The University Times Magazine - Vol. 4, Issue 3

zine 18.11.14

Rebellion Rebellion is the epitome of ‘cool’; that idea of pushing the boundaries, disrupting the norm and flouting public opinion in the pursuit of something greater. For this reason we often idolize the rebel. But more than often it is not the act of rebellion itself, but the pretense of it that becomes the main focus for attention in the eyes of the wider public.

Because in reality, true rebellion is rarely considered cool at the time. That’s the point. Opposing a dominant cultural norm or social issue should, by its very nature, be divisive and controversial. Because standing up against the status quo is hard, it’s alienating and it takes commitment and sacrifice. Only on the off chance that all that sacrifice pays off, is the stamp of ‘cool’ administered anachronistically. For people who really rebel are never lauded or praised at the time they act, but mostly criticized, oppressed and discredited in the public’s eyes. Pushing against the status quo means the majority will hate you for it, for being a vessel of uncomfortable truths or instigator of unwelcome change. Real-time rebels are usually punished, isolated and ignored for their dissension. It is only when we recognize their bravery, and willingness to be alienated and hated because of their belief in a cause that we later recognize to be virtuous that they truly earn our admiration.

When we try to replicate this element of rebellion for the sake of rebellion however, we get too caught up in the appearance of being a rebel rather than the actual experience of it. Popular figures have cracked onto this and started cashing in on the power of seeming rebellious. Now causing ‘controversy’ has become serious cultural currency. Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga are some of the most profitable cultural icons of our day, cashing in on this appearance of being somehow subversive and political. Lately, people are trying to analyse Kim Kardashian’s recent nude photo shoot as somehow ground-breaking, when all it really is is controversy for the sake of controversy, in pursuit of her primary goal, fame for the sake of fame. The same applies to Nicki Minaj’s recent ‘Only’ music video, whose attempt to seem avant-garde disastrously backfired. Similarly, Russel Brand’s desperately seeks the ‘Che Guevarian’ iconoclasm as a political revolutionary yet his ego overshadows his commitment to any tangible political change. Kanye West sees himself as a ground-breaking artist, and yet he is further and further out of touch with his audience, becoming laughably self-glorifying of his own work.

With all this faux-rebellion saturating our cultural sphere today we decided to take a look at the complicated issues of rebellion in this month’s issue, examining themes of rebellion, both culturally and politically in Ireland and abroad. Jane Fallon Griffin investigated who the rebels of Irish society are today and why they think there is a need for rebellion in society. Anna Moran travelled to Istanbul, a city divided as Middle Eastern and Western tensions grow and spoke to the people unafraid to rebel against their own government who are refusing to assist the Kurdish rebels of Kobani. Julia McConway delved into the underground world of Dublin’s young graffiti artists, questioning the nature of graffiti as an act of creative rebellion, is it art or vandalism- or both? In our culture section we review the best of indie, alternative and hip hop. For fashion we mourn the loss of one of fashions great trail blazers and preview fashion soc’s annual show which promises a catalogue of culturally ‘insubordinate’ looks. In the Food section we’re exploring veganism as a form of everyday rebellion and in Film we take a look at some of the latest films attempting to push the boundaries. Finally Julianne Flynn interviews Rob Doyle on his controversial portrayal of young men in Dublin in his new book ‘Here are the young men’ and Clementine Yost gets to grips with DU Boxing Club, interviewing the women boxers who are partaking in a sport that defies traditional gender norms.

Overall, we aimed to explore rebellion in its many forms, and we found many different perspectives, be it those just seeking the thrill of breaking the rules or those determined to shape the environment around them and those braving danger and taking risks in order to make their voices heard. In the end, we think most of these rebels we found are pretty damn cool. Mostly because they are not trying to be rebels in the first place; the graffiti artists avoid fame, the Turkish protesters risk social derision and physical danger and the contemporary Irish rebels we asked all seemed a little surprised, as to them they are simply seeking justice for their cause. Which leads us to believe; perhaps the most genuine form of rebel is not the Russell Brands or the Lady Gaga’s talking in cryptic nonsensical riddles and chasing that Che Guevarian iconoclasm. Rather, we think the coolest and most genuine type of rebels are the accidental ones.

EDITORIAL | RACHEL LAVIN ZARDOZ ILLUSTRATION | LAURA FINNEGAN FRAME ILLUSTRATION | CAOILAINN SCOULER

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What’s inside...

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Contemporary Irish Rebels

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Turkish Divide

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Jane Fallon Griffin interviews some of Ireland’s modern day rebels

Julia McConway explores Dublin’s underground graffiti scene

Music Have Alt-J had their day?

Hugh Delaney thinks so.

Fashion

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Food

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Film

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Illegal Art

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Anna Moran travels to Istanbul to examine the Turkish attitude toward the siege of Kobani

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Carla King-Molina says farewell to fashion legacy Oscar De La Renta

Credit where credit is due:

Ciannait Khan explores the merits of Veganism as a form of everyday rebellion

Paul Martin explores whether Interstellar is as stellar as Hollywood are making out.

Rachel Lavin Editor-in-Chief

Jane Fallon Griffin Deputy Editor

Caelan Rush Creative Director

Benedict Shegog Photography & Illustrations Editor

Orla Conway Music Editor

Robert Greene Food Editor

Carla King-Molina Fashion Editor

William Bailey Film Editor

Clementine Yost Contributing Editor

Literature Sex, drugs and dirty Dublin: An interview with Rob Doyle on his new book Here Are The Young Men

Society Heavy hitter: Clementine Yost is punching a little above her weight this week with DU Boxing Club.

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contemporary irish rebels According to Frederick Douglass, “the thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion”. In the past few years in Ireland there certainly seems to have been enough protests and public discontent, but who are the men and women who act as modern day rebels in the public eye? Just like the collection people who form a rebellion, rebellions themselves come in all forms, shapes and sizes. We spoke to a handful of people who have stood up and made their voices heard on the controversial issues that shape modern Ireland today.

WORDS JANE FALLON-GRIFFIN ILLUSTRATIONS LAURA FINNEGAN

CLARE DALY Cause: Anti-water Charges

TD, Clare Daly, is a member of the United Left Alliance and is well known for her outspoken and oppositional politics in the Dail. She is no stranger to putting her head above the parapet, having previously been arrested in her attempt to investigate concerns of alleged troops and weapons being carried by U.S planes in Shannon airport and spent a month in jail in 2003 due to issues arising from her bin tax protests.

Asked about the need for rebels in Irish society, Daly explains “I think for a society to function properly there is a need for those who would question and hold power to account. I don’t think that this will change regardless of how advanced we become.”

She is currently one of the many politicians leading the charge against the Water Tax. As she explains “The people of Ireland are fighting for the abolition of the regressive tax that is water charges” and she insists, “I’m merely part of the movement. This campaign is a campaign of the people of Ireland.”

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The initial proposal to put a tax on water seemed to Daly to be ‘grossly unfair to working people are being made to foot the bill for our so called economic “recovery” in Ireland.’

She is frustrated by the repeated taxing of those whom she feels cannot afford to give anymore and are struggling financially as it is, which is the case for many in the current economic climate For Daly there is no middle ground, the only way forward is to abolish water taxes, and she maintains that “you cannot charge a person for something that is fundamental to human life. Water charges need to be scrapped, that is the only way that the issue can be properly addressed”.

About the march that saw 100,000 people on October 11, and 200,000 at least on November 1, she says, “the people of this country were obliged to take matters into their own hands’. As to whether or not Daly considers herself to be a rebel, she is unconcerned, saying that “everyone has an obligation to challenge the status quo” and that while she would consider herself to be a good citizen “the people of this country were obliged to take matters into their own hands. If that’s what you call rebelling then so be it.”

Kate McGrew, more commonly known by her stage name Lady Grew, is a singer, performer, prostitute and sex workers’ rights activist. She first came into the public spotlight when she revealed her job as an Irish sex worker; alongside her other endeavors, on RTE’s reality show Connected.

While she does acknowledge that the sex profession is not necessarily a universally positive industry, for her, it is a job and one she very much enjoys at that.

‘I’m fighting for “women to have what is our birthright: full governance of our own bodies. I am fighting for women to be seen and treated as full agents. I am fighting for women to be listened to. I am fighting for working women to have basic labor rights.”

When asked if she would consider herself to be a rebel she points out that It is sad to think of it as rebellious to have to ask for basic human rights.”

KATE MCGREW Cause: Rights for sex workers in Ireland

According to McGrew, rebelling in contemporary society, for the Irish sex worker “means butting against years and years and years of ideas whose usefulness have been taken for granted, ideas that have changed shaped to fit current culture but still may be oppressive at the root.”

McGrew who says that her “mother is a feminist and raised her [me] as such” says she is disturbed by the persistence of patriarchal oppressive attitude into the present day saying that although“his control has changed shape over all the years” it “still manifests in a power dynamic of oppressor and oppressee.” She takes issue not only with controlling men but society who have “used women’s sexuality as a way to oppress us for centuries. “ She states bluntly that “If we cannot say for ourselves how to express our sexuality, can-

MICHAEL NUGENT Cause: Chairperson of Atheist Ireland and Irish ‘Right to die’ campaigner

Michael Nugent has long been associated with the theme of contemporary Irish rebellion, having campaigned for an end to violence in Northern Ireland, headed campaigns against the destruction of James Joyce’s family home and protected the right to justice for two teenagers accused of robbery in the 1980s. But his most prominent campaigns have been for ‘right to die’ legislation in Ireland, and a secular Irish state.

“I have always campaigned on issues that fundamentally affect society, such as campaigning against terrorism in Northern Ireland and the influence of religion on our laws.

I believe in reason, empathy, compassion, fairness and justice. I think that religion corrupts those values by interlacing them with dictates from an imaginary being.”

“Although the population is becoming more secular, the politicians and the constitution are still stuck in the past…

Schools can still discriminate against children and teachers on the ground of religion, judges still have to swear a religious oath to take office, and we still have a law against blasphemy.”

“A lot of younger people just ignore the issue and get on with their lives, which makes it harder to change the laws and constitution.”

““I aim to promote atheism and reason over supernaturalism and superstition, and to promote an ethical secular state that supports neither religion nor atheism. I am promoting what I believe to be true and ethical.”

Nugent follows this principle too when it comes to the ‘right to die’ legislation.

“On the right to die, most people agree that we should have that choice.”

When his wife Anne was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 they made plans to allow her to die on her own terms should the disease become unbearable, allowing her a means of ending her suffering. “I aim to legalize the right of rational terminally ill people to assisted dying with dignity.”

On being a rebel in Irish society, Nugent explains “When I was campaigning against the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries, the establishment would have seen me as being on its side.

At the same time, because I was also campaigning against miscarriages of justice, the establishment might have seen me as a rebel.”

A man who loves a cause, Nugent says that the ultimate goal for him in any project is “To not have to campaign for it any more, so that I can have more time to campaign for whatever is next on my list.”

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not decide for ourselves what to DO with OUR BODIES we are very much still under some hairy man-thumb.”

She points out that sex workers in Ireland are “a minority,” and a “marginalized group” and dismisses the idea that further immersing the sex industry into Irish society through laws will see a vast expanse in the future generation of Irish sex workers. She points out that her profession is very much a “niche” adding “it takes a certain disposition to to enjoy it or to stomach it as the case may be. It would never appeal to everyone.”

