to the screen

FROM her portrayal of Portia in Lianne O’Shea’s production of The Merchant of Venice , to her upcoming role in Tingo in Smock Alley next month, it is clear that Susan Barrett is able to dominate any theatre. It is only recently, however, that the stage has been swapped for the silver screen, and Barrett now finds herself not only in front of the camera, but also behind it. Recovering from rehearsals for Tingo, Barrett talks about her newest venture and debut feature film The Hit Producer, a step away from her usual role, as she finds herself both starring in and producing the comedic thriller that made its premiere at Cork Film Festival last year.

Originally from Tallaght, Barrett studied acting for theatre in Bull Alley for four years before moving to London for a year to focus on TV and film. It was her meeting with Mexicoborn Kevin de la Isla O’Neill, director of The Hit Producer, which shifted her focus away from theatre and towards film. “He was in the film side of things”, she explains, “and I was in the theatre side of things, so we were able to compare notes as to how differently things were done and how actors were directed, and from there I was able to work on some short films, work on some projects that Kevin did, but also do behind-the-camera work as well, like production managing”.

Graduating to a full length feature, Barrett herself was surprised by how deeply she became involved with the project. “It was interesting because originally I was just meant to be playing this character of Carla Boyce, who’s a small character in the film. She’s a struggling actress, which is easy enough to play! But the day before filming started, I just said to Kevin ‘If you need a hand, if you need me to lift anything or carry anything just let me know’, and from the next day I was there every single day, for every single shoot.”

Out of the time Barrett spent on set, only four days involved her own scenes being shot.

“The rest of it was non-acting work,” she says, “but I learned so much working there”.

Despite the amount of effort she has put into the production of The Hit Producer however, Barrett remains loyal to the other side of the camera. “I’d definitely prefer to be in front of, rather than behind, but I do think it’s important to know how the other side works as well so

you can really appreciate what the others do, whether it’s your boom operator or sound designer or gaffer or DP.” On the editing and post production side of filmmaking, Barrett has nothing but respect, especially given the film’s €20,000 budget, miniscule

by Hollywood’s standards. “It’s just insane, and with this film it took such a long time without the money. With money you can get it done faster, but without it, it does get done, just much slower, so it’s important for actors to see how hard everyone works on all those different sides of things.”

While proud of the effort put in, the difficulties the film’s budget placed on the project, which was entirely crowdfunded by approximately 200 people on FundIt, frustrated the crew. “Originally we wanted to get about €33,000”, she explains, “which is still tiny for a feature film, but funders thought that wouldn’t be achievable because nothing over €50,000 had been achieved before, or since, so they put it at €18,000, and we were really lucky to get that.”

During filming, Barrett noticed the multitude of constraints on how scenes could be shot. “You don’t have a huge crew, you don’t have multiple cameras, so shoot days were a lot longer, and in October/November, days were much shorter, so you needed to chase the daylight as much as possible, which lengthened the process even more.” Regardless of the difficulties in funding or working, Barrett is eager to return to the ring for another film. “Definitely acting in another film would be a goal, but I still do a lot of theatre, so I’m always sticking around doing something. Kevin also has other projects in the bag, so I’ll still help out behind the camera if necessary, but the goal is always in front.”

With the critical acclaim of The Hit Producer, that return may be inevitable. However Barrett continues to juggle theatre and film together comfortably, and her training in multiple styles from around the world has broadened her view of what the Irish arts typically demonstrates.

“A lot of our tutors wanted us to explore the different styles of acting, so you have your Stanislavski method, then Peter Brook, and your Strasberg and Meisner techniques, so we were lucky to be able to learn about these different ways that people created to find your character and get into it.” While many of her colleagues

''I'd pick up things that I'd feel would work for me, so it's a weird cocktail of all of those, but then there are techniques they came up with that don't work for me at all, so I won't try to force it.''

''A lot of people say 'I want to be famous, I want to be on TV!' What I ideally would want to be able to do is make a decent living off it.''

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chose to focus in on some of these styles, Barrett floats between them “I’d pick up things that I’d feel would work for me, so it’s a weird cocktail of all of those, but then there are techniques they came up with that don’t work for me at all, so I won’t try to force it.”

All of this, she hopes, will allow her to pursue acting as a full time venture. “A lot of people say ‘I want to be famous, I want to be on TV!’ What I ideally would want to

be able to do is make a decent living off it. There’s so much unpaid [work] going around now, literally hundreds of roles, and you’re just expected to get nothing at the end of them, so to be able to make a living so I can continue doing it, and then maybe certain roles, Medea by Euripedes or Queen Margaret in Henry VI Pt. 2 and 3, would be great.”

If the success of her recent work is anything to go by, it’s clear Susan

Barrett has the talent and technical savvy to have a major impact, both onstage and onscreen. We can only hope her accomplishments now are a sign of good things to come.

IN Photo: arTHUR RIORDAN

FaTal Fourway WORST FIRST IMPRESSIONS EVA GRIFFIN I managed to make a first impression without even being present. I’m sure my fellow Fatal Fourway fighters have tales of tripping over banana peels, stuffing feet unceremoniously into mouths or just being really sweaty and everyone walks away thinking “wow, that Karl guy is a disgusting mess.”

But me being me, I make a name for myself when I’m not there, such are the far reaching effects of being Eva. My mother kindly passed her scatterbrain down to me, along with some awful back pain and knobbly knees, though that’s irrelevant for this issue. Hi mammy! Anyway, I tend to be a bit flakey and forgetful, often missing important dates because I’m busy eating a burger or I got distracted by a picture of a burger. Mmm burgers. Can we do our next one of these on burgers? Cool.

