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CENSORSHIP: THE RISE OF GUERILLA THEATRE PAGE 5
DRAMA SOC 50 YEARS
BLIND DATE
SUMMER SHOOT
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BOOKS Top Summer Reads: A World Beyond Exams
WHAT’S ON?
We asked you what titles are waiting on the top of the pile ready for some post-exam or post-essay indulgence. There’s nothing like reading for pleasure and it’s a luxury that’s thin on the ground in the lead up to the summer term. Show off your latest dustjacket as you catch some rays on campus and contemplate the summer ahead... Selina Pope “Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is meant to be really good.” This famous book by a Nigerian author takes you to the world of the Igbo people in the late nineteenth century. Helena Horton “Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging. No, not really, although that would be a welcome break from Consequentialism right now! Teen fiction is one of my guilty pleasures after hardcore revision. My aunt gave me a book called The Feminist Promise by Christine Stansell for my birthday last year, so true to stereotypical feminist form I will probably read that.”
Zena Jarjis “I’m reading This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz at the moment because I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for my dissertation and loved it! The tone of these stories is similar to that of Oscar Wao, but there’s more of a focus on the narrator’s love life rather than the history of the Dominican Republic.”
Callum Shannon “Probably A Thousand Splendid Suns because I loved Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and everyone says it’s even better!” This novel relates the story of two Afghan women, a mother and daughter, and is set during the rise and fall of the Taliban.
DramaSoc: You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (16.06.14) On the 16th of this month, DramaSoc invite you to a show like no other. You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown differs from DramaSoc’s usual performances of grit and hardiness with its musical vibes and light-hearted premise. Though commonly a popular choice for amateur theatre, the controlled and intelligent environment of York’s own acting society is sure to show a fresh and innovative approach to the 1967 classic. With its regularity of musical numbers such as Suppertime and Happiness, this show promises to have you in high
We also recommend... Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is another Nigerian writer whose most recent novel Americanah is flying off the shelves. We predict it to be a major prize-winner!
Maddi Howell
TV Vision speaks with the creators of YSTV’s newest sitcom Union, Tom Woffenden and Kieron Moore. What was the inspiration for creating Union? Tom: I always had the impression that not many people really know what a student union actually does. We all know it’s there, but when you hear that turnouts are dismally low or people can’t even name a full time officer, it suggests a disconnect. Kieron: What Tom said, really. It’s a great concept that hasn’t been done well before and is perfect for student TV. Plus I’d never written series comedy before, only one-off scripts, so jumped at the opportunity to try my hand at it.
Are any of the characters based on real people? Tom: Nice try, but no! We wanted to research thoroughly, though, before we began, as this was an area of life Kieron and I knew nothing about. We spoke to some Student Union big dogs including Kallum Taylor, Charlotte Winter (ex-York Sport President) and Nick Hall (ex-Union Chair). Research turned out to be essential as little nuggets from our chats became incorporated into the script, such as a student complaining about a broken hot tap. Kieron: Of course not. Especially not Chris
YSTV: Interview Wall. Or Kallum Taylor. Or Narghoul the Dread-Slayer.
What’s the best thing about producing a show just for students and why? Tom: It makes it more relatable, hopefully. This is a comedy about students, for students, by students. Kieron: It makes me respected among my peers and so turns me into a socially functioning human being. Well, that was the hope.
If you could work on any TV show in the world, what would it be and why? Tom: With the degree out of the way I’ve finally got round to watching Game of Thrones. It’s such a damn good show. TV belongs to the writers and for me it’s up there with shows like Breaking Bad and The Wire. Kieron: Doctor Who. I have my first series planned out for when I take over from Steven Moffat. No, I’m not telling you.
What advice would you give to aspiring student producers? Tom: There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, but don’t forget about your degree! I’m incredibly proud of Union particularly how we made as much content as we did. Kieron: Forget about your degree. Your degree isn’t important, every graduate has one. What not every graduate has is a sitcom that they’ve produced.
How did making Front Row differ from making Union? Tom: Front Row (my film review show) was a hell of a lot easier to make. It required only myself, a guest, one or two crewing, and City Screen York for location. Union has been far more stressful – sorting locations, casting actors, filming over weekends. It’s been immensely rewarding.
Nouse or Vision? Tom: The Yorker. Kieron: Vox.
spirits.
HistSoc Summer Ball (12.06.14) The HistorySoc Summer Ball is not to be missed. The inclusivity of the event means anybody – including you – can join the society and attend. With a Red Carpet theme, HistSoc invites students to dress up in their most lavish dresses and majestic tuxedos. The venue, Lowther, described by the society as seemingly like Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles, will be selling cheap drinks and student friendly prices all night. Tickets currently stand at £9.50 which includes a delicious buffet and photography, so snap them up before they themselves become history (if you’ll pardon the pun).
York Student Cinema: 300: Rise of an Empire (13.06.14) 300: Rise of an Empire is a film of power, tragedy and explicit knife-to-the-throat gore. With its recognisable slo-mo and impressive visual effects, this film extends the new age of CGI-induced film making. With tickets at the regular £3, there really is no excuse to miss this. Disclaimer – not for the faint hearted.
GoodFest (14.06.14) The highly anticipated free, on-campus festival hosted by Goodricke College finally kicks off this Saturday. Among those classic festival treats such as burger vans and a 100ft inflatable assault course (standard), the college boasts headline acts such as Sons and Lovers, and Coasts. Probably set to be the largest event on campus that is completely free to all York students, so you may want to check this one out…
PantSoc do Pantahontas (13.06.14) PantSoc strikes again, this time in the shape of Pocahontas! Yes, Disney fanatics will be happy to know that Pocahontas is next on the list of campus pantos, a story that inspires music, romance and drama. The show kicks off on the 13th, with performances on the following two days also, giving you multiple opportunities to make it to the performance. Come to Vanbrugh Dining Hall at 7pm (3pm on 14th and 15th) and experience this wonder of an event!
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IN THIS ISSUE 2
- Top Summer Reads - YSTV Interview
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- The Evolution of the Great British Villain - Belarus’ Freedom Theatre
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6-7 8-9
- Whatever Happened to Hangover TV? - 50 Years of Dramasoc
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14 - 15
- Destination Dining - Tastes of the World
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- Gaming Worlds – A Tourist’s Guide
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- Fuck The Police - The Pirate Ship is Sinking
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- Blind Date
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18 A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS Hi again! Summer is looming and so we have equipped you with a pull-out that celebrates the coming of this much-needed break. We are truly grateful to all our team and contributors for their hard work – we hope that you are able to see how much it has all paid off this year. Writing for Vision isn’t always easy but we’ve had a fantastic time working as Scene Editors. We hope you enjoy this issue just as much as we enjoyed making it; and we’ll see you next term with a fresh new edition.
- The Horror of Hologram - No More Heroes
SCENE TEAM Scene Editors Charlie Benson Tim Douglas Music Editors Milo Boyd Mairead Kearins
Deputy Film Zoe Bennell Michael Cooper
Books Editor Maddi Howell
Tech Editors Costas Mourselas Adrian Horan
Deputy Stage Megan Johnston
Deputy Music Martin Waugh Louisa Hann
Life&Style Editors Selina Melissa Pope Izzi Graham
Deputy Books Phil Watson Becky Boyle
Deputy Tech Michael Cooper Tom Davies
Food Editors Jim Dee Liza Parker
Film Editors Will Addy Sam Stockbridge
Deputy Life&Style Maddi Howell
TV Editors Zena Jarjis Tom Davies
Stage Editors Will McCurdy Anthony Rickman
ON THE TWEET... Lena Dunham @lenadunham
The Paris Review @parisreview
Hayley Williams @yelyahwilliams
Was late to Kimye wedding so had to walk around Italian streets for hours. Was cat-called within an inch of my life. Now eating a hoagie.