For many of us we have been raised with preconceived notions about the sex industry one which ultimately the average Irish person knows little about. McGrew feels that “people would rather not have to think about it, to consider that these (mostly) women are doing work that you might think unsavory, and be faced with questioning where your assumptions comes from about an industry unknown to you, to question if the way its been presented to you is accurate or not”. She says that having reflected on this people need to “decide whether these women deserve to work in safe environments” .

The Ohio native is fervently against the proposed introduction of laws, similar to those in Sweden, where clients found to be using the services of sex workers can be prosecuted. “I am fighting against the introduction of the Swedish model, wherein clients are criminalized. I am fighting very specifically for the Irish government to consider decriminalization model, as they have it in New Zealand.” For her the ultimate aim of her campaign is to see a situation in Ireland where “the sex work industry would the be dealt with in a business sector, not the criminal sector”

RUTH COPPINGER Cause: Pro-choice campaign Ruth Coppinger entered the media spotlight recently along with others campaigning to bring the abortion pill to Ireland. The socialist TD boarded a Belfast bound train along with other pro-choice campaigners and travelled to Belfast where abortive pills were collected and returned to the South.

South. She and other members swallowed the pills outside Connolly station in protest to a media presence. According to Coppinger “The Socialist Party and ROSA (Reproductive rights, against Oppression, Sexism & Austerity) are fighting for repeal of the 8th Amendment and for free, safe abortion facilities within the Irish health service” For Coppinger, the issue is an important one and one she has grown up alongside, “I was a school student when the 8th amendment camping happened. I was a young woman when the X Case unfolded, when a 14-year-old rape victim was imprisoned in the country. Now, a generation has gone by. Successive governments failed to legislate for abortion following that case. More women have suffered. Society has moved on in its attitudes, but the political establishment has not. Every poll in recent years has shown a big majority favor a liberalizing of abortion in a whole range of circumstances.”

While the issue has been a long running one in Irish society the pro-choice campaigner feels that it has yet to be adequately addressed “Because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are historically wedded to the Catholic Church and are fearful

about taking on the church. Now it would seem the Labour Party is as well. Since independence, FF and FG alternated power between them and leaned on the Catholic Church for support, allowing it control over health, education and over women’s lives. That’s why we have seen a litany of scandals: the Magdalene laundries, mother and baby homes and the incredible barbarity of Symphysiotomy, where women had their pelvises broken in childbirth by ideological doctors.”

So far, she is pleased with public response to the campaign, the issue generating interest amid many generations of Irish society “The ‘abortion pill train’ was extremely well received and brought the issue again to national media attention. It also highlighted the availability of safe abortion pills through the Women on Web organisation. Young people are particularly pro-choice and applauded our efforts. The anti-choice lobby are deliberately playing down our campaign as they want to minimize the publicity we get.”

Regarding whether or not she considers herself to be a rebel Coppinger says “Any challenge to an unjust law is an act of rebellion. Unjust laws must be broken. That’s how we got the right to vote and a raft of other civil and human rights. It shouldn’t be an act of rebellion to have autonomy over your own body and life, but it is. Separation of church and state should of course be the norm, but isn’t in Ireland.”

Regarding what it means to be a rebels she says “I think the same as it has always meant. Taking a stand and persuading others to join you in a struggle. New tools exist, of course, such as social and mass media which play a key role, but the fundamentals of protest and rebellion are the same as ever.

Look at the anti water charges movement: 100,000 on one protest brought this issue centre stage.”

The campaign goal is that “Every woman should be able to make their own private decision about abortion and have free, safe, equal access to it. But I also favor women being in position to have children when they want to, which is not possible now with capitalist austerity. Ultimately we need a

socialist society where the wealth is controlled by the majority, not the 1%, where housing, education and health are the preserve of all, not the few.”

Despite having received some negative feedback via email and social media Copping says, “Most people are supportive. A number of women have also contacted desperately looking for help.”

Finally does Copping think that there will always be a need for rebel’s n society? “Rebellion and revolution which have brought about all progressive changes in history: the French Revolution laid down a marker about democratic rights; workers striking together brought about the 8-hour day and vital workers’ rights. No concession was ever gifted by a privileged elite. It has always been wrested from them through mass struggle”

EDDIE HOBBS Cause: Economist and Own Our Oil Campaigner Eddie Hobbs is best known for his role as presenter of the hugely popular 2005 RTE program Rip Off Republic which saw Hobbs point out financial flaws in the Irish fiscal and governmental system while warning about the long term effects of such actions. The show sparked controversy especially amongst TDs and government parties. Hobbs became a household name and continues to write for a variety of publications and to give financial advice both publically and privately.

Today the economist is leading the Own Our Oil organisation in improving Irish citizen’s claim on Ireland’s natural resources. He says “Ownership and control of all natural resources, water, hydrocarbons, etc. ought to return to the Irish”.

Hobbs states “The Irish people had more power over natural resources under monarchy and the Magna Carta.”

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While Hobbs does not consider rebel to be the right word to describe him, he instead offers “dissenter” as a means of explaining his position.

I’d like to “get more people to grasp that the issue isn’t about the old left and right, its about insiders and outsiders and who really serves whom, to understand the difference between the Irish people and the State which, in some important instances, is a source of oppression and a failed advocate for the Irish in its representation in the EU.” While he may consider himself to be more of a dissenter than a rebel Hobbs expresses the idea that rebels will continue to play an important role in future society saying “Rebels are what cause society to take a hard look at itself and evolve. Without rebels the status quo becomes embedded, ultimately becoming oppressive. I’ve always delved among the mavericks for the truth- anywhere else merely yields reflections, not revelations.”

ISTANBUL NIGHTS Anna Moran travelled to Istanbul to investigate the mood in a city on the frontier of the Islamic State CONFLICT words & photography | anna moran When I arrived into Turkey, a country where 98% of the population are Muslim, I had assumed that the Western significance of the 31st of October would go unnoticed.

However, as it grew dark on All Hallow’s Eve, all sorts of costumes began to appear on the main streets of Istanbul.

Alongside the hijabs and burkas were leather leggings with cat tails peaking out from under coats. We felt oddly welcomed by the monstrous masks and fake blood as it made us feel more familiar with a culture we knew little about.

noticed that the street has its Christmas lights turned on already. Turkey appears proud of its secularisation and of its more open attitude concerning religion. Of course Turkey is a proud nation in general. Turkey’s Independence Day takes place on the 29th of October and the country was still in a nationalistic mood. At the top of Istiklal is Taksim Square which is known for its statue of Atatürk. Today it was ablaze with red and white and not a single inch was lacking a crescent moon and star.

It also proved an interesting insight into Turkish society. Geographically speaking, Turkey is in a gateway situation, bordering war-torn Syria and sharing some of its border with Iraq too, while on the other side it shares its perimeter with Bulgaria and is an associate member of the EU. Because of this, Turkish society has a unique mix of both western and Middle Eastern cultures.

Despite these reassuring sights of a multi-faceted society living in unison, I am aware that the peaceful co-existence within this multi-cultural melting pot has recently been pushed to boiling point. As tensions between the East and West rise given the spread of ISIS, Turkey may prove a crucial battle point in this new war on terror. In the months leading up to our trip to Istanbul we were unsure as to whether we would be able to go as the situation on the Turkish border grew worse day by day. We watched riots in Ankara and Istanbul turn violent and watched a country that is a popular travel destination for Western travellers become more and more involved, whether willingly or not, with a war that could threaten the stability of not just the Middle East, but the entire Western world.

On November 1st at around 11 o’clock we walked up the main shopping street of Istiklal Caddesi. Though Turkey technically has no state religion and is a secular society, Istanbul’s skyline is scattered with mosques and minaret towers protrude in every direction. Its main shopping street is equipped with speakers so that the population can hear the Muezzin’s call to prayer five times a day. Though the crowds of Istanbul were sprinkled with hijabs of every colour, unveiled women could also be seen in every district. We also

As the Syrian war rages and ISIS grow stronger and stronger, Turkey stands as a neighbour willing to help, in many

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aspects. Turkey has spent €2.4 billion assisting Syrian refugees since the beginning of the crisis. But when it comes to the town of Kobani, a small Kurdish town on the Turkish/ Syrian border, currently under siege by ISIS, Turkey appears less than sympathetic.

While Turkey itself is safe for the moment, the siege of the town of Kobani has raised some difficult questions. At the moment the border is closed and many feel the Kurds of Kobani have been intentionally sacrificed by the Turks, following centuries of oppression toward the Kurdish minority. Turkey is in an extremely complex situation with pressure coming from many world powers, including the US, to make a decision and take a stance. But which is the right one?

Do the people of Turkey allow their Kurdish minority to help the people of Kobani, thus actively involving Turkey in the war, or do they ignore this minorities’ wishes, appearing as cruel and unwilling to help?

This is one question the people of Istanbul have been battling over themselves in recent weeks, as the city’s Kurdish population lead many violent protests, quickly repressed by the government’s increasingly brutal riot police. This particular morning, as we walked through the bazaars of Istanbul’s main streets, was after another night of civil unrest and the city felt on edge. The police, armed with intimidating

rifles, were starting to fill the square alongside tired looking camera men and news reporters. As we walked back down Istiklal more and more police filled the streets and small groups of them strode in and out of the small carpet shops and local tea shops that litter the main street, something we later found out was in search of pro-Kurdish protesters they had acquired pictures of from the night before.

“I am a humanist and a proud Muslim. I have many friends, some of them follow Buddha, some are Jewish, But I do not like the Kurds.”

One of the universities on the main shopping boulevard could barely be seen due to the presence of police riot vans. There were around seven of these massive vehicles, which were half truck, half tank in our eyes, and each was accompanied by well equipped policemen, many wearing riot uniforms with only their eyes showing. At the bottom of Galata, the area we stayed in, there were more police on the edge of the bridge, which connects the old city to the new city. On approaching these less intimidating policemen (only men) they explained that there were ‘some problems, little problems’. When asked what kind of problems, they replied that there were some problems with people but again emphasising that they were only little problems and that we were safe. Judging from the enormous riot shields they had against the wall behind them it looked as though their job was to keep the tourists calm.

When we reached the old town, a district called Sultanahmet, we sat in a tourist restaurant and had lunch. The sound of police helicopters blended with the sound of the Muezzin’s call. We got chatting to the waiter who spoke a little English and asked if he knew what was going on in Taksim Square. He shrugged and motioned for us to wait a moment and went to speak to the manager. The manager proceeded to produce three freshly sharpened knives from a small orange box that he had been examining as they had just been delivered to him and walked over to us, making us slightly nervous. ‘There are always police in Taksim’ he explained, and reiterated what the police had said earlier that there was ‘a little problem’. At this point he held up the knives and chuckled to himself, asking us if we wanted the knives to help us? We laughed along, half joking, half terrified and quickly gathered our things and left.

Slightly unsettled, we were still determined to look around the city centre and ventured into a jeans shop. There we met the manager called Yusef, who, being very helpful and comprehensive (and seeing as there were no knives in sight!) we decided to ask more about the protest.

‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘You want to ask me out yes?’

Yusef Kasar is a twenty six year old Turk who studied retail management and has been working in retail since he was nine years old. He seemed quite surprised when I said I knew about Kobani but was more than willing to explain his opinion on the matter.