So, my lovely friend Irene spent a good chunk

of second year inviting me for lunch because she probably recognised my love of food. Often, I would reply saying “FOOD GOOD YES”, then somehow get lost on the way, probably wander into a burger and never show up. I would crawl out some time later covered in grease and ketchup, wondering where I was.

On some of these occasions, Irene would be waiting to introduce me to potential new friends while I was busy showing a burger a good time.

I became a mythical figure to them, possibly a figment of Irene’s broken mind as she too began to doubt if I even existed or if I had simply appeared to her in a dream preaching the good word of burgers.

Amen.

Whispers began to spread around the smelly corridors of Newman. Who is this mysterious girl?

Mysterious girl. Move your body close to mine. Girl

you are me heart’s desire. And you alone a set me soul on fire. Me tell dem. Yes, Peter Andre wrote that song about me because I never showed up to his lunch dates either.

Eventually, many moons and many buns later, I showed up. “Oh, you’re real?” And so began a series of disappointments, after which people began to wish I wasn’t.

KARL QUIGLEY My worst first impression was on a man who I thought I would only have a single meeting with. My mate’s landlord back in first year was a nice enough guy I was told. For a bit of context, I spent half of my first year staying at my mate’s apartment (Thanks Jamey) and the other half staying at home. So I was quite comfortable there. The other inhabitant was another good friend of ours so much banter was had (I’m cool I swear). One fateful night, my friends and I embarked on a wonderfully alcohol filled expedition to Everleigh... or Dtwos... or... okay, well it was on Harcourt. I’m not going to bother sharing this part of the story with you, because let’s be honest, I haven’t the slightest notion of what happened.

Skipping forward, I was asleep on the couch in

Jamey’s apartment (it was my couch at this point, even had my own pillow and duvet), and well I don’t sleep in much clothes... or any. And it appeared that the land lord was popping by. Of course I only realised that when I clambered out of my ‘bed’ wearing sweet fuck all in front of this man and two friends that the situation was realised.

I put some decency on and quietly died in the corner while the man, John I think his name was, had a quiet chat with Jamey just to make sure the apartment was alright. It was.

I won’t tell you of the next time I met this man named John, even if I was throwing my guts up into the kitchen sink. He was a nice lad though. G’wan John.

MARTIN HEALY convict with acne issues). I was stuck with having to Thankfully, a fair majority of my worst first make a dramatically late entrance. Young kids prey impressions have been locked away to the deepest on this kind of dramatic flair, and I was screwed from recesses of my mind; Memento-style. I try to believe the get-go. that I can slide smoothly into new social circles, but After being thrusted into classroom one Monday I’m just kidding myself. In reality, I can indeed recall my original worst first impression, and upon doing so, morning, it was an immediate disaster zone. My slip into a thousand-yard stare, foam slightly from the frantic first thoughts: “where do I sit?” The teacher nodded toward the saddest little corner of a table; mouth, and think back to my first day of school. rammed between two of my new peers. Barely It’s a well-known fact that a group of five squeezing into my new seat, I looked around. The icy year-olds can be as vicious as a pack of wolves. The stare of disgruntled children is a memory that doesn’t universe wasn’t kind to me when it came to starting wipe away easy. primary school, as I got stuck with the chicken pox Class begins. The colouring starts. The communal that kept me out of school for the first two weeks (a sickness that meant my delightful ‘first day of school’ pencils sit between the six of us. I make my move, and they watch, eying their new prey. Keeping my photo was a shot of myself looking like an angry

cool, I look around. My new peers chat amongst themselves. I opened my mouth to join into whatever five year-olds talked about in 1999 – I was cruelly ignored. What was that sound? The knockout blow to a very spotty five year-old’s ego.

At the head of the table, the leader of the pack dismissed with a smirk, turning to the rest to discuss the finer points of that morning’s episode of Pingu. It’s a set-back that I’ve yet to recover from.

DAVID KENT

of night it’ll be from the first person that walks into the place. This night, I was able to hear this particular I have no doubt that this fatal fourway will be mine! group of customers before I could see them. One After all, who else can have a worst first impression of ‘those’. So they come down the stairs leading to the entrance, one looks in at me and then goes ‘’Ah than someone who works weekends in a nightclub jaysus we don’t have to pay into this bleeeeeedin kip cloakroom?

So many to pick from, like the GAA county player do we?!’’ (Yes in that accent as well). When I replied with the affirmative, she got into a big huff, before who once ordered a snack box off me on the way out of the club, the girl who was convinced that I was handing over the tenner after a few minutes of complaining. Which was fine, I’m used to dealing with Elijah Wood’s son, but there’s one that will forever people like that. It wasn’t until the end of the night, stand out for me.

It was a Bank Holiday Sunday in 2014. As always, closing time that we’d meet again.

4am, and this girl is being helped out by one of we had drink specials. You can always tell what kind

her mates and a bouncer, makeup all over the place, missing a shoe. To add to that, her bladder evidently wasn’t the strongest. Again she looked in at me, except this time there weren’t any words. She simply leaned her head forward into the cloakroom, and vomited everywhere. And I mean literally everywhere.

The walls, the floor, on me, onto the cash desk. As you can imagine, this did not go down well – apparently it was my fault it happened!

The funny thing about it is that three weeks later, in strolls the same girl, only this time in a uniform, with no memory of it. She’s now part of the bar staff.

Hasn’t even apologised to me yet.

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1: Amanda Cheng 2: Julia Kerr Peterson 3: David Winn 4: James Healy 5: Amanda Cheng

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