“When I’m writing, I am trying to figure out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of.” - Maya Angelou.
heads up, Atlantis poolgooers!! i accidentally dropped some almonds from my super-high-up balcony. they’ll be landing any second now. #sorry
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The Evolution of the Great British Villain By William Addy
aguar have recently released a new advert highlighting the prominence of British actors when it comes to playing Hollywood villains. Now, in these films the hero may get the girls, the glory and the witty one liners, but they are nothing without a crazed supervillain to pit themselves against. But the nature of these villains can be just as complex and varied as the heroes themselves, so I’m here to talk about how the art of cinematic villainy has changed over the last 70 years. There are plenty to choose from but we’ll kick the list off with Christopher Lee, and his performance in Dracula (1958) as the Count himself. The film, often described as the definitive adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, was a horror masterclass and helped put Lee on the map as a fantastic actor. Over the next decade, however, the depth and complexity audiences had come to expect waned, and Hollywood villains became little more than a one-dimensional sounding board for the hero to kill. These can still be entertaining though. For instance, Donald Pleasence as the definitive Bond villain Ernst Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967). There have been many incarnations of Blofeld, but Pleasence tops them all with his trademark scar and white cat – you just can’t stop the hairs on your neck from prickling. Next we have Laurence Olivier’s outstanding performance as the former Nazi Dr Christian Szell in Marathon Man (1976). While the film itself can be a little clunky and self righteous, Olivier shines through, much to our discomfort. What self respecting villain list would be complete without Alan Rickman? This time portraying continental super douche and professional terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988) and famously meeting his end after Bruce Willis drops him out of a skyscraper. This, of course, paved the way for Jeremy Irons to seek revenge as Simon Gruber in Die Hard 3 (1995). At the end of the 1980s, Hollywood began to realise the potential in their villains once again, and one of the first to sport this new style was Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991). His harrowing portrayal has left its mark on audiences everywhere. Despite not being the main antagonist, Hannibal relishes the opportunity to mess with a young FBI agent trying to solve another case. Not every bad guy has to be a sadistic cannibal however, sometimes they can be something as simple as a lion. Jeremy Irons’ laconic drawl really brings Scar to life in the Lion King (1994). A jealous brother desperate for his chance to be king of the pride, Scar proves that all you need is a menacing British accent and a lust for power to destroy countless childhoods worldwide. Fast forward six years to the dawn of the gritty crime dra-
ma, we see Ben Kingsley play the terrifyingly psychotic Don Logan in Sexy Beast (2000). This perhaps marks a change in Hollywood; a preference towards more realistic villains. Audiences never truly believed there could be a real life Hannibal Lecter or Hans Gruber, but the grim London underworld hits a little closer to home and the possibility of a real Don Logan is far more uncomfortable. He also has the honour of being the only person to make Ray Winstone quake in his boots. In the same year we also see Christian Bale catapult Brett Easton Ellis’ Patrick Bateman into our collective conscious in American Psycho (2000). Everyone’s favourite Wall Street psychopath gets increasingly more erratic; killing and torturing randomly. Bateman is a truly unsettling character, a normal everyday investment banker on the outside, but a psychopathic, unfeeling killer on the inside – something that could be hiding inside anyone you meet. We now leave the terrifying realism behind, moving to the exciting world of comic book superheroes. Marvel comics are renowned for their complex storylines and character depth, so it’s no surprise that being played by Ian Mckellen, Magneto makes it as one the most interesting villains on the big screen. First appearing in X-Men (2000) he makes for a poignant reminder of what discrimination and prejudice can do to people, especially when they have cool mutant powers. As the series progresses you learn more and more about Magneto and his past, he begins to change from a powerful indiscriminate bad guy to a more relatable and human anti-hero, violently fighting for mutant rights because of the treatment at the hands of the Nazis as a child. This ever-changing perception highlights how characters who seem irredeemably bad at first can be just as easily empathised with as your heroes can. Leading finally to my favourite villain of the bunch; the loveable rogue Loki, played by Tom Hiddlestone for the first time in Thor (2011). Another Marvel masterpiece proving again that comics often provide the best and most complicated villains. Hiddlestone plays Loki wonderfully, highlighting both his good and bad sides. He is ambitious, power hungry and devious, but he also has a complex and intriguing back story. He has been lied to, cheated and mistreated by his ‘father’ Odin to say the least. If you ever want to see betrayal, anger, guilt, sadness and lust for power portrayed in one character, Hiddlestone’s Loki is the one for you.
Dracula - 1958 Christopher Lee Ernst Blofeld - 1967 Donald Pleasence Dr Christian Szell - 1976 Laurence Olivier Hans Gruber - 1988 Alan Rickman Hannibal Lecter 1991 Anthony Hopkins Scar - 1994 Jeremy Irons Don Logan - 2000 Ben Kingsley Patrick Bateman - 2000 Christian Bale Magneto - 2000 Ian McKellen Loki - 2011 Tom Hiddlestone
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Belarus’ Underground Theatre Scene elarus is Europe’s last dictatorship. 20 years ago, President Alexander Lukashenko rose to power after winning the election with a majority of 79% (and allegedly fixing the votes). Since then, the country has seen a major clamp down on free media. Belarus is also home to the last remaining KGB unit in Europe. They operate as hackers, and block any websites that broadcast information that is deemed inappropriate for Belarusian readers. And by that, I mean any website that isn’t completely in favour of an oppressive government. The arts have been a major victim of the clamp down, especially in the realm of theatre. Many artists, actors and directors have been arrested or even exiled for attempting to express in their art any kind of disillusionment towards the government. Natalia Kaliada is one such person. Along with her husband Nicolai Khalazin and their friend Vladimir Shcherban, in March 2005 they founded the Free Belarus Theatre. The Free Belarus Theatre is a theatre company seeking to make their experiences and the harshness of the Belarusian government known to the world. It is the only independent theatre company in Belarus not registered with the government and, with its 29 members, the company performs every week. The company’s work has been described as “Guerilla Theatre”, and is radical and politicised. As they wish to deal with darker issues such as suicide and sexual minorities, they often face a great deal of resistance from official theatres. Their production of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, for instance, was rejected by all 27 possible venues – because of this they were forced into performing their plays underground and in secret. All 29 of the company’s actors now live in hiding. There is undoubtedly a very large risk in performing these plays, not only for the actors, but also for the audience. Great precautions are therefore taken to ensure their safety. Plays are performed deep in forests under the guises of parties, Christmas celebrations, or even weddings. Audience members do not go straight to the venues either; they get texted a rendezvous location and are taken from there to the performance area. The company continues to perform under such extreme pressure and risk because it’s their only means of free expression.
now lives in London. When asked earlier this month on BBC World News’ HARDtalk how she could still maintain a commitment to the cause when exiled, she simply replied with “Skype”. She explained that as the directors either she or her husband would simply video call the actors over the internet, and being able to see them, they could direct with ease. Kaliada has highlighted what could become a key tool in her company’s mission to raise awareness – the internet. With it, the world can become a much more united place. The broadcasting of plays over the internet from venue to venue has become a common practice in certain theatres, and with this technology The Free Belarus Theatre may finally be able to achieve a rallying call for seismic political change. The National Theatre in London regularly broadcasts their plays, in a live-streaming service called The National Theatre Live. After five years of live streaming since its launch in 2009, their broadcasts have been viewed by over 1.5 million people in 500 venues in 38 countries around the world. Performances are filmed in front of a live audience, but cameras are placed all around the auditorium to ensure that the audience get “the best seat in the house”. The National Theatre Live acts as a convenient medium for those wanting to see top quality performances, but are unable to go to London to the actual theatre. A collaboration therefore between The National Theatre Live and The Free Belarus Theatre could spark the wave of awareness and action the company has been waiting for. A partnership between the two could move in a multitude of ways: potentially, The Free Belarus Theatre could adopt the medium of live streaming and increase their audience hugely on a worldwide scale. This would also mean a large portion of the audience would be in considerably less risky positions viewing plays. Alternatively, The National Theatre Live could start broadcasting to Belarus, and widen the scope of the theatre available to Belarusian audiences. A whole world of possibilities has opened up to The Free Belarus Theatre with today’s technology. It is now time for them to use it.