‘I am a humanist, I have many friends, some of them follow Buddha, some are Jewish, some believe in Jesus and others in Muhammed. I am a Muslim, not a very good one because I drink. I can enjoy St. Patrick’s day [or green day as he had called it previously]. But I am still Muslim. A proud Muslim.

But I do not like the Kurds.’

‘Their attitude is a bad one. I had to close my doors for four hours yesterday (during protests) and lose out on business because they decided to go out, and shout their leaders’ names pretending they want peace.’ He spoke about the

PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, who are recognised as a terrorist organisation by the US and other western countries) and how they do not want ‘Kurdistan’. All they really want is to fight. The PKK want peace but only through war according to Yusef.

‘It was just an excuse to endorse the names of their leaders and to be disruptive. Their leaders wanted everyone out on the streets on the 1st of November, Kiev, Istanbul, everywhere. Do you feel safe? How would you think of Turkey if you had been caught up in a protest of 10,000 people that had turned violent?’ as many of the protests in Ankara, the political capital, had. ‘These are not our people. I do not really like Turkish people, but I definitely do not like them,’ Yusef Kasar concluded.

Despite these extreme views, Yusef claims many other Turks agree with him.

Sadly, if we are to take the Turkish government’s recent actions into account, this appears to be true. There are approximately 14 million Kurds in Turkey and they make up around 18 percent of the Turkish population. But in the eyes of the Turkish government the fight in Kobani is one group of terrorists versus another, neither deserving a helping hand.

Emphasising this is the violent oppression of pro-Kurdish protests in recent months. 19 people have been killed in protests over Kobani in the last number of months. After exploring Istanbul and growing used to a culture that sells guns alongside juice bars in the underground passage to the tram it became easier to understand how many protests turned violent. There were flick knives being inspected by male youths at the Grand Bazaar and it felt as though you were only really safe until the police arrived (as another tourist said on our third day, ‘it feels completely safe... except for the police.’).

We decided to seek out the voice of this opposition that had been causing so much havoc in the past few nights. Trying to find people to talk to was more difficult than I had anticipated, however, mainly due to the obvious tension surrounding the city, but also my being a female more than likely did not help my cause.

But on the last night of our trip to Istanbul, as we witnessed a man being chased by police for putting up a poster (presumably political) in shop windows outside the university, we met with a gently spoken young man collecting for charity. His name was Kenan, he was a university student and was asking could we donate to children with disabilities. He explained that there were six hundred university students out that night collecting because, in his own words, ‘this f**king government does nothing for them’.

When we questioned Kenan about his opinion of the treatment of the Kurds in Kobani, we were relieved to find a different perspective to what we’d encountered so far. ‘I think we have to help Kobani, we are neighbours, we are people first’. He continued, ‘our neighbours are in a bad place and Turkey will not open their eyes to the blight of the Kurdish people in Kobani but yet we have opened our doors to countless numbers of Syrians without question. Turkey opened their borders to Syria in a way that many other countries did not. I feel proud of Turkey for aiding the people of Syria but why are we not doing the same for Kobani which is poor and in dire need of help.’

“I think we have to help Kobani. We are neighbours, we are people first. We have to protect everybody from ISIS.” 8

He criticized ISIS, saying they ‘believe themselves to be Muslim and they promote themselves under the banner of Islam but they are not fundamentally Muslim if they are killing people. They are really terrible people. If they try to kill us, we have to kill them too. They try to kill all the people. If they don’t kill the first person they see, they kill the second.

That could be you’.

‘We have to protect everybody from this kind of people’, his emphasis on the word everybody made it clear that he meant the Kurdish minority, not just the Turks and Syrians.

The PKK and ISIS are killing people from everywhere, from Turkey, Syria and Iraq to Britain and the US, who knows where next? Kenan put it bluntly by saying that their message to everyone is ‘Oh you have to do that, if you don’t do that I will kill your people’. His belief that Turkey needs to stretch out a helping hand to the town of Kobani was clear.

It was not until we were parting that Kenan happened to mention that he himself is Kurdish. This struck me as very bittersweet: here was this kind and forgiving young man out collecting for people more vulnerable than himself, and yet he was vilified by a large majority of the society he was so charitable toward. It struck me as a sad paradigm on the situation for the Kurds of Kobani. They are left, sacrificed even, to fight one of the world’s most brutal terrorist groups in recent history, and yet, rather than fleeing and abandoning their post, they choose to keep fighting alone.

Turkey is clearly in social and political distress over the situation in Kobani and the wider crisis concerning ISIS in their neighbouring countries Syria and Iraq, but while this continues to be a divisive issue on the streets of Istanbul, on the 5th of November we saw Istanbul play host to a different kind of protest. ‘Palestinian freedom’ are the words on everyone’s lips at the moment and Turkey’s cultural capital is clearly no exception to the debate. Groups of men with torches and flags began to assemble at the bottom of Istiklal Caddesi. Flag sellers appeared around the same time as the police vans.

‘Do you know what this is about?’, a man observing the protest beside us inquired. We explained that it was about Palestinian freedom. He asked my mother what she thought about that and she replied ‘I think freedom is a good thing, for anyone’. At which he raised his eyebrows and explained that he was in fact Palestinian. ‘I have been living in Canada for the past ten years but I still feel extremely patriotic.’

We explained that Dublin had seen marches for Palestinian freedom over the past few years and that much of Ireland stood by Palestine in their fight for freedom. ‘Palestine appreciates Ireland’s solidarity and we feel that we share many things with Ireland. Palestine is misrepresented in the news in the US and Britain and it is distressing for Palestinians, particularly those of us living abroad.’ ‘My home was on the West Bank and there is nothing left, it has been destroyed. I have nothing to return to there.’ He spoke of how even though he is a Canadian citizen with a Canadian passport he is still not allowed to go to Jerusalem owing to his being born Palestinian. ‘The last time I was in Jerusalem was 21 years ago.’ We talked about how Palestine has shrunk over the years and if you look at a map the shape of Palestine has changed completely, to which he said very plainly ‘there is no map anymore’.

The crowds grew and the protest moved off. We encountered it again in the middle of the main boulevard of Istanbul. The sheer amount of people was impressive and the noise they made was even more so. While Turkey now stands in the middle of an increasingly tense divide between the Middle East and West, as tensions over decades of war, occupation and terror are coming to a fore, it was clear to us that the people of Istanbul are far from quiet on these issues. Unafraid to speak their mind, or protest against a suppressive government, even at the risk of physical harm, it is clear the people of Istanbul want to play an active role in the defining and controversial events happening around them.

Of course, Istanbul has always been a defining place in history, and its transformation over the various millennia from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul cannot be forgotten. This is a city that will never be finished partaking in the creation of history and its people, much like their ancestors, seem determined to define it.

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Dublin’s Underground Artists WORDS JULIA MCCONWAY PHOTOGRAPHS BENEDICT SHEGOG

It’s just after 1am on a mild, cloudy Saturday night in October. We are in suburban Dublin walking down an empty road, having parked the car in a nearby housing estate. Though difficult to make out in the darkness, our destination is to my right beyond the fence: outside the reach of the street lights. We reach the gate and slip through the gap. Sean, the graffiti writer who kindly agreed to bring me along with him tonight, has never been here before, but has heard by word of mouth that it is a good spot to try. I ask if going to places with which he is unfamiliar is typical to a night of painting for him; Sean explains that he rarely returns to the same place; “it adds more adventure this way – it’s like a sport.”

mense satisfaction, and Sean doesn’t see himself ever stopping, mentioning that his style still has a lot of potential: “I’m going to do it for the rest of my life, probably.”

He paints deftly and concisely without a torch in the grim sepia light from the road, using blue, black and purple to add little details, flourishes, touch-ups; The whole procedure lasts about twenty minutes. He finally dots some quick tags around the wall to use up his remaining spray paint and we dismount the roof and hurry back to the car under the cover of darkness. The next day as the sun rises, Sean’s piece, about six foot tall by ten foot wide, will be visible from the road for all to see.

The place has clearly been abandoned a while: at some point a fire had burned away part of the flat roof. As we walk up towards the house, one or two cars pass by on the road outside, headlights illuminating everything through the fence; “Get down!” Sean whispers urgently, and I suddenly find myself crouching low on the ground to avoid the possibility of being seen. This is unexpectedly thrilling. “You have to be alert at all times,” Sean adds.

The process repeats every time a car drives past out on the road, and I feel increasingly as if I’ve been landed in some kind of action scene from Breaking Bad.

Given my experience on the night, it is clear that adrenaline plays a huge role in graffiti’s attraction, but I want to find out more about graffiti in Dublin, and how different graffiti writers feel about what they do. First I speak with Yogie, to get his perspective. Yogie has been writing graffiti for a number of years in Dublin, but has recently had to give it up, owing to having been caught and charged with €32,000 worth of damage to public property in March 2013, along with a suspended two-year jail sentence. We meet outside a local coffee shop and sit down to discuss his risky hobby. He wears a friendly expression, but comes across as a little shy (he hasn’t had positive experiences with the media since being caught eighteen months ago.) I ask him what it is that drove him to keep writing graffiti, given the big risks associated with painting illegally. Yogie replies dreamily, “It’s the rush you get off it, it’s the thrill of getting caught like, and when you do a good spot, say on a roof or something, or a train, and get a chase off a garda...it’s a great feeling when you do get away.” Yogie goes on to explain that the kind of graffiti he does is limited to tagging, bombing and piecing: the more illegal side. “I don’t like stencils or stickers or anything, I think they’re more on the art side of it; I prefer a can of paint and just scribbling my name on a wall, if you want to put it like that.”

We reach the house and Sean decides on painting from the roof, climbing up with considerable ease. Meanwhile, being somewhat less athletically inclined, I’m a little apprehensive of the climb, especially given the dodgy state of the roof. I find myself hanging on to the thankfully strong lintel for dear life, toes grazing the windowsill below.

I eventually find a foothold in a missing chunk of cement from the corner of the wall, and manage to hoist myself up, proud of my achievement. By this point, Sean has already begun painting.

Later in interview, Sean explains his reasons for writing graffiti as being “50% adrenaline, 25% artistic, and 25% having a name. I like the whole anonymous thing.

Nobody knows who you are, but they see your work.”

He looks at it as a personal hobby, and emphasizes how active it is; whether you’re walking home with a spray can in hand painting spontaneously, climbing to get to a good spot, or maybe even running from the Gardai. Graffiti is something which brings him im-

“Grafitti is an addiction” 10

I’m a little taken aback at the frankness of his speech; I had always thought that graffiti would be seen as something more substantial than a scribble by someone who would invest a lot of time in it. I ask Yogie if he thinks that it’s vandalism; “It’s all vandalism real-

ly...that’s the way I like it. Being honest, me scribbling my name on a wall, I don’t think that’s street art.” I wonder then, if he truly believes that this is vandalism, why use paint and make an effort with it all? Why not then throw rocks through windows as an act of vandalism, if there’s no artistic intent? He smiles and admits that he perhaps spoke too soon, concluding that “a lot of graffiti does brighten up the place,” and he shows me some pictures on his phone of pieces he has done before; proudly pointing out the vibrant colours and interesting styles he has used, and it seems to me that there’s more of an artistic inclination in what he does.

We sit down, and Chris starts by telling me about the progression of his attitude towards graffiti: “When I was younger, it was just an outlet – raw self expression, but getting older, and wanting to paint, I’d be trying to spread some positive message where if someone saw something that I did they would hopefully in some way smile or be happy. And if they hate it I’m happy as well, because it would change their perspective somewhat – maybe.”

Chris pays a lot of tribute to the influence graffiti has on his style as an artist, and explains that he has begun getting commissions, slowly beginning to make money in this field. He makes sure to emphasize that “I wouldn’t have been there at all in terms of spray paint if I hadn’t started doing tags, and being really bad for years.” (Chris has been prosecuted for his graffiti in the past).

Yogie then goes on to outline his different rules: “I’d never vandalise someone’s house, or churches – anything like that – or even small businesses, people trying to get by...It’d mainly be walls owned by the council, electricity boxes, stuff like that.” He explains that these are guidelines a lot of graffiti writers would follow, and that although the majority of what he would paint is public property, the main reason is that the act is less personal and does not leave the burden of cleaning to any specific people; “I just wouldn’t feel as guilty,” he says.

He leans toward painting pieces and characters at the moment, and I ask how graffiti has influenced his artistic style; Chris explains “there’s an energy in graff, and simplicity – to a degree. Flow is hugely important in everything: in tags, in pieces... you can tell almost if someone did a tag in a rush or if one is really thought out and well-positioned; in the way that it’s an outlet, for example, if you’re angry it will completely affect the lines of your letters. It definitely is ultimately an artistic self-expression.”

We move into more serious territory now, as Yogie mentions that he went to counselling for graffiti a while back. I ask why he felt he needed to do this, and I’m quite surprised at his answer – “Graffiti is an addiction; There are places over in America and England for people who are addicted to it...I’d say I’m addicted to it – I can’t stop looking at it; I’ll slow down doing it but I’ll always have an eye for it.” He goes on to explain that “it isn’t heard of over here, it’s not well known; the counsellor I went to couldn’t really understand it, she didn’t really know what to say.” This is an aspect of graffiti that I hadn’t expected to find; and it hits home that this is a much more complicated subject than I originally thought.

Chris is enthusiastically explains that he feels graffiti should be illegal in order for it to be considered true graffiti, that the illegality contributes to its artistic merit: “It’s in its rawest form; the energy, the style...You could spend 8 hours on a legal wall in town, but the true energy of someone’s graffiti is going to come out when they’re painting a (train) track side at three in the morning, barely able to see in the dark, trying to outline a piece; that’s true skill to me. I think it just belongs illegally, that’s its birth. Placement is important too; if it’s a really well placed tag, I’d almost prefer that to a piece that’s a bit rushed and shit.” Chris thinks viewing graffiti and art in a public space is beautiful under the right circumstances, and says he thinks he’ll keep painting for the rest of his life, both legally and illegally. “I’d keep the illegal stuff to a certain level where I’m less likely to get caught,” he explains, “to the level where you’re just doing it for yourself; if some people see it, all well and good, but I’m not trying to destroy the city.”

What is concerning me so far is the idea of graffiti being perceived as vandalism by the perpetrators themselves; I had always assumed that they would be the first to defend its artistic integrity. I want to look into this more, so I go to speak with Chris, an artist as well as a graffiti writer, who has invited me to his studio. Chris has been writing graffiti since he was fourteen, but has always painted and drawn as well; he studied design in art college, and since then is pursuing art professionally. Inside the studio, there are half-finished paintings on the desk, and colourful prints pegged to a string running along the wall and in the corner on the floor there are a number of spray paint cans, all in different colours: a clue that he still has a penchant for bringing his art into the public domain.

I’m interested by this idea of destruction, and I ask if he thinks that painting graffiti on something damages it; he thinks about this for a minute, and answers “No, I think you add to it; you’re doing both actually, you’re adding to it and damaging it at the same time.

You’re making it look good – or, good to you at the very least, and you’re damaging it.

That’s what’s beautiful about it; you’re doing both at the same time, damaging and beauti-

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fying. I don’t really feel like it’s morally wrong to paint on public property.” Finally, we talk a little about commercialised graffiti, Chris making sure to stress that he uses different styles for graffiti done commercially as opposed to ‘real’ graffiti done illegally; “I purposefully try not to make my commissions too graffy,” Chris explains, questioning even the idea of terming legal painting like this as ‘graffiti,’: “I don’t like to attach graffiti to it, because it’s something different.”

can improve my style here and there; I think about it literally 24/7 - I dream about graffiti.” However, Doug has been caught before, and has been through the court process six or seven times by now. Does he think Graffiti can be a negative addiction, as Yogie does? “It can get you in trouble with the law, but it’s not like a substance addiction. It’s not going to destroy your relationships; you aren’t going to harm your body from graffiti. I think it’s a more harmless addiction than most other things.” Doug adds as an afterthought that “when you say addiction, it puts out a negative vibe; I don’t know if I would call myself addicted to graffiti, it’s just embedded in me as a person.” He explains that he had to see an addiction counsellor for graffiti, but that it was ordered by the court. Whether this helped him with it, he explains that “you have to really want to stop.” From the passion and enthusiasm with which he speaks about graffiti, it’s clear to me that he has no plans to do any such thing.

Feeling reassured at Chris’s confidence in graffiti’s artistic qualities, I go to meet with Doug to get one last perspective. Doug is busy working on an assignment for college in the library but he kindly takes some time out to talk to me. He has been writing graffiti for nine years, and I can tell that he is passionate about it from the way his eyes light up when he explains “after a few years of doing it, it graduated more into a lifestyle than a hobby; I notice graffiti everywhere I go; every time I’m in a new city the first thing I look at is the graffiti.”

Doug looks back to when he started, and underlines the feelings a lot of graffiti writers would have in the initial stage: “When you start off, it’s more about ego than anything – you want everybody to notice your name; you want to go out and put your name in as many strategic places around the city as you can, and you want everybody to see that.” I ask about getting your name up, and why it’s so important. Doug explains that “tagging is really the essence of graffiti.” Contemporary graffiti started with tagging after all, in the late 1960s with an American teenager who called himself Cornbread and wrote his name all over the city; he set a trend which spread across Philadelphia and on to the subways of New York a few years later, where it began to develop a much more artistic element.

“If it were legal...

I wouldn’t want to do it anymore.”

The conversation finally, and inevitably, rolls around to the long debated question of whether graffiti is art or vandalism – or both. We talk about media representations of graffiti, and Doug mentions that many will use the term “mindless vandalism” to describe what he and other graffiti writers do. He is indignant, explaining “it’s thought out, people think and plan, and try to do something nice.” He underlines the differences in perspectives here, and that while he may be destroying property in some people’s eyes, the case is different for him; “I like seeing it, so in my eyes I’m doing something that makes me think it looks nice. You’re not going out to specifically destroy something, you’re going out to beautify it, to make it look better; especially train tracks. That’s a good example. If you’re on a train ride, going through the city, looking at grey, horrible walls, it’s pretty boring; if you’re looking at nice, colourful graffiti on the train tracks - not on anyone’s house - I think it adds to most peoples’ journeys and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that at all. I don’t see why it should be cleaned, and I don’t really know why they kick up a massive fuss about that.” His conclusion is that he thinks “graffiti on public property is a victimless crime. It’s not affecting anybody’s life; it’s just people not liking to look at it, but there are lots of things people don’t like to look at – it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”

Doug explains that he confines his graffiti writing mainly to tagging and bombing, and has less of an interest in the artistic, as opposed to the illegal aspect: “When you go out painting, you’re under a lot of pressure, you don’t want anybody to see you, so you want to whack out something as nice as possible in a short time frame. I don’t get the same freedom with doing pieces as tagging or bombing.” I ask about the illegal aspect of graffiti and how it affects his attitude towards it. Doug thinks about this and tells me that “If it were legal...I wouldn’t want to do it anymore. Part of the buzz is you are completely shitting your pants, high on adrenaline, trying to make a nice piece of work on whatever you’re painting. Going out, knowing that so much can go wrong...”

I want to go painting one last time, in light of what I’ve recently learned and Doug offers to let us accompany him. I have romantic visions of how it will go; my initial apprehension has, in the short space of a week, given way to a reckless excitement, now that I understand more about what we’re doing. We meet late at night and Doug loses no time in finding a clean stretch of wall, and sets down his bag eager to paint. He begins by sketching an outline and filling out the large letters in black. There is so much space to colour in, he arms himself with a can in each hand, spraying both at once. It’s difficult to make out what it is he’s painting, but it gradually becomes clearer as more details are outlined. There is a certain slow rhythm to how he paints, steadily tackling one section at a time, and I find myself mesmerised in watching the piece develop as each colour is added.

Part of why the illegal side is attractive to Doug and other graffiti writers is the excitement of rule breaking that accompanies the adrenaline. He talks about his experiences of painting in high-pressure scenarios such as in a train yard, where the risk of getting caught is extremely high, expressing that “the atmosphere of painting in a train yard is like no other experience I think I’ve ever had in my entire life. It’s as if you’ve been taken out of reality and plunked into some ridiculous action movie...you feel like James Bond, trying to evade all the security; go up, get your work done and bail, without being detected. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.”

There’s a magical sensation in being the only souls awake for miles around. Perhaps it’s partly to do with the overwhelming smell of paint fumes, but I feel as if I have been transported to a completely different city. This is a Dublin where different rules apply, where the city can be anyone’s canvas. This is Dublin as I have never seen it before, and I feel I understand why it is that so many are drawn to walk the city by night and paint. Being here is empowering, perspective changing: an escape from reality.

While he doesn’t shy away from the more egotistical aspect of graffiti, Doug explains that over time, it has developed into something more than that for him; I ask what it is that inspires him to keep writing graffiti over such a long time frame despite the considerable risk, and he explains that “It’s the feeling of freedom I get. I feel I am ultimately free when I’m out painting graffiti – all of my problems in life when I’m out painting dissolve away into nothing. Graffiti for me is an outlet. Any time I’ve been feeling any emotion strongly – if I’m feeling really happy, I want to paint; if I’m really sad, I want to paint.

If I’m angry – emotional about anything – it drives me to go out and paint.”

“You’re not going out to specifically destroy something, you’re going out to beautify it.”

I’m interested to know what it is about graffiti that makes it such an effective emotional outlet, and he chooses to explain in more personal terms.

“Some of the times I’ve been most active is if I’ve been really upset about something,” he says, “This year, in March, one of my best friends passed away – he did graffiti; his tag was Rasto – and when that happened, it drove me to paint so much. I was going out painting his name, and that was the best way possible for me to grieve my friend’s death. It made me feel really really happy about it; I can still walk around the city and see his name and it’s like a little piece of him – just alive all over the city. And that’s a really amazing, unique feeling which I’ve never had before.” Doug emphasizes the community aspect of graffiti in Dublin, mentioning that many of Rasto’s other friends also undertook to keep his name remembered by painting it around the city.

It’s hard to say ultimately if graffiti is art or vandalism. One thing that is certain is that each graffiti writer I’ve spoken to has a passion for it, and feels a pull towards painting illegally. Each individual has expressed ambition to continue writing graffiti for as long as he can; though young, they seem resolute. Oscar Wilde once wrote “wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority,” or as Chris has said, “illegal graffiti is like ‘this is my art – here it is; you’re seeing it on your way to work –and if you don’t like it? Fuck you.’”