To raise awareness of the injustices of the Belarusian government, the company has travelled (or in reality, has smuggled itself) to other countries, especially ones that have similarly oppressive regimes, and have performed their plays there. They have performed in refugee camps in Morocco, Bangladesh and India.
Of course, right now this all may be impossible. The National Theatre Live may not want to jeopardize their reputation as a service by taking part in something that could potentially have them blocked in a country by their government. Or The Belarus Free Theatre may never get the chance to broadcast anything as they could also be hacked and blocked by the KGB.
In 2010, however, the company was invited to perform at The Young Vic in London, in an event organised by campaigning organisation Index on Censorship. They performed two plays, firstly Numbers, a play that explored modern Belarus through its statistics, such as: “13 model agencies, in collaborations with the Ministry of Culture sold Belarusian young women into sexual slavery”. Their second play was Discover Love, an emotionally driven piece about a couple torn apart by the regime. These performances were received with standing ovations, and were clearly effective in raising awareness.
But what we should take from this is the promise of the future and the direction in which we are heading. With the help of the internet, the arts and the theatre can overcome regimes and rally political upsurges. The Free Belarus Theatre already has a partnership and residency with Falmouth University in Cornwall where they can safely perform, so their reach is growing by the day. And you can help too – from seeing their plays to ‘housing an actor’, a service they offer on their website. To quote Natalia Kaliada, to stop the injustice of the Belarusian government, we must “stop talking, and just act”.
Three years ago however, Natalia Kaliada was arrested with her husband, and was eventually exiled. She
Anthony Rickman
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STAGE Our Drama society is about to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, and Vision has worked with the society to provide a profile of the celebrations. Read on to find out about what DramaSoc has been up to in the past few years...
50
YEARS OF DRAMASOC
Drama Society celebrates its Fiftieth Anniversary this year. Starting in Week Ten, they will be hosting a plethora of events to celebrate, including special performances, celebrity appearances and a charity auction. It’s a week that Drama Society Chair Zoe Biles hopes will be something very special, and is glowing with pride: “This really will show how far we’ve come since the good old days of 25 audience members in Central Hall.” Among the treats in store is the return of the established tradition of ‘Play-InA-Day’ where we get to watch as an entire performance is created from the ground up; from writing the script, to rehearsal, to the final performance in the evening. This has been performed annually for the past few years,
and is always a hit with audiences. For all the vintage fans among us there will also be a Grease sing-along alongside a picnic during the day. On Thursday, we’ll be able to enjoy a look back on the history of the society, with a return of award winning playwright and York Alumnus Simon Stephens, writer of The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Nighttime, to his spiritual homeland. They will be going back over the history of the society and remembering many of its various highlights, in collaboration with ComedySoc, Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and CHYMS. As well as all this we will be getting a preview of all the upcoming shows which will be making their way to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. S h a k e s p e a r e ’s
comic classic As You Like It will be given a summer term reworking, in Derwent’s ‘The Quiet Place’ where hopefully they can make use of the unique atmosphere and natural surroundings to create an interesting and memorable performance. On the final day there will be a charity auction for all sorts of things that have been left in the Barn over the years, the members then celebrating with a final drink. However, the most exciting thing about the week is the introduction of an incredibly ambitious archival system. Every play performed, past and present, will be meticulously stored with detailed photographs and cast lists, so that fans and students alike can look back on their memories.
Zoe Biles, DramaSoc chair, talks about the celebrations
Photos: Tim Kelly
This year, York DramaSoc celebrates its 50th Anniversary: how far we’ve come since the good old days of 25 audience members in Central Hall. There is a lot to celebrate: the shows, the people, the progress. There have been over 300 plays performed within DramaSoc. For the last few years, the line up has been one show per week – that’s eight shows a term. Multiply this by two when including our fantastic Open Drama Nights. The range is amazing, and the quality impressive. DramaSoc is first and foremost, and has always been, a platform for people to quite literally perform, put on, write and produce whatever they want. Over the years, the people involved have been wide-ranging and extraordinary – everyone from Simon Stephens, Anthony Horowitz, Nick Payne and Greg Dyke himself have been involved with the society, going onto achieve illustrious and successful careers. The progress has been vast. The society is proud to fund the incredible work of independent student theatre companies at
the Edinburgh Fringe and other renowned theatre festivals. Incoming grants have meant constant work and improvements to our beloved Drama Barn, and have seen York host the prestigious International University Drama Festival. The 50th Anniversary, being held throughout Week 10, is a non-stop celebration commemorating the work of countless people. As well as numerous events, including an inter-performance society sports day, and our famous ‘Play-In-A-Day’, we will be holding a fantastic question and answer session with notable DramaSoc alumni, including Simon Stephens (playwright, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime). We will also be unveiling an incredible work in progress – an archival system mapping all the shows and members that have ever been a part of DramaSoc. This will allow current and leaving members to create their own profiles and chart their own time at York. The society is, essentially, a community of committed and extremely creative people who
– whether they watch plays, are part of them, write them, or direct them – have impacted upon the society and have allowed the society to be a huge part of their lives. Some will go on to be the next revolutionary faces of British theatre, some will never act again. Yet the continually growing and thriving society will aim to always be an integral part of university life. Here’s to the next 50 years.
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TV
FLUNKING OUT: the strange failure of american college tv Vision TV Editor, TOM DAVIES, takes a look at the consistent failure to succesfully bring college life to the US small screen...
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ollege is a peculiarly American concept. In this country, college is somewhere you went to do your A-levels if your school didn’t have a sixth form, your school did have a sixth form but you felt there wasn’t a high enough density of people who could lend you a rizla at lunch, or you did a trade BTEC or a radio production course. In America, as I’m sure you are aware, ‘college’ is what we call ‘university’. The cultural portrayals of it have raised it up to semi-mythical proportions. If you were to purely believe your television or films like Animal House, college for our cross Atlantic cousins is something akin to a kind of intellectual Gomorrah in which people converse entirely in inane chants and cries of “WOOOOOOOO COLLEEEEEEGE!” In Britain we portray our higher education system a little differently. As in all things, the British visual arts are dogged by self deprecation, self loathing and entrenched snobbery. On TV our only successful attempt at portraying university is Fresh Meat, from the people behind Peep Show. Which, like its spiritual predecessor, is lashed with faintly dark, often cringe-worthy humour, in which a cast of deeply flawed, occasionally downright unlikeable characters are foiled and embarrassed at every turn.