Despite the upfront and illegal nature of the graffiti though, it is, at heart, well-intentioned. In the eyes of graffiti writers they are improving what they paint on, and enjoy seeing – and look out for – other writers’ work. There is a strong support network within the community too, they have their own rules and understanding of respect; it’s a much friendlier scene than in other cities. And it acts as a faceless outlet for these, mostly young, men who seek to rebel and revolutionise the environment around them, adding little marks of humanity to corporate or privatised public spaces. As we get ready to leave, Doug stands back to look on his work with satisfaction, now a bright burst of colour on a previously unremarkable wall.

He takes out a white spray can to add one last detail, marking the piece with the message ‘Rasto, R.I.P.’ on the bottom corner. With this one gesture he has finished, and off he runs, back into the night. *Some of the names in this article have been changed

Next, we discuss addiction; Doug agrees that “it’s definitely addictive. I wake up, I think about graffiti; Everywhere I go I’m looking at the graffiti constantly. I’m looking at spots I can paint, I’m thinking of things I can do, I’m sketching out my name, thinking about how I

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music with abounding ooooohs and aaaaaahs and trusty loud-soft soft-loud dynamics.

A rather slow start to the album leads into Every Other Freckle, an inexplicably lyric-ed (see for yourself) tune which manages to pick up the slack for the preceding two, allowing us to finally get into the meat of the album. Despite the cringe-worthy lyrics the song is highly listenable, with the glitchy guitar-y synth-y solo a definite focal point. The record then finds itself at a marked sore thumb Left Hand Free, an uncannily Black Keys-esque ditty purportedly written for the label to promote to an American market. Between this and the following Garden of England - a frankly ridiculous baroque sounding recorder track - we might feel somewhat cheated by the boys, but alas, onwards.

This Is All Yours Alt-J Hugh Delaney Although retaining the dynamism of its predecessor, “This Is All Yours” is ultimately a much more subdued and muted affair than their previous work. The album begins with Intro, a meandering progression of looping layered vocals that builds into an expectedly idiosyncratic climax full of distorted drums and oriental strings. Somewhat reminiscent of their previous album’s Taro, it manages to whet our appetite for what is to come. However the next few tracks manage to smother this anticipation. The subsequent Arrival in Nara and Nara are two relatively tranquil, airy tracks,

The leading single of the album: Hunger of the Pine then appears, a track that has divided fans by its sample of Miley’s “4X4”. Whether or not the sample works is of course in the eye of the beholder (ear of the listener??) but the French chanting of an Alfred de Musset quote seems somewhat excessive. The album then trundles along to its end, on the way The Gospel Of John Hurt is a high – an expansive song centred around a building, rolling refrain - against a backdrop of fairly unstimulating and dull songs. Even the reprise of An Awesome Wave’s Bloodflood; Bloodflood Pt. II seems ironically, bloodless.

Over the course of the album Alt-J manage to borrow lyrics and ideas from multiple tracks of their previous album, Miley Cyrus, Bill Withers (bonus track), The Black Keys (sorta) and De Musset as mentioned. In between this they’re drawing influence from plainchant, baroque music, electronica, folk, pop-rock and more; an ambitious if perhaps foolhardy undertaking. Unfortunately this hasn’t resulted in a cohesive or indeed, very good album. The assortment of these varied styles that worked well in “An Awesome Wave” just doesn’t seem to mesh to the same extent here. The band drawing on so many influences and references ultimately seem to have their feet in too many proverbial camps, resulting in a palpable lack of direction and more importantly: conviction. The whole rather dreary affair feels lifeless and washed out despite its ups and downs; a disappointing album when compared with their début.

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My Favourite Faded Fantasy Damien Rice Áine O’Connell “I know someone who could play the part/but it wouldn’t be the same” croons Damien Rice on his first record since the critically acclaimed ‘9’ over eight years ago. One would think that such a long time spent away from the world of music would have dulled Rice’s staggering talent; one would be wrong. ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’ is a triumph for the grandmaster of self-hating, gorgeous folk pop right from the outset.

A big question that has always hung over Rice is how he has fared since his split from fellow singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan. Hannigan, who was both Rice’s rumoured romantic partner and backup singer, left the band in ugly circumstances soon after the release of “9”. To fans of that album, her absence hangs heavy over “My Favourite Faded Fanta-

With great power comes great length on ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’. Not one song on the eight-track album is less than five minutes long; It Takes a Lot to Know a Man is almost ten. Despite the meteoric success of “O” all those years ago, the album is by no means easy listening; there is no Cannonball here. Perhaps that’s why he has stated in interviews that he doesn’t care about the critical success of the album – but it seems that this thought is misguided.

Despite the exhausting emotions and long run time, ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’ is an album well worth your time.

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sy”; there are no haunting Nine Crimes-esque backing vocals on show here, just a man and an array of instruments.

The album is, then, imbued with a sense of loneliness and self-loathing, but after a few tracks, Hannigan’s absence ceases to be an issue in terms of songmanship. While Hannigan may be far from the listener’s mind, however, the same cannot be said for poor old Damo. “Am I the greatest bastard that you know?” Rice asks plaintively on track number three. Whether this is directed at Hannigan or not, one cannot say, it’s a prime example of the sense of deep melancholy that only occasionally comes to the fore on the album. Rice is a songwriter like no other in the music industry right now; less so “heart on his sleeve” and more throwing his heart at the listener, demanding that they feel his pain.

It makes him less accessible, surely; it’s no easy feat to listen to fifty minutes of raw, soundtracked emotion. But it’s worth getting used to; Rice’s unflinching honesty leads to powerful music that rewards those who persevere.

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Concert Review: Raglans Orla Conway Raglans have been quickly making their mark on the music scene. The four piece have been making a name for themselves over the last few years and have been busy building up a strong fan base in Ireland and the UK. After a European tour supporting The Fray, and a few shows in New York they are back to play to their hometown crowd at The Grand Social. After Josh McClory of The Strypes warms the crowd up with his acoustic set, Raglans take to the stage.

2014 has been a huge year for the band, and tonight just shows how far they’ve come. With the crowd screaming back lyrics from start to finish, crowd surfing and just general madness, the fans seem just as happy as the band that they’re back.

Their collection of Indie folk rock songs never fail to get the

Run The Jewels 2 Run The Jewels Gavin O'Driscoll Hip hop has always been a polarised genre of music. These days, hip hop is either glamorous or too crass for the mainstream. Taking a shot at the area between (glamorous AND offensive), Run the Jewels are stepping forward with their second album, the predictably-titled Run the Jewels 2.

The lasting impression of 'Run the Jewels 2' is that it is a furious album; furiously loud, offensive but incredibly original. This is a theme which doesn’t exist in a handful of songs but in every line throughout. The bass in the opening track, Jeopardy is vicious, building slowly from the very start. If you are ever going to liken El-P and Killer Mike to the older hip hop artists, it will be during this track. Making references to Chuck D and Malcolm X, the track is militant and controversial, bold to the bone. ‘Blockbuster Night 1′ is a stunning track with a growling bassline that actually blew out my headphones and nearly deafened me.

Run the Jewels are taking no prisoners on this album, claiming that “the fellas at the top are probably rapists”. In some ways, they nearly go too far in their crusade to offend everyone but therein lies the album’s strength. It hates everyone

crowd going. Their high energy show also includes covers of Macy Gray’s I Try and Weezer’s Island In The Sun, both interesting cover choices as always, and both go some way to explain why it’s difficult to really define the band in terms of a certain genre. Latest single White Lightning goes down a treat as an upbeat song with relatively serious lyrics. That’s the band in a nutshell though, happy sounding songs with lyrics that tell a story of something often much more serious. As well as that, songs like Down impress with harmonies and a signature mandolin sound.

They round off the show in style with the massive Natives and Digging Holes, accompanied by half the crowd on the stage. Both songs are electric sing-along tunes whose infectious and catchy melodies end the night on a high. As well as this, they throw an after party in The Grand Social which

and it’s one of those albums you should be listening to when you feel the same way. At the same time, it’s got an appeal which is difficult to pin down. Essentially, this is the sound of rap in the 2010s, fast and angry, drawing upon the repetitive auto-tune which dominates the airwaves.

Run the Jewels flex their muscles continuously, verbally abusing rappers, politicians and everyone in between.

It’s not all about the anger, however, and the duo produce a couple of tracks that you could almost call catchy. Lie, Cheat, Steal appears around the midpoint of the album with a glamorous, enticing chorus.

Collaborations also prove to be a major strength for Run the Jewels. BOOTS makes an appearance during the album highlight Early. The track is an extremely emotional offering and BOOTS’ haunting refrain suits it unusually well.

Blink 182’s Travis Barker also makes an appearance and, again, he brings something new and fresh to the song. All too often, rappers collaborate merely for the sake of having a big name on their album (I’m looking at you Kanye West) but 'Run the Jewels 2; uses other artists cleverly to bring a truly new sound to a particular track.

Throughout 'Run the Jewels 2' it’s strength lies in a refusal to rule out what so many other acts do. Most rappers opt for computerised drums and beats, ditching traditional guitar riffs as a result. But Run the Jewels embrace both sounds and take them in perfect measure. It sounds futuristic but always remembers hip hop’s origins back in the 80s. Early even features a sample from Pac-Man, highlighting their

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just shows how much they appreciate the fans that support their music. The night sees the band going around the bar chatting away to fans and friends and there’s no degree of separation between them and it’s this nice, humble way of being that sets them apart from so many bands around at the moment. I was excited to see them like this, in such an intimate setting because, as their star rises, it looks like these days might be coming to an end for the band All in all the night was a success. The set is filled with the expected memorable melodies, impressive harmonies and crowd pleasers. The show was one to remember and was very much made special and bittersweet by the feeling that this could be the start of something bigger and something new.

perfect tongue-in-cheek attitude.

'Run the Jewels 2' delivers one or two forgettable tracks but the rest are solid gold. This is precisely what hip hop should sound like in this day and age; edgy, irritable and borderline apocalyptic.

Read the full review on backbeforedark.org

fashion Milan Mania

ney Lennon, J.W. Anderson and Joanne Hynes have all applied this Italian approach to their current collections and have paired premium fabrics with tailoring of the highest of quality.

Muireann Dockery

On top of stellar tailoring, the Milanese population ensure that their daily attire is as ostentatious as the Italian language. Unceasingly à la mode, patterned skirts, statement sweaters, leather, polkadot and pleats take over the ladies wardrobes while men show off coloured socks and Italian leather brogues with ankle grazing trousers styled with a crisp shirt and coloured blazer.

Seeking inspiration from a city with over a century of fashion history couldn't be easier. It’s no surprise that Milan’s exquisite street style is so sublime that it has photographers practically drooling over its fashion scene. The clothes we wear today owe a great deal to Milan, as the Italian approach to designing, making and styling clothes has always veered towards simplicity and spectacular fabric. This approach has been slowly making its way into the Irish fashion scene as consumers begin to spend their hard earned cash on quality clothes and materials that will last for more than just one season. Both Irish designers and labels like Court-

Keep on trend and channel the italiani by choosing stand out coloured trenches, patterned socks, shirts and bomber jackets that you can throw on in a rush. Haven’t got the money for a JW Anderson sweater? Never fear, Penneys and Dunnes have an amazing selection of coloured coats and trousers at the moment that will keep you on trend

Annual Fashion Show: Insubordinate - Defiant of Authority Byrne Hacking This term, Fashion Soc will be celebrating and commemorating historically marginalised groups under this year’s theme of “Insubordination” in the The Trinity Annual Charity Fashion Show in aid of Samaritans.

From the power-dressing of women’s suits to the radical nature of androgynous dress, the hippie flower-power to gothic & grunge subcultures, we will revel in the sartorial rebellion of marginalised groups in society.

Join us in The Generator, Smithfield as we find beauty in these times of angst where some act of insubordination was undertaken through fashionable dress in order to assert a rightful position in an oppressive society. Drawing inspiration from this concept, a spectacular show has been put together by the Trinity Fashion Society members.

As one of the most anticipated fashion events in the college calendar, the Trinity Fashion show will be followed by an onsite after party, late evening entertainment, drinks promotions, raffles, interactive art and lots more. The event takes place on the 26th of November and details of ticket sales can be found on the ‘Trinity Fashion Society’ facebook page.

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without having to live off beans for a month.

Floral and military trends were seen all over runways at Milan fashion week this year. Italian designer giants Versace, Prada and Balmain showcased looks which could easily be applied to our winter wardrobes after months of sunshine.

Get your money’s worth out of floral prints by pairing knits, textured gilets and tailored pants with floral patterns instead of packing them away for winter.

For those of us on a budget, the secret is in the accessories.

Be fashion forward for a shade of designer prices. Perk up an old dress with chandelier earrings or for a more subtle touch around campus, throw on a pair of sunglasses that will add an extra detail to your ensemble. ASOS, Topman and even charity shops always have reasonably priced sunglasses that will add style to any outfit while keeping your precious peepers shaded from the (albeit Irish) sunshine.

Farewell to a Fashion Legacy Carla King-Molina It is always difficult to accept that someone has left us. Last month was no different when we had to say goodbye to perhaps one of the most influential and admired fashion designers of our time. Famous for his fairy tale gowns, Oscar de la Renta finally lost out to his eight year battle with cancer, although his resilience during this time was astounding!

He completed amazing fashion week after fashion week and somehow managed to dress Amal Alamuddin on her wedding day. He may have left us but his designs and influence are no doubt embedded into fashion and culture for years to come.

The legacy Oscar de la Renta has left behind him is indescribable but nonetheless I will try. From garnering the December 1998 Vogue cover for Hillary Clinton and dressing everyone from Beyonce to Blair Waldorf, it is no doubt that de la Renta has left his mark on the world as a whole and not only the fashion world. Although he may have started out picking up pins at Balenciaga and proceeding to overstate his draping abilities to Lanvin, he quickly took rose out from the fashion world to become a valued friend to the women he dressed.

Mere weeks before his death he named Peter Copping as the new creative director of this now fashion house. It is not difficult to see why Copping was chosen, the previous creative director at Nina Ricci certainly has the style aesthetics to continue making de la Renta’s mark into the world. With plans to expand to leather goods and Asia, there is no doubt that Copping will leave his mark while doing what is best for the house. His ethereal designs have the power to make you stop in awe similar to the way de la Renta’s feminine evening gowns would make you freeze in your tracks.

Brighten Up Winter Leanne Stafford Thanks to designers like Alexander Wang and Joseph Altuzurra neon will stay on our radar all throughout F/W’s 2014 colour pallet. Such designers presented blocks of orange and splashes of fluorescent pink during this year’s F/W New York fashion week. This urban chic trend is yours for the taking, well, so long as you can avoid looking like a parody of an 80’s aerobic video.

There are so many ways to capture the neon trend even if these fluorescent hues don’t flatter your skin tone. Keeping it simple with a neon handbag or satchel is a fashion forward way of getting on board and completing a look without being overwhelming! Even Hermès have adapted these bold pops of colour to their Iconic Birkins!

Jewels and costume jewellery is becoming a bigger part of everyday street style. Capture this trend by adding a bright statement necklace to your classic LBD to create a simple but effective evening ensemble or add a splash of lime to your nails, an easy way to embrace the trend without creating any unfortunate rave flashbacks.

Moving beyond accessories, we’re taking inspiration from New York fashion week, where designers such as Alexander Wang, Altuzurra and Givenchy created neutral pieces with bold splashes of colour. When it comes to sartorial dres, mixing slices of neon with neutral colours is an eye-catching way to incorporate this trend.

Runways and the Red Carpet have proven that neon is here to stay. If you dare to make statement in a neon winter coat or an electric fluorescent dress, it’s okay to invest. We can rest assured neon is not a-one-season-wonder. Wearing an entire neon outfit,needs to be complemented with confidence. Sarah Hyland showed us exactly how to wear neon with sophistication and confidence necessary at the Emmy Awards in a vibrant floor length skirt by Christian Sirano.

Overall, don’t be afraid to stay bright through winter.

Whether it’s a simple splash of neon or if you want to light up the dance floor of Coppers; Neon is here to stay and we have it on good authority it’s going to stay haute.

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With Copping taking over and Oscar de la Renta’s past as inspiration, I have no doubt that this fashion house will rise from strength to strength. De la Renta may have said that fashion is always about looking forward but with a predecessor as marvellous as Oscar, could you not help but look back?

I will always remember his famed passion and drive, his reputation for his desire to satisfy his client and his ability to be the perfect gentleman. The fashion world, and indeed the world as a whole has lost an amazing player last month. He will be sorely missed by all who were lucky enough to know him and those like me who were lucky enough to be inspired by his work.

food & drink Vegans - Rebels with a cause Ciannait Khan Many sources broadly define veganism as the removal of all animal products from one’s lifestyle, particularly meat, dairy and eggs. While this is a good starting point, such a neutral understanding of the term underplays veganism’s more controversial role: a movement which calls for an end to society’s mass exploitation of animals. Veganism is rebellion in every single bite.

Vegetarians are generally catered for in restaurants and, while they are still highly susceptible to being labelled preachy and self-righteous, tend to garner considerable empathy. Vegans are almost a different kettle of faux-fishmade-from-soya altogether, however, with them being considered essentially unpalatable for one’s everyday tastes.

Despite the obstacles in public opinion, there is evidence that veganism’s popularity is rising. The term ‘vegan’ was only coined in 1944 and there are already eight million people in the U.S. who identify as vegans. I spoke to graduate

Hattie O’ Connell, a vegan of seven years, who believes that her choice to be vegan is simply her responsibility to society. Hattie is convinced that veganism is rapidly becoming more widely understood, especially with the increasing availability of high-quality vegan products. However, Hattie says “the hardest bit of veganism for me is the reaction you get from other people - a lot of non-vegans will jump to their own defense when they hear that you’re vegan, and will feel attacked”.

Trinity’s Tasty Twenty

To me, this resistance to veganism is simply a textbook case of society being reluctant to embrace major change, even if it is for the better. It seems unfathomable to us now that people scoffed at suffragettes for demanding that women have the right to vote, but this is not dissimilar to how many people treat vegans. The evidence that veganism is the direction we are headed in is plain to see. We treat our pet dogs as kings, yet disregard the exploitation and slaughter of 58 billion farm animals around the world every year. This is neither ethical nor sustainable for the environment. The uproar that ensues when we hear of cases of animal abuse proves that we feel very strongly about animal welfare, and ultimately want to minimise their suffering. I think it is only a matter of time before veganism will become accepted as the norm. However, it’s a natural stage in any radical social upheaval that rebellion is initially resisted by the majority.

Only when society’s perspective has shifted do we look back and say that the outspoken were ‘heroes’, rather than just frustrating dinner guests at the time.

Do you know what your fellow Trinity students eat behind closed (fridge) doors? Consider these 20 students food rebels, and here is a list of their secret but revolutionary food combinations. For any conservative eaters out there, consider it a list of thirty things to eat before you die.

Niamh O’Sullivan

Cheese and jam sandwiches Fenna Vom Hirschheydt, Drama Coca cola and milk (mixed) Cliona NíMhóghain, BESS Prosciutto ham, jam and cream cheese Julia Benn, BESS Rice and tomato ketchup, garlic and cheddar cheese Jessica Chambers, Science Honey and baked potatoes Karen Bobbett, BESS Gherkin and Nutella Emilie Nolan, Sociology and history Golden Nuggets cereal and cheddar (no milk) Síofra O’Toole, PPES

Wildflour Bakery: The “anti-cupcake” Robert Greene Attention to detail, experimentation, high-quality produce…just a few of the ingredients which distinguish artisan baker Kate Packwood’s audacious creations from the abundance of highly-processed, sugar-filled, fat laden ‘cakes’ on the market. Kate is a cake rebel. Following a degree in English literature, Kate ditched Shakespeare for scones and set herself a challenge: revolutionise the baking scene. Frustrated with the surplus of poor quality baked goods on the market (loaded with sugar, preservatives and pasteurised liquid egg and lacking in creative flavours), Kate set about capturing people’s imaginations.

Indeed, Kate has admitted to being on a “constant mission to create something extraordinary” which people either “love or hate”. She welcomes this polarisation of opinion, believing that it engages the customer with the product.

Her wild creations include “Whiskey Guinness” cake – Jameson whiskey, white chocolate and roasted nuts – and the “Breakfast of Champions” cake – Oat cookie, Irish berries, lemon curd and Earl grey madeleine. Of course, for less adventurous clients there are ‘safer’ options such as the dark chocolate, sea-salt and caramel brownie, a clever ploy to slowly wean people onto the more ‘exotic’ cakes.

And it seems her plan is working. As one admirer of her blog commented “the fact that you are not afraid to polarize

Chocolate Wheetos cereal and cheese (with milk) Dúigí Mercer, Philosophy Marmite and avocado Mia Partoloni, European Studies Marrowfat peas, potatoes and ketchup (mashed) Ellen Corby, Drama and Irish Cheese dipped in tea Fiona Campbell, PPES Sucking tea bags Frieda Bowe, PPES Tomato ketchup and pasta Ciarán Parker, BESS

with your flavour creations really struck a chord with me”.

Kate has also recently enjoyed very positive media coverage from the likes of Donal Skehan and The Irish Times, not to mention bagging the Bridgestone Award for the Best in Ireland 2014.

A lover of cake and bold flavour combinations, I headed to Love Supreme (Stoneybatter) to sink my teeth into one (or three) of Kate’s daring delicacies: “Breakfast for Champions”, the much loved dark chocolate brownie and the unusual chestnut, coco nib and pink peppercorn cake. Rich and moist – I can see why the brownie is so popular. As for the chestnut cake, I can imagine that opinions would divide.

Whilst the cake is sweet and moist, the peppery note at the end is unlikely to be everyone’s cup of tea. And then there was the “Breakfast for Champions”. This was my favourite of the three. The oat base was wonderfully crunchy and embedded with delicious dried fruits, the lemon curd was sweet and tangy and the Irish berries added a refreshing note. Kate’s “anti-cupcake[s]” were an exciting discovery.

So if you want a slice of the Wildflour Bakery’s “cakes with a difference” check out the Facebook page for WildflourBakeryDublin for a list of the suppliers in Ireland and let your rebellious side run free.