It’s hilarious, and I love Fresh Meat, but in the States, they do things a little differently. British television has never shared the American love of simplicity in its sitcom plots, having also shirked the wave of Friends “bunch of twenty somethings live in a big city” shows which have swamped US networks since the early noughties. In Britain, we feel like a show should have something more than just being “people at university” and, although we’ve never really tried the alternative, we’ve been proved largely right. The problem is that American college shows have never really worked out. College films like Animal House, Van Wilder, Revenge of the Nerds and the like are generally considered classics. The shows have names you’ve probably never heard of: Glory Daze, Undeclared and probably the only one to ever have a modicum of success, Greek. Unlike films which are more throwaway and require less commitment, they generally get no viewer base from people above college age; there’s just nothing there for them. Furthermore, college students themselves aren’t even tuning in because they’re already there. If they want to experience college they need only step outside. The main audience then is people who have yet to go but really want to, or by virtue of not being American are unlikely to, and thus enjoy the escapism the shows give them. Glory Daze and Undeclared were both one and done flops. Greek, which I love, similarly struggled in the ratings, but what it had which led to it being thrice renewed when so many before it failed was that it did provide something different. Greek gave a broader and more nuanced view of Fraternities and Sororities (which in themselves are probably the only genuinely unique concept in American college culture), following the trials and tribulations of members of not just the ‘party’ frat, but the obligatory rival ‘snooty’ frat and the ‘popular girl’ sorority (the trite punch
Whatever happened to hangover TV? In the early 2000s, hungover Saturday and Sunday mornings were bliss. Hungover students all over the country could wake up to Alexa Chung or Simon Amstell, who were probably hungover too, and spend hours watching Hollyoaks, The Simpsons or Friends. But at some point in the last five years, television completely gave up on the thousands of young people who spend every Saturday and Sunday morning lying on the sofa, downing coffee and cursing the day they were born. Every show which was designed to help us through the morning after a night out has been scrapped in favour of shows about old people cooking, old people moving house or old people riding horses. Why?! Why has television foresaken us?!
line, deep down we’re all the same). The show was also strongly lauded for its portrayal of an athletic, jock frat boy and ‘snooty house’ legacy coming out as homosexual in an environment in which latent homophobia is more or less par for the course. Other shows which succeeded to some degree like Felicity deviated from the Animal House ‘because college’ format by relegating the college aspect into just a setting for a story which was really about something else, in this case her endless whingeing.
“As in all things, the British visual arts are dogged by self deprecation, self loathing and entrenched snobbery” What this tells us is what we probably already knew. A TV show can’t just be a string of thematic, visually pleasing stimuli. Just designing a crop of ‘zany’ characters who complement each other, filming shots of them drinking out of red cups and having romantic misadventures, then arranging themes into something vaguely resembling a chronological order (which was basically what Undeclared and Glory Daze were) is not enough. Maybe the Brits are right on this one. I don’t accept that the British way of doing TV is intrinsically right. Sometimes I want to actually like the protagonists of a show. But ultimately a college show, like any other show, has to be about something more, otherwise it just feels empty. History tells us they’ll never thrive in the ratings, so they have to have a heart, a point and something to give the network executives a reason to renew them. Until the kind of people who make these shows realise that, those of us who wish Animal House was 200 hours long will continue to be disappointed.
THEN
NOW
From 2001-2007, Channel 4 brought us Popworld every Sunday morning, where we could watch Simon Amstell reduce Britney Spears to tears.
Now, we have Saturday Kitchen on BBC1, where we can watch middle aged men taunt us with recipes we will never be able to afford to make ourselves.
Remember T4? Remember when you had Shipwrecked, Friends, Desperate Housewives and Futurama to help you get through your hangover?
Horse racing: because every hungover person needs a reminder that, while they’re dying in bed, there are people awake and doing EXERCISE.
CD:UK encompassed everything that was great about Noughties weekend TV. Cat Deely, Ant, Dec, and music videos which required very little concentration. It was so perfect.
Escape to the Country encompasses everything that is terrible about today’s weekend TV. I’d rather escape to 2006, before CD:UK was taken from us.
Zena Jarjis
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MUSIC
The Horror of Hologram
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ecently, Michael Jackson has had more successes to add to his huge career. He got another number one album with second posthumous offering ‘Xscape’, making him one of the only artists to have a number one album in each decade of their career, and another top ten single with ‘Love Never Felt So Good’ featuring Justin Timberlake. However, the biggest achievement is the 3D hologram at the Billboard Music Awards performing ‘Slave To The Rhythm’. On a night that featured Robin Thicke’s embarrassing apology to his wife, and Kendall Jenner admitting she’s not a good reader, the performance was certainly the highlight. It was the result of over a year’s planning, filming and choreography – and it all paid off. With Michael’s famous dance moves and unique vocals present, it made a lot of people happy to see him as they remembered him. Yet it’s almost caused as much controversy as it has happiness, with many people claiming that the hologram is not of Michael Jackson but of an impersonator and by looking closely at the face it is clear to see why that is the case. In my opinion, this couldn’t be more disrespectful, especially to his family. Of course it wouldn’t be a physical embodiment for obvious reasons, but in all honesty you shouldn’t use an impersonator then claim it’s him, out of respect at least.
“The interaction with the audience made the hologram more realistic, yet more tragic” There has been a surge of fury over the actual video itself, with people claiming it differs from his usual style. It had elements of Cirque du Soleil and weird masked dancers that would not look out of place in Daft Punk, not something I, nor many fans, would associate with the King of Pop. He was in charge of everything in his videos from the filming to the choreography in his performances, and that performance would almost be a destruction of his legacy. It didn’t have the usual finesse of Jackson’s performances and, though the background of the animation had a slight resemblance to his ‘Remember the Time’ video, it was hard to see the similarities between Michael and the 3D image. It was almost like his legacy was being crushed – pretty devastating considering this was the highlight of a pretty boring awards ceremony. Jackson’s reappearance highly contrasts with the hologram of Tupac at Coachella festival in 2012. As one of the biggest music festivals in the world, Coachella is the perfect place to make a memorable performance, as people flock from all over the world to attend. Amongst a weekend that included Pulp reuniting for their American fans, the performance was the main attraction and was internet gold within minutes. Performing alongside Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, it was a rap fan’s dream. The interaction with the audience made the hologram more realistic albeit more tragic, as Tupac was cruelly taken before he could make this huge impact in a festival setting in his lifetime. By saying “What the fuck is up Coachella?” this animation was almost human and with the names
behind it (James Cameron’s imaging companies, by no means) it is understandable why. Unlike Jackson’s though, it wasn’t a 3D hologram but a 2D projection and was described as “genius”, considering he delivered material not performed in his lifetime like Jackson. His exit was as cool as his entrance by exploding into a ball of light, almost symbolic of his explosion of talent. Watching the animation reminds us of what a great talent Tupac was and now a lot of people like him because it’s cool and that he’s a tragic feature which for some unknown reason, is inspirational to the youth of today. With these hologram performances, the most disrespectful part has to be the fact that they perform material not known by their fans in their lifetime. Although this material can be good (Michael Jackson’s latest album is proof of that), they may not have wanted the material to go out. It may have been left off a record for a reason. It may have been associated with a person or a memory they want to forget about. Apparently in the case of ‘Xscape’, all the songs on the album was material that was considered for his other albums ‘Off The Wall’, Dangerous’ and ‘Bad’, but didn’t make the cut. There must have been a reason for this. Even if it’s the simple case of the track wasn’t good enough, it shouldn’t be released as material for a new album. The only thing which should be acceptable for a posthumous album to be released is if the album was complete while the artist was alive and they consented for the album to be released, similarly to a posthumous role in a film by an actor. Similarly, if there are animated music performances by dead musicians, why can’t the same be applied to actors when they accept a posthumous award? The reason it’s not done is because it is disrespectful to the families of the deceased. Talk about double standards. Although I am ultimately against the use of animation and holograms in music performances, there are some exceptions. Elvis Presley has often been reanimated in music videos with huge success. Unlike Jackson and Tupac, it is not overly creepy or disturbing because the animation consisted of footage that actually exists of him singing the songs rather than make a video just for one performance. He did a duet with country superstar Martina McBride on festive tune ‘Blue Christmas’, whilst he did a live performance of inspirational hit ‘If I Can Dream’ with infamous warbler Celine Dion on ‘American Idol’, a performance which has gone down in history. Although neither were intended to be duets, they worked perfectly well. If anything, it may have provided Elvis with a new fan base by the songs being re-released by current musicians so more people can hear the great music. That’s not sordid, that’s quite clever. Now, it’s unclear where we can draw the line in terms of hologram and animation. It seems acceptable to use holograms of dead musicians if it is going to be a talking point and a historic performance. Yet it seems like the eye-watering amount of money spent on these holograms and animations could be used to book huge living musicians rather than animating those who have already made their impact on the music industry.