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Digestives and ham Ruth Hunter, Business and French Sauerkraut and rose petals Finnán Tobin, History Banana and rashers Jamie Mathews, Theoretical Studies Marshmallow and salsa Darragh Higgins, Philosophy Ketchup and salmon (smoked/fresh) Deirdre Moore, Classics and Drama Tuc crackers and brown sauce Fiona Briggs, Business and French Chipper chips (lots of salt and vinegar) and ’99 ice-cream (dipped) Cara Brophy, Drama and Classics

Rebellious Recipes Oskar Ronan

Chocolate Venison This dish takes advantage of some wonderful Autumnal produce. The combination of wild game and harvest season fruit has always been a classic, but here we break the rules by adding an extra layer of decadence in the form of a rich chocolate sauce! With a little care, this is quite a simple dish to pull off and it is sure to impress your friends and family.

Ingredients (Serves 4) For the Venison:

1 loin of venison

2 pears

1 orange (zest and juice)

1 large glass of red wine

50g good quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids) For the white bean purée

100g dried white beans

2 bay leaves

A sprig of rosemary

200ml cream

Bacon Jam Guaranteed to improve the flavour of any vegetarian dish.

Ingredients

Instructions

600g smoky bacon, finely chopped 2 red onions, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 65g brown sugar 150ml coffee 80ml red wine or sherry vinegar 110g honey 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon tomato purée 1/3 teaspoon cumin seeds 1/3 teaspoon coriander seeds 1 red chilli, finely diced (seeds included) A squeeze of lemon juice Olive oil

White bean purée:

Begin the night before by soaking the beans overnight in

water. The next day, drain the beans and place them in a pan

of fresh water and bring to the boil. Add the bay leaves and

rosemary and simmer until the beans are cooked.

When the beans are cooked, bring the cream to the boil in a

separate saucepan. Blend the beans and the cream together

until you have a silky smooth purée. Add milk to the purée if it

is still too thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roast Venison:

Peel, half and core the pears. Reserve the pear skin for the venison. You can cover the pear halves in lemon juice to pre

vent them from oxidising.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Season the venison

loin and fry it in an ovenproof pan over a high heat until well browned.

Add the wine and orange juice followed by the reserved pear

skin & orange zest.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the venison is

medium-rare. This may take longer in some ovens.

Remove the meat from the pan, and allow it to rest for up to

10 minutes before serving.

Savoury Chocolate Sauce:

Place the roasting pan back on the hob over a high heat.

Reduce the cooking liquid to a syrupy consistency, then

strain and whisk in a small knob of cold butter and the chocolate.

Serving:

In a frying pan, melt some butter and quickly fry the pear

halves over a high heat until golden.

To serve, dress the plate with a spoon of the white bean

purée, a pear half and a few slices of the roast venison. Spoon

over a generous amount of the chocolate sauce.

Instructions Pan fry the bacon in a large saucepan over a medium heat with a little olive oil until crispy (about 5-8 minutes).

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on some kitchen paper.

Fry the onions in the saucepan until soft (5-7 minutes) and then add the garlic for 2 minutes.

Deglaze the pan with some of the vinegar and the onion to extract all of the flavours from the pan.

Add the bacon back into the onion garlic mix.

Add in the sugar, coffee, vinegar, honey, paprika, spices, lemon juice and chilli. You can tailor the heat of the jam by adding more (or less) chillies if you want.

Simmer and cook until the whole thing is reduced and syrupy (around 30-45 minutes).

Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Use a blender to pulse the mixture into a coarse paste and serve at room temperature.

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film & tv tributed to my engagement. In the simplest and plainest terms I can write, Coherence is about a group of friends, characterized by complex and often resentful relationships, that organise a reunion during an evening when a comet passes overhead. The events that follow are ludicrous, puzzling and utterly horrifying as they struggle to investigate the things that go bump in the night.

Plot aside, all the other cinematic elements of Coherence successfully combine to produce a wonderful piece of cinema. The shaky, camcorder effect is admittedly overused in horror these days, but somehow the director uses this technique to enhance the realism of the film without it descending into a farcical, copycat Blair Witch Project.

The acting in Coherence is worth mentioning too because of its ostensible and, may I add, venerable reliance on improvisation. Many of the conversations that take place between the characters seem so authentic that I felt myself wondering if this was in fact a documentary. Their relationships with each other unfold in a myriad of unexpected ways and the tension that follows such reveals enhances the drama of it all.

As well as that, the protagonist, played superbly by Emily Baldoni, is the most commendable of the cast. Through long shots and close ups, we gain such an intriguing insight into her character that her development is rendered more believable.

Coherence Lee Jones

Coherence is one of those rare gems in film that grabs me by the shoulders and refuses to let me go until the credits start rolling. As a relatively small budget sci-fi flick, my expectations were understandably low. However, it is solely because of its lack of CGI (which we as movie-goers have come to expect from this genre) and its rotation between two central sets that makes Coherence fantastically terrifying.

I, for one, knew nothing about the plot of this movie before I watched it and in retrospect, I definitely believe my ignorance con-

Interstellar Paul Martin An epic tale of human survival and morality. While Interstellar has its problems, it is a visually stunning and thought-provoking film from one of Hollywood’s most artistically ambitious and adventurous directors.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is one of the most anticipated films of the year, coming from one of the biggest directors in cinema.

Co-written by his brother Jonathan this big-budget, star-laden science fiction epic is typical of Nolan’s projects, driven by ideas and conceptualism. The unlikely partnership between production studios Paramount and Warner Bros. shows the attraction to Nolan as a director and to his latest project. Shot in a combination of 35mm and 70mm IMAX formats, Interstellar is a visual and technical masterpiece. While Nolan tries to place humanity at the heart of Interstellar, in the end, it is the cinematic beauty which ultimately impresses.

Human life on earth is on its last legs. Crops are failing due to a plague known as ‘the blight’, and society has invested all its resources on survival. Farming is the path for almost all school children.

They are taught that the moon-landings were a hoax as those in power seek to remove any sense of human achievement in an attempt to stunt desire for advancement and progress. The world has been pushed to its limits and humanity needs to survive, nothing more. This forces the government to push NASA underground and out of the public eye while working to find another solution to mankind’s impending extinction. Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, must lead a mission beyond our solar system, dealing with black holes, warping space-time and human emotion.

In typical Nolan fashion, a lot of time is invested in character development, and as the relationship between Coop and his young daughter Murph (played by Mackenzie Foy, and later by Jessica

Chastain and Ellen Burstyn) is explored, a weakness begins to appear in the Nolan brothers’ writing as there seems to be some sense of humanity lacking from the script. This is however rescued by astonishingly emotional performances from both McConaughey and Foy, working brilliantly to add power and depth to the relationship.

Anne Hathaway’s role as Brand, one of the mission’s crew members is perhaps under-written, as she enters the film while the focus shifts towards the task at hand and away from the characters.

As the ship takes off, so does the film. Nolan’s genius and ambition really comes to light when exploring ideas about humanity as a whole, rather than depicting the nature of a single human relationship. As Interstellar reaches space, the film comes into its own, showcasing the most beautiful space imagery in cinema since Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. Accompanied with a score from long-time Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer, the beauty and ambition of Nolan’s film-making comes to life. Breathtaking IMAX sequences as space ships pass planets and approach wormholes will leave you in absolute awe at Nolan’s vision and determination.

That is not to say that Interstellar is lacking in narrative substance.

As the film begins to tackle ideas of morality (partly explored through an excellent performance by Matt Damon), time-perception, and survival, as well as developing an intriguing and exhilarating plot, Interstellar’s second and third acts comprise a beautiful, emotional and thought-provoking epic spectacle. The fact that the writing may come up short when trying to explore human relationships doesn’t matter. Interstellar is almost a masterpiece, almost.

Nolan is one of the most ambitious and far-reaching directors incinema, and even if he reaches for some things not quite in his grasp, McConaughey and Foy still provide a sincere and heartfelt bond in which to root this truly spectacular and gargantuan story.

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In a way, Coherence reminded me of the geeky TV show Doctor Who because of its imaginative style and heavy focus on human interaction. The sci-fi elements, while omnipotent throughout the film, take a backseat when compared to the overall tone of terror that is more characteristic of the horror genre.

By the film’s close, I was short of breath and my mind was reeling with the inconclusive, but irresistible, ending scene. Four days later, I am still struggling to rid the music score and the characters’ faces out of my brain, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a definitive sign of an entertaining movie.

The Imitation Game Emmet Kearns

The Imitation Game is a deeply stirring and unforgettable British historical drama encircling the life and death of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), a genius mathematician who changed the world by decrypting the Nazi Enigma code during World War II. Through his school years at Sherborne we are introduced to both the exciting intellect of Alan Turing but also the forces and relationships which inspired the man he was to one day become. The foremost focus of the film – Turing’s prolific military service at Bletchley Park – embodies the enduring ostracism this jolly old chap was inescapably subjected to.The feature is recurrently narrated by Turing himself from the confines of a police interrogation, which leads to the concluding scenes of Turing’s sentencing and the emotional aftermath of the events. The Imitation Game shares a dull pain as we learn of Turing’s secretive, world-changing contribution to allied war efforts and the bleak reward he suffered.

Despite the prevailingly dark overtones while leaping between three whittling periods of Turing’s life, The Imitation Game manages

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Darragh McGarty

The film is fast-paced and exciting but just doesn’t feel right. After having watched them as a child one would presume a film about the four troublesome turtles would target a younger audience, alas, this is not the case. The idea of four crime fighting turtles led by a human-sized rat (Master Splinter) is for some unknown reason aimed at teenagers and adults, perhaps this is due to the involvement of Michael Bay as a producer. This aside, the film isn’t all that bad. The action is fast paced and in particular the chase involving an arctic truck, rocket fire and a snowy mountain side give the film a sufficient and easy to follow storyline. Can one really expect more from Jonathan Liebesman, a man who has previously directed Wrath of the Titans (2012) and Battle Los Angeles (2011). These films, although undoubtedly good, are certainly cut from the same cloth.

The plot brings a modern twist to the classic story for which the

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to convey fleeting moments of witty comedy.

The on-screen relationship with Joan Clark (Keira Knightley) delivers a captivating depiction of a unique bond sculpted through mutual isolation and misunderstanding in a world which fails to appreciate their inherent brilliance. Although The Imitation Game raises issues with the closed-mindedness of the era however, there remains a sense of shying away from a deeper exploration of the issue of Turing’s sexuality, preferring to gloss over the details in favour of lighter drama.

Despite this, Cumberbatch excels as an impeccably logical but misunderstood prodigy and his portrayal of Turing’s internal struggle with his forbidden sexuality raises questions concerning societal prejudice on a universal scale. The Imitation Game wonderfully signifies the harm xenophobia causes, and the ultimate detriment to progress is eternally echoed in the final heart-wrenching scenes as we bear witness to the appalling punishment Turing suffers at the hands of the nation he saved.

writers must be commended. As usual ‘Shredder’ and his foot clan are wreaking havoc; controlling not only the men on the ground but also politicians and policemen alike. When it seems all is lost these most unlikely heros make themselves known and alongside channel 6 news reporter April, an uninspiring Megan Fox, try to wrestle back control of the city and halt their devastating plan. Unexpectedly the film wasn’t very dark and remained quite ‘PG’ throughout, obviously excluding the consistent theme of violence. Michelangelo brings touches of humour here and there but nothing sufficient to make one laugh out loud. Overall I feel that the potentially prosperous story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles does not quite reach the levels all nostalgic fans had hoped for and this will be reflected in the box office returns.

literature SEX, DRUGS AND DIRTY DUBLIN Julianne Flynn sits down with novelist, essayist and Trinity graduate Rob Doyle to discuss the success of his visceral debut novel ‘Here are the Young Men’. The result is an enlightening and thought-provoking conversation; getting to the heart of the young Irish male psyche.

Jean Paul Sartre and Kafka as some of his key literary influences. ‘I’m interested in fiction infused with ideas, not necessarily philosophy in its dry, academic sense but real life ideas. When I write that comes out naturally and a lot of that gets filtered through Rez’.

Honest, wise and opinionated. Rob Doyle, in the best possible sense, doesn’t hold back. His novel ‘Here are the Young Men’ addresses taboos, hitherto unexplored in Irish literature, which are hushed by politicians and ignored by parents. ‘Here are the Young Men’ says Doyle ‘is a novel set in Dublin in 2003, which is about a bunch of hard- drinking, drug-abusing, fairly disturbed young lads. They’ve just finished their Leaving Cert and fall under the sway of their psychopathic friend Kearney. He’s an addict of internet porn, media violence and brutal video-games. The Iraq war is just kicking off and it’s giving him all sorts of ideas about violence. As the summer progresses, his acts get more disturbing and more extreme. Eventually hell breaks loose on the streets of Dublin.’

9/11, jihadi, terror, cruelty, alienation; these are not polite dinner party conversation. This is not a story about good triumphing over evil; there are no overarching morals to be sought. It’s a story drenched in human pain and urban decay, with parallels to ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Trainspotting’.

It touches on the blur between reality and fantasy in an unsettling way: ‘He kept seeing flickers in Julie of film-sex, responses downloaded from beautiful actresses. It was the over-eager way she contorted her body, the hyperbole in her whispered incitements and dirty words. He felt like he was having sex with a hologram’.

However, there’s more to the book than mere shock tactics.

It’s what goes on beneath the surface that both intrigues and informs the reader. ‘Yes, it’s provocative and extreme but there’s a real human heart to it. That’s what people are responding to. People who are shocked by the content are won over by the fact that this it is fundamentally about human suffering’, says Doyle.

Doyle, who holds a first-class honours degree in Philosophy and an MPhil in Psychoanalysis from Trinity College Dublin, is clearly a deep thinker, keen to pass on the gift of knowledge. The book is prefaced by a quote from Emil Cioran and saturated with Nietzschean ideas. Doyle lists Albert Camus,

The books greatest insights come from Rez, a character actively exploring nihilism, who’s lost in the turmoil of our modern age, obsessed by ‘the end of reality,the impossibility of love, the brutal and pitiless character of existence’. He finds himself looking at the Dublin nightlife scene like a cultural time freeze, devoid of any meaning: ‘all the music that came out years ago. It’s like the epiphanies of other generations. They came from times when things meant something.’

Rez, says Doyle ‘is a young guy having an existential crisis as so many people do at seventeen or eighteen, or at any age. Many people relate to him which I like, because I relate to him too. When I was that age, I was just one of those intense, unhappy guys’ ‘More men between 18 and 25 kill themselves in Ireland than in any other country in the world- apart from Norway’, Jen, one of the few female characters points out. While this is a work of fiction, there is a startling truth to that figure: suicide rates among young Irish males are amongst the highest in the EU. ‘It’s an excruciatingly difficult time to grow up in the Western World’ says Doyle.’ We’re living in an age of massive moral and social upheaval/ in this ruined landscape of the old values and the old religion. There’s confusion and I think it leads to all sorts of casualties- people getting hurt, people having breakdowns, people getting depressed, committing suicide. Like the lads in this book, people are looking for different ways to omit this anxiety- they take drugs, they drink themselves numb, they watch pornography, violence. I think there is something brutal and frightening in the modern world that we all have to deal with. I don’t think the world was ever a particularly romantic place to live, despite what Hollywood tells us, human existence has always been fraught with peril and adversity- but we’ve used myth, spirituality, art, literature, religion and so on to take the edge off.’

One of the greatest characters is Dublin itself. The Celtic Tiger is roaring with no signs of decline, ‘Generation Emigration’ is unheard of and there is full employment. Doyle exposes this facade and shows ‘New Ireland’ for all its filth and glory, depicting the ‘vomit-splattered streets of Temple Bar’ and the ‘grimy fringes of the city’. The characters feel alienated from Dublin, describing Trinity College as ‘all stern and proud like some hostile alien fortress’. They feel stuck in limbo with no way out and nowhere to turn to. ‘These are interesting times, especially in Ireland. Old values which persisted for hundreds of years have disappeared and all very rapidly. Until the 90s, the Catholic Church was more or less dominant in this country but it all fell apart and there’s a void there. A lack of a clear vision of life, anyone who doesn’t adhere to the old values is confronted with this question of how do I live? What do I believe in? And you kind of have

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to make it up as you go along. The world offers more of a nihilistic void and everyone is affected by it, whether they think of it in these philosophical terms or not. Everyone is enduring this same crisis of values. One of the things this novel is about is a society without the firm over-arching moral backbone and one thing that religion does provide, not just for the individual but society as a whole, is a clear moral vision and a set of values which everyone can abide by. And largely speaking, we don’t really have that anymore.’

Dublin has a long history of heroin abuse and more noticeably, in recent years, homelessness. Often these issues are affected by one another and it’s a problem even the most ignorant can’t ignore. Through the harrowing character of Kearney, we gain an insight into Ireland’s societal prejudices in an abrasive and unsettling manner; ‘There’s a hatred of the underclass. They are feared and despised. Drug addicts are spat on. They’re treated subhuman. This hatred is barely below the surface. It’s not even considered politically incorrect to say ‘those fucking knackers. Someone like Kearney is acting out in an extreme way to these impulses of what, unfortunately, a lot of people are saying or thinking.’

It’s been a good year for Rob Doyle. ‘Here are the Young Men’ has received glowing reviews, most noticeably from The Sunday Times: ‘God may be dead but a new literary star is born’, he’s been nominated as ‘Best Newcomer’ in the Irish Book Awards and Bloomsbury swept in to buy the publishing rights, with the book now being published in UK, India, Australia and set for the US in 2015. But this was no overnight success. After completing his masters, Doyle left Ireland at 23 and spent years living and working in Asia, India, Italy and South America, ‘it was one of the best things I ever did, it did change my perception of Ireland- of everything.

While I was there, I was writing like crazy. ‘Here are the Young Men’ took four years to write. I put the writing before everything else. I even put it before relationships. There were consequences to that but I don’t regret it. You realise this is number one for me and anyone who comes into my life has to recognise that and they kind of do’ (laughs) You get a sense that the Doyle you meet is a lighter character to that of his former self, graciously enjoying his new found success; ‘Writing is the the most massively fulfilling thing I can do, it’s the thing that makes me feel most alive.

For this novel, I didn’t spare myself, I decided I was going to go into the most painful, darkest place and frankly I think that’s why it works. My take on it is that in the human social world, we’ve all got these selves which we erect and these egos, and a lot of that means concealing the pain, loss, anxiety, dread. Literature is one of those forums where you can go into other people’s souls and lives and realise everyone suffers, everyone has pain and flaws. I think the great human experiences are universal- we’re all born to die, all our bodies are going to decay, we’re all in some way harrowingly alone. We’re all suffering; full of confusion and chaos as to how we even came to be in the universe so you may as well speak from a place of honesty.’

societies

HEAVY HITTER WORDS | Clementine Yost ILLUSTRATION | Carys Wright Climbing the blue linoleum of the Sports Centre stairs felt like Rocky Balboa tackling the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I was ready to meet the DU boxing club (well not completely ready, those stairs really wear you out!)

For our practise that evening we were made to do continuous cardiovascular activity for an hour straight. While usually the idea of an hour of intense physical training would terrify me, I was determined to not make a complete fool of myself. In the end, I almost died. Burpees sound like a cute word, but I can assure you they are not.

After running all around the ancillary hall, I met with Gemma McGee, the ladies boxing captain. Originally joining for fitness, Gemma is still boxing 2yrs later. It must be fun then.

Except is getting punched in the face actually any fun? If you’re good, it won’t happen too much. Or so they say.

Gemma said that while her mom supports her interests, she’d rather her daughter didn’t box, and apparently constantly says, “don’t hurt your pretty face.” Aisling claims her dad is worse, refusing to come to the matches for fear of watching his daughter be clocked in the noggin. Although he likes seeing photos of her knocking the competition down, he too says, “don’t do it, your face is too pretty” but Aisling replies, “I can be successful without a pretty face.”

Fuck stupid anachronistic beauty standards.

Does Gemma ever feel like a badass? (Yes) While she pondered her answer, Aisling interrupted, enthusiastically vouching for her captain. O Captain! My Captain! I mean that right there was reason enough for me to join. Finally, I could realize my dreams and end my lifelong pursuit of being a badass. I could finally ditch my loser alter ego and join their project of Mayhem. However, being hit in the face really does throw a spanner in the works.

Importantly, I discovered that the entire boxing club watches Rocky together. How sweet. A bunch of fighters gathering round with swollen faces and bloodied knuckles to relish the magnificence of Sylvester Stallone.

Apparently, as wild as they are in the ring- which mind you is pretty damn wild- they are told to be even wilder on the nights out, especially varsities. As anyone who has ever played or even supported a sport at Trinity should tell you, we are in it for the lash just as much as for the rosettes and trophies. Now take your head out of the gutter and imagine the boxing club in their finery in a hotel in the country after their storied varsities. Unfortunately, I can’t even tell you what happens. And no, you really cannot talk about the fight boxing club. Also, according to our intrepid leader, Ms. McGee, they get hit in the face so much that they honestly can’t recall what happened. So, when I asked her what her favourite memory of boxing club was, she really couldn’t tell me. (Anti-climactic)

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But a fight in the ring is a different story. The DU boxers just wanna go the distance. Their next event is Juniors on 5th December and it ain’t gonna be no rematch! I asked her if she wanna fight the fight? She said “yeah, I’ll fight the big fight.”

But before you go off and think that they’re just a bunch of rebels without a cause, know that at the end of a long day of lectures and intermittent library prison sentences, she, our captain McGee, finds boxing to be quite meditative. Although, she said, “it’s hard on the head,” as there’s so much to think about and a gloved fighter’s right there, poised, and I feel I’m going to “get my face kicked in.” Basically, when someone is about to hit you in the face, it becomes all you can think about.

I asked her the most important question. Has she ever been cut in the ring? You know, when the ringside medic has to slice open your swollen hematoma-ed face with a handy dandy scalpel and let the puss out? Cute. Or when the medic has to intervene on your face to get you to stop bleeding all over the shop. Fortunately, Gemma has never been cut in the ring. Although she says the lads are always getting injured, with the reason being their training gloves are 16oz and their competition gloves are 10oz, making them fight harder and swing faster. All you could ever want in a fighter.

Go on, fight like a champ. But don’t stop their fight. They’ll kill ya.