Mairead Kearins
No more heroes utside of the comfort of our beloved student bubble, the real world is looking pretty bleak right now. We are in the midst of a seemingly never-ending recession, an unpopular government, a miserable job market, and an unsure future for our young people. For the first time in seemingly living memory, the omnipresent three party system is being threatened by rising forces, with UKIP having defied expectation and stormed the European elections in an unprecedented manner. The times are in fact a-changing. From where I’m standing, graduation is looking pretty scary. What are we going to do? Music has traditionally helped to represent social discontent. The protest song has always been a huge part of popular music. Music has helped battle homophobia, racism, sexism and be a great mechanism of social change. Looking back on history, it seems that popular music has been inextricable from politics. Some of the best music that the UK has ever produced has come from criticising its politics of the day. From Punk to Britpop this relationship has stayed firmly intact. In the 1970s bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash made their entire careers from lampooning the status quo. It produced some great music as well. The protest music of the 50s and 60s, from the likes of Bob Dylan and Woody
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Guthrie spawned some of the most iconic songs of the whole era. Where are all the songs poking fun at Nigel Farage or David Cameron? Is it still a relationship that is in effect today? The bestselling albums and most critically acclaimed albums of recent times seem to be about escaping the world, not making us look any closer at it. Though artists like Pussy Riot have managed to raise attention to the injustices of the Putin regime, an undoubtedly brilliant achievement in music is not synonymous with protest as it once was.
“These rebels have become fully integrated into a new establishment.” Looking back, did all these classic songs ever end up making a lasting change? The hippies challenged the establishment of the day, but did they really change anything significant? That baby boomer generation of the 1960s with their ideals of peace and love ultimately became the establishment that rules over us today. Its key figures like Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney that have retired to their country piles. In the end, as horrible and as cynical as it sounds, all of these music-based movements ended up failing any-
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way. Free love never happened. Politicians are still fake, and we’re still getting lied too. The whole idea of music changing the world seems a bit quaint nowadays. Considering how things turned out in the past, escapism seems as much of a logical reaction to the way the world is as anything else. LAOFO dreck as it may be at least shows our disenfranchisement with the system. But is this all a bad thing? Does music actually stand up for things? In a way, I find it pretty hard to get behind a generation of musicians that aren’t supporting any wider ideas other than just providing entertainment for people. Perhaps this separation of music from the political sphere is a blessing in disguise. Music is perfectly justifiable as escapism and nothing more, the last thing that the world needs is more Bonos, more self-righteousness for the sake of self-righteousness. Maybe ignoring politics is a political statement in and of itself, and a strong one. Just as young people today choose to spoil their votes, in a defiance of the way things are going, maybe the music we’re all making is following suit. Maybe songwriters today aren’t ignoring what’s going on because they are idle or ignorant – but because they know better. Young people, believe it or not, are more knowledgeable than ever before, and we have computers and mobile phones forced into our hands almost as soon as we can walk. Students have one of the lowest voting rates of any demographic, with many choosing to follow the example of Russell Brand and spoil their votes. Maybe this generation of young people are intelligently opting out in their song writing just like they did in their vote casting.
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I think I’ve realised that, at the end of the day, it’s the music that’s important. Though we’re not living in a loving wonderland, the music of the 1960s is still brilliant, punk is still incendiary and if nothing else RATM is fun to mosh too. The Vietnam war is long gone, but the songs it created are proving timeless.
“Politicians have been screwing up for thousands of years, that’s what they are there for.” Nothing has really changed. But more people remember Jane Austen than they do the class system which it criticised. Songs inevitably last longer than policies. People have been dancing for a millennium, before anyone ever thought to pick up a pen and write down a constitution. Music was always the best part of protest music. It’s had its day and it was great while it lasted. Maybe music can’t change the world, but that’s okay.
Will McCurdy
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FASHION
What to Wear
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As Summer is approaching, whether you’re having a city break in Manhattan or going to a festival in Madrid, Vision provides some style inspiration for creating practical yet sophisticated looks to suit each occasion, while also giving some suggestions for what should be on your playlist to get you in the mood. Versatile travellers out there: this is the feature for you.
What to HEAR
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STYLED AND DIRECTED BY SELINA POPE AND IZZI GRAHAM
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Festival fever
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATASHA LAU | MODELLED BY ADELA IACOBOV | MUSIC BY MAIREAD KEARINS
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MUSIC
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Top festivals 2014
MAIREAD KEARINS gives a rundown of this summer’s best festivals.
SUMMER PLAYLISTS
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Revamp your Spotify this Summer with some songs to accompany your lazy days in the sun/British rain. Transport yourself to a sunny beach, Ibiza, the inner city or a crazy festival.
Wireless
Ideal for the R&B lover, Wireless is a force to be reckoned with. With headliners including Drake, Bruno Mars and Kanye West, it’s the ideal start for the festival virgin.
Music Editor, Mairead Kearins has some suggestions, and if you have any other songs which spice up your summer to suggest, tweet us at @YorkVision! Don’t forget to follow our playists on Spotify!
Beach Chic Latitude
The coolest festival for the indie kid with a line-up to match. Two Door Cinema Club and Damon Albarn will be performing fan favourites to the crowds in Suffolk.
Remind yourself you’re in tropical paradise with summery club beats. Duke Dumont creates the image of the Caribbean even if you’re not there, and Mr Probz has the hit of the summer in ‘Waves’. Clean Bandit have the ideal balance of mellow and dance with recent single ‘Extraordinary’.
City Style V Festival
Popular with celebrities, V Festival has something to offer everyone, ranging from Ed Sheeran to The Killers. Ideal for those who want to do a bit of Spot The Celeb on the side.
For a fast-paced holiday, calm yourself down with a mellow sound. Capital Cities and Sara Bareilles have an upbeat sound that provides the optimism needed to go sightseeing and pacing the city streets, whereas up-and-coming artist Vance Joy gives a sense of relaxing guitar whilst cycling the streets of Amsterdam.
Festival Creamfields
If you want Ibiza without the heat, Creamfields is perfect for you. The dance music festival of the year, club heavyweights Avicii, Steve Angello and Deadmau5 will make sure you’ll be dancing the whole weekend.
Listen to music to get you in the mood for a weekend of music and mud. Festival favourites Arctic Monkeys are ideal for this with catchy lyrics and great basslines, with newbies The 1975 and Haim following in their footsteps with unique vocals and girl power.
Going Out Glam Reading & Leeds
If you want a weekend of head-banging, and electric guitars, R&L is a popular choice amongst young people for atmosphere. With festival favourites Arctic Monkeys and 1990’s favourites Blink 182, this festival will continue to be popular for years to come.
Getting ready to great music will hype you up for the evening ahead. Ellie Goulding sets the tone for a night of dancing and romance with the lyrics. Similarly, Sam Smith and Lorde have a mellow approach for creating the mood for a great night with their electronic beats.
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Destination Dining
FINE DINING
Mugaritz is a restaurant in the ultimate foodie town: San Sebastián. It is consistently ranked as one of the best restaurants in the world, and offers an experience like no other. Head chef Andoni Aduriz’s food has been described as ‘techno emotional Spanish’, and his creativity is highly regarded by critics and fellow chefs. Around 25 courses are served, and the general idea is to experiment with people’s emotions and memories, using illusion and deception. The famous canapé of ‘Potato Rocks’ illustrates this idea: potatoes are cooked in grey clay, taking on the appearance of the rocks they are served on. Diners
RECIPE
JIM DEE
The idea for this dish came from two places: the classic duck a l’orange, and the flavour profile of wheat beers. It is common to add orange peel and coriander seeds to Belgian witbier, with Hoegaarden being a commonly available example. The combi-
ies as ‘snobs’ is unjustified, especially in light of the sheer creativity and passion behind some of the best restaurants in the world. What does the Mona Lisa look like? Google it. What does Sweden taste like in spring? The only way to find out is to go. Why get excited about seeing paintings when you could travel to restaurant Fäviken and actually taste art. While seeing the texture in Rembrandt’s brush strokes is a moving experience, wouldn’t it more stirring to taste your way through the textures of Michel Bras’ gargouillou, a salad of over fifty vegetables and wild flowers?
James Martin at The Talbot Hotel Familiar to fans of Saturday Kitchen, James Martin is the executive chef of the dining room at The Talbot Hotel in Malton. The restaurant has received critical acclaim, with Jay Rayner crowning the ‘Beef Cheek and Pearl Barley Risotto’ his dish of the year. The menu is littered with local produce and showcases some of the best of British ingredients. The bar also champions local craft beers. Only half an hour away from York, Malton is building a reputation as a foodie destination, with a busy food market and The Talbot Hotel offering inspired food at excellent value. If you don’t want to travel too far, it’s perfect.
expect an extreme (even unpleasant) crunch but receive incredibly soft garlicky potato. A dessert called ‘The Birthday Party’ is served with the appearance that somebody else has eaten it already, and celebrated without you. The decor is plain but stunning, with wooden walls and a simple ornament at the centre of each table: a broken plate. This is to reflect the restaurant’s atypical approach to fine dining, and the movement away from the expected. The restaurant serves food that can actually leave you sad or shocked, a cuisine that is both intelligent and delicious. Mugaritz is up there with the ultimate destination restaurants.
Claude Bosi’s restaurant Hibiscus is ranked 7th in The Good Food Guide and holds two Michelin Stars. His food is unique, utilising unusual flavour combinations and modern technique. ‘Seared scallop with pork pie sauce and grapefruit’ was once something of a signature dish, while ‘Gigha halibut with brown butter foam and crushed potato’ was quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Diners are presented with a list of the day’s best ingredients, and then given the choice of three, six, or eight courses. The chef constructs a menu specifically for your table, taking into account any preferences or dislikes. Hibiscus is an experience, not just a meal. There are
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Travelling somewhere for the specific purpose of visiting a restaurant is a relatively new phenomenon, but destination diners are discovering cuisine worth the effort. People flock to Paris to visit the Louvre, but a different set of travellers are choosing to spend their time (and money) eating at the city’s legendary restaurants instead. It’s not just Paris either, there are restaurants all over the world which people consider worth the journey. This elevation of fine dining frequently draws unimaginative criticism. The labelling of food-
many fantastic places to eat in London, and Hibiscus is one of the best. Phil Howard’s restaurant, The Square, is much more traditional in its flavour combinations. It also holds two Michelin Stars, and Phil Howard is respected for his cooking and consistency the world over. Expect classic combinations with absolutely faultless cooking, impeccable service and good value wines. ‘Fillet of Beef with Short Rib and Celeriac’ was sensational, a perfect example of The Square’s reputation for huge depth of flavour, and the kitchen did an admirable job catering for my vegan partner. The Square offers a la carte dining as well as a tasting menu. Both restaurants offer good value lunch menus.
DUCK BREAST WITH ORANGE PUREE, CONFIT CARROT AND CORIANDER JUS
Method:
nation of flavours ties together nicely, while the carrots provide textural contrast. The orange purée is laborious but delicious and definitely something worth making for a special occasion. The recipe below makes more than enough, and anything left over can be frozen.
Orange Purée:
8 large oranges 100ml vegetable oil 50g sugar Peel the oranges then remove all the white pith from the peel. Discard the pith then juice the fruit, reserving about 100ml. Finely chop the peel and place in a pan of cold water. Bring the water to the boil then strain the peel. Add the peel to more water and bring to the boil again. Repeat this process 6 times. This removes the bitterness from the peel. After the last boil, strain the peel and add the sugar, orange juice and a pinch of salt. Blend with the best equipment available to you, and pour in the oil.
Duck and Coriander Jus:
300g duck bones 500ml dark chicken stock 1 tsp of crushed coriander seeds 2 tbsp each of finely chopped leek, carrot and onion
Heat some oil in a saucepan over a high heat and add the duck bones, browning evenly for 10-15 minutes. Add 100ml of water and reduce to nothing. Brown the bones again. Add the chopped vegetables and cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables are lightly coloured. Add the coriander seeds and chicken stock and turn the heat to minimum. Simmer for 30 minutes, skimming frequently before straining and reducing the sauce.
Confit Carrots:
100g butter 250g Chantenay carrots 1tsp sugar A few coriander and fennel seeds Peel the Chantenay carrots then place in a pan with the other ingredients. Place over a low heat with 100ml of water and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are cooked but retain a little bite.
Pickled carrot:
1 carrot 100ml white wine vinegar 100g sugar Peel the carrot into long strips. Mix the remaining ingredients with 100ml of water and bring the boil. Pour over the carrot strips, then cool.
To finish:
2 duck breasts Thyme flowers, coriander seeds Season the duck breasts and place skin side down in a cold frying pan without any fat. Place over a medium high heat and render the fat from the duck breasts. Cook this way for five minutes then turn over. The skin should be golden brown and crisp. Put the frying pan in the oven and cook until the duck breasts reach 58 degrees Celsius. Sprinkle the skin with the flowers and seeds. Rest for 5 minutes then slice each breast in half. Serve with purée, sauce and carrots.
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EATING OUT
Authenticity: 9/10
Tastes of the world
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Authenticity: 7/10
Missing your favourite food from home, or just craving the sumptuous treats from around the globe that you discovered on your travels? Well, now you can fulfil your cravings with the expert knowledge of where to go, in York, for the most authentic experience possible.
1. Krakatoa Indonesian Cuisine
Authenticity: 6.5/10
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As soon as I walked in there, the mass of aromas and friendly staff had me instantly transported back to my favourite Balinese Warung. Whether you’ve tried Indonesian food before or not, I thoroughly recommend giving Krakatoa a visit. The Nasi Goreng (traditional fried rice) was on a par with some of the best I’d had throughout my travels, whilst the Sate Ayam (Chicken Sate) was even better! If you have a sweet tooth, then the Bubur Ketan Hitam (sweet black rice pudding with coconut milk) is not to be missed as the perfect end to a delicious feast; washed down, of course, with a refreshing Bintang beer – the availability of which was perhaps my favourite thing about the restaurant! Incredible food, guaranteed to give you a taste of home/paradise, at a very reasonable price. The only thing that could have made it a more authentic experience would have been Geckos climbing the walls!
2. Piccolino Italian Cuisine
Authenticity: 6/10
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The food is undeniably very good, though a little bit expensive; I daresay I had one of the best pizzas in there and I always go back when my family visits! The staff are very friendly (unless you’re going during the week-
end, in which case everything’s going to be loud and chaotic). It’s a chain of restaurants, so as for authenticity I’ll give it a 6.
3. Akbar’s Pakistani/Indian Cuisine The food here is good, and will certainly quench the craving. The peshwari naan is one of the best I’ve ever had, but be warned, it’s huge so unless you’re really, really hungry, it’s best to share. The mushroom and potato pori is fantastic, but the other starters are very average. The chicken tikka makhani was wonderful, but the vegetarian makhani was very disappointing. The service was good, and the price very reasonable. Overall, it was a very standard, good restaurant experience.
4. Oshibi Korean Cuisine Oshibi is an adorable, yet odd, restaurant, seemingly located in the reception space of an office. They have classic Korean dishes, the ones most associated with Korean cuisine, and they are tasty, but not of the same sort as you would find in Korea. The kimchi was fresh and well spiced, the bibimbap was nice but it was lacking flavour slightly, however there is a good selection of Korean drinks available.
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TECH
Gaming Worlds - A Tourist's guide
Costas and Adrian discuss the top best and worst pixelated places to visit
Best LOcations Grand theft auto Los Santos
Assassin's Creed Constantinople Whilst Assassin’s Creed has been described as something of an ‘interactive history lesson’, we consider that to be quite the ideal characteristic when it comes to our lust to wander. Enter Revelations, the entry that ripped our Italian stallion from his homeland and shipped him to the crossroads
of the world. When we weren’t stabbing Byzantine Templars and being tantalised by Ezio’s charm, we were sprinting through sun kissed streets, vaulting across bazaar stalls and climbing up the side of the Hagia Sophia. Forget Venice, gamers, parkour just got that more cultural.
Half-naked women, fast cars and guns galore. Whilst we may have just described the synopsis of your stereotypical action film, that magic formula can be applied to a certain infamous gaming series – Grand Theft Auto. Sure, that’s a major component to it, but its Rockstar’s ability to make a thrilling open world that
draws us kleptomaniacs in every single time. Los Santos is our personal favourite, what with its urban city contrasted against a picturesque landscape. As poetic as that sounds, we’ll take the time to mention that ‘Cock Rock’ exists as a landmark in the game, just in case you forgot that this was GTA.
Worst LOcations
Dishonoured - Dunwall City Imagine, if you will, a city dominated by the wealthy elite, infested by rats and corrupt enough to make certain notable 21st century dictators blush. No, we’re not talking about modern day London; we’re of course referring to the Steampunkinspired city of Dunwall from the incredible Dishonoured. The city
Animal Crossing Animal Village Picture living in a secluded, leafy village populated by anthropomorphic animals, ranging from bright blue bullfrogs to rainbow coloured anteaters. Here, in this leafy utopia, your only trouble in the world is deciding whether to go fishing or bug catching today. Animal Village
Fallout 3 Capital Wasteland Radiation, murderers and mutated creatures are just a few of the horrors the player character encounters in post-apocalyptic Washington DC after a nuclear war has raved the land. The capital wasteland boasts several appealing locations including, but not limited to, a shopping
spirals out of control during the events of the game as Corvo Attano, the game’s protagonist, murders, abducts and excommunicates his way to the top. Sadly, depending on how chaotic Corvo’s actions are in the story, the city just goes from bad to worse. We’d hate to live here, but at least it’s not Derwent.
Bioshock - Rapture Widely regarded as one of the most well realised worlds in gaming, the underwater ‘utopian’ city of Rapture challenges Ayn Rand’s controversial ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by painting a dystopian alternative to her vision of an ideal capitalist society. Rapture proves
to be a fascinating 1950s time capsule of a Randian society gone wrong. With its grand submerged skyscrapers, it would be a fascinating place to visit if drug fiends, creepy, genetically altered little girls and their lumbering Big Daddies didn’t stalk its halls. Pity.
from Animal Crossing is perfect for those who want to lead a relaxed, lazy life without a care in the world. Despite the fact you’re technically in debt to a Raccoon who runs the local shop and also happens to be your estate agent, nothing bad happens if you don’t pay your debts!
mall turned-slaver encampment, a town with an armed thermonuclear device at its centre and a deceptively idyllic town of closet cannibals. This title doesn’t make us want to venture across the pond. Then again, if we wanted a taste of America, we’d go to McDonald’s.
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THERE AND BACK AGAIN
From the mental and emotional itineraries that characters undergo, or the physical distances covered in the story; there are a great variety of journeys undertaken in Films. Below are some of the physical expeditions undertaken.
Inside Out
Finding Nemo
2001: A Space Odyssey
Inside Out is the new offering from Pixar Animation Studios (makers of Toy Story and Monsters Inc.) set to be released in 2015. The film is set in the mind of a young girl and follows the story of five of her emotions: Anger, Joy, Fear, Sadness and Disgust. An interesting concept, this film could be shaping up to be another big hit for the studios and with voice performances from actors like Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) I’m definitely looking forward to it!
The clownfish Marlin goes on an epic journey to find his son, Nemo, after he is taken by a diver. Along the way he meets new friends like Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), Bruce the shark and a big blue whale. Meanwhile, Nemo finds himself in a fish tank in the office of the dentist P. Sherman with a group of fish as desperate to get back to the ocean as he is. A well-loved family film from the ever more successful Pixar Animation Studios. Who would have thought
Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey opened to mixed reviews but soon gathered momentum building a huge fan following. Since then this film has reached new heights in critical acclaim and was briefly the highest grossing film in North America. This journey is epic in proportion. It begins with the dawn of man,
Little Miss Sunshine
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Distance covered: 15cm Main mode of transport: Neurones (I'm guessing)
Distance covered: 1087km Main mode of transport: Bright Yellow Campervan
Distance covered: 1721km Main mode of transport: Swimming
Distance covered: N/A Main mode of transport: US Spacecraft
leaps to the space age and ends in a surreal world.
the little clownfish travelled further than Frodo!
Distance covered: Thousands of lightyears Main mode of transport: Spaceship
Back To The Future Trilogy Distance covered: 130 years? Main mode of transport: DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine
One of my personal favourites, Little Miss Sunshine, is a moving film about a young girl, Olive, who travels across America to a beauty pageant with her dysfunctional family. The film has so much depth and fantastic performances by the entire cast it’s a must see for any film fan. If you haven’t seen it, drop everything and watch it right now.
This story was first conceived as a radio show but has since spanned to a novel, TV series, video game and the 2005 film starring Martin Freeman. Following the story of very ordinary tea-drinking Arthur Dent as he discovers his best friend is an alien and begins a whirlwind adventure around the Universe, encountering numerous strange species, searching for the answer to life, the Universe and everything.
80s/90s cult classic is a favourite of many and highly regarded as an imaginative, quirky science fiction movie. The trilogy follows the adventures of Marty McFly and Doc Brown as they travel through time in a modified DeLorean, unsurprisingly coming into trouble which drives the adventure storyline. The distance covered in the trilogy is not linear and spans through both time and space, from back as far as 1885 to near future date - 2015.
Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Around the World in 80 Days
Titanic
Distance covered: 1529km Main mode of transport: Walking Story successor to The Hobbit Trilogy, this movie franchise spans many fictional races, languages and locations. With such a diverse range of characters in the film there are some extensive journeys to the corners of Middle Earth. I’ve only included the distance from the Shire to Mount Doom to show where Frodo and Sam travelled, but if you added together all the secondary characters’ travels the number would be tenfold.
Distance covered: 28, 000km Main mode of transport: Various (including Hot Air Balloon, Train, Ship) Based on the Jules Vernes novel of the same name, this film has been remade multiple times. The most recent starring Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan and Jim Broadbent, but not even the big names can make up for this dreary, badly put together film. It is a comedy film about a group of men who want to travel the world in eighty days by hot air balloon. It includes martial arts, a robbed bank, and a lot of very bad gags. Jackie Chan’s martial arts are perhaps the only saving grace.
Distance covered: 4016km Main mode of transport: Oceanliner James Cameron’s film epic follows the story of two destined lovers, Jack and Rose. Although some argue the love story transcended time and space, the ship made it just over 4000km before it sank into the Atlantic Ocean.
Sam Stockbridge
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TV
Controversial Cartoons ZENA JARJIS looks at the controversy surrounding the cancellation of Seth MacFarlane’s Dads...
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fter just one episode, Seth MacFarlane’s Dads was met with heavy criticism due to its controversial content. The sitcom, starring Seth Green and Giovanni Ribsi as two game developers whose fathers move in with them, was accused of racism, ageism and sexism. From the outset, Dads was challenged by various media watchdog groups determined to get it off the air, and BuzzFeed went so far as to call the show “actually evil”. To the relief of a lot of television critics, Dads has recently been axed after one season. While this could also be an issue of quality as well as controversy, viewers seemed to enjoy the show a lot more than critics did, as the audience nominated Dads for a People’s Choice Award for Best New Comedic TV Show. Meanwhile, another Seth MacFarlane show, Family Guy, is currently on its twelfth season. The cartoon is undoubtedly far more offensive and controversial than Dads, with quotes such as “You’ve got the aids, you may have caught it when you stuck that filthy needle in here, or maybe all that unprotected sex you adhere!” and “So which of the Latin countries are you from: the one with the civil war, the one with the cocaine, or the one with the fancy hats?” Fam-
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ily Guy is challenged practically biweekly by the Parent’s Television Council and has provoked protests from groups such as the American Life League. Nevertheless, the cartoon is still going strong more than 16 years after its first episode, and it was recently named the ninth greatest animated show of all time by TV Guide. It’s not the only cartoon which continues to air despite offending just about everyone – South Park has been renewed for an eighteenth season. It seems like it is a lot easier to get away with controversial scenes on cartoons than it is on live-action television shows. Seth MacFarlane has previously admitted that he can do a lot more with animated characters than ones played by actors, saying that scenes of domestic abuse on a show like Everybody Loves Raymond would be censored, but scenes which show Lois Griffin beating her husband or in combat with her son have not been met with quite as much horror. Perhaps it is more difficult to get away with depicting controversial issues on live-action TV shows because of issues with exploiting actors. One of the most challenged scenes from Dads is one which shows Asian-American actress Brenda Strong dressing up as a sexy schoolgirl, and
a male character howling “Hello, Kitty!” A lot of critics saw the scene as racist, sexist and humiliating for the actress, which is never an issue in the portrayal of Family Guy’s Tricia Takanawa, for example, who is just a drawing. Dads is offensive, but Family Guy pushes far more boundaries, and often gets away with
it. A lot of gags used on Family Guy would have been considered completely unacceptable on a live-action show like Dads, and the cancellation of the latter shows that producers should probably stick to cartoons if they want to write over the top controversial content.
Fuck The Police
Did 2Pac really use his dying breath to say “fuck you” to a policeman? And does it matter? Rap correspondent ZENA JARJIS investigates...
everal weeks ago, Chris Carroll, a former Las Vegas policeman who was on the scene when rapper Tupac Shakur was shot, was interviewed in Vegas Seven. He revealed 2Pac’s last words, saying of the legendary hip hop artist “He looked at me and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth, and I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: ‘Fuck you.’” With his final breath, 2Pac cemented his legacy as some sort of anti-police, anti-establishment hero. A lot of people are reading the incident as proof that 2Pac was so dedicated to the anti-police sentiments he expressed in his music (“Cops don’t give a damn about a Negro/Pull a trigger, kill a n***a he’s a hero”) that he chose to insult a policeman with his final words. His status as a hero for people who have suffered at the hands of corrupt or racist authority figures is significant and should not be dis-
missed, but the “fuck you” incident may not be as symbolic as it seems. “Fuck you” may not even have been 2Pac’s last words, as he was actually alive for six days after he was shot, albeit under heavy sedation. He spent almost a week in hospital following his shooting, so his final words could have been “I’m thirsty” or something equally unromantic. And, even if “fuck you” were his final words, when Carroll saw the injured rapper, he repeatedly asked “Who shot you?” 2Pac may have seen this question as an allusion to, or at least a reminder of, The Notorious B.I.G.’s famous diss track, “Who Shot Ya?” He could have been using his final words to say “fuck you” to Biggie rather than the establishment. In the interview, Carroll also says that he has waited so long to reveal Pac’s last words partially because he “didn’t want Tupac to be a martyr or hero because
he told the cops ‘Fuck you.’” He continues, “I didn’t want him to be a hero for that. And now enough time has passed, well, he’s a martyr anyway; he’s viewed as a hero anyway. My story, at this point, isn’t going to change any of that.” Carrol lis right, and 2Pac did do a lot to help out underprivileged people who felt betrayed by the police, but a lot of fans are choosing to ignore the rest of the interview. Maybe people are focusing so much on the “fuck you” and viewing it as some sort of symbolic moment because there are very few successful hip hop artists around now who are martyrs in the same way 2Pac was. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the nature of hip hop has changed, and fewer and fewer current rappers are criticising authority. Most recently, Jay Z was criticised for his deal with Barney’s after the department store was accused of racially profiling two black customers. Fans urged Jay Z, who used to deal with racial bias in songs like ‘99 Problems’, to pull his clothing line from the store. Jay Z went ahead with the deal anyway, and his defence of the incident in ‘The Devil Is A Lie’ – “See what I did to that stop and frisk/ Brooklyn on the Barney’s like we own that bitch/ Give the money to the hood now we all win/Got that Barney’s floor looking like a V.I.M.” – was a little defensive and unconvincing. Whether or not “fuck you” were 2Pac’s last words, he is always going to be held out as a martyr who defended underprivileged people against corrupt policemen. Carroll revealed the incident at a time when a lot of hip hop fans were feeling nostalgic for
the music of the 90s, when rappers frequently criticised authority figures in their music. Even if he didn’t literally use his last breath to annoy a policeman, 2Pac was still a martyr and any information received about him now will, to most people, always been seen in that light.
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The pirate ship is sinking MILO BOYD looks at the changing ways Generation Z listens to music.
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n 1863, French lexicographer Émile Littré defined a generation as “all men living more or less at the same time”. In his 1923 essay ‘The Problems of Generations’, Karl Mannheim decided stating the obvious was boring and postulated a sociological definition of generation on the basis of common experiences, thoughts and feelings tied not only to chronology but significant, Zeitgeist shaking events. For those born in the late 1800s, the psychological and economic fallout of WW1 saw Gertrude Stein dub half a billion or so westerners ‘The Lost Generation.’ In the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s the post-war masses loosened their belts and cemented their reputation as ‘The Baby Boomers.’ Jump forward a few wars, cultural explosions and an X and a Y and we have ‘Generation Z’; as Wikipedia sees it, ‘the generation that is currently being born.’ To understand the defining characteristics that ties together pretty much every single person you’ve ever met who doesn’t really know what Dallas was, it might be useful to turn to USA Today’s list of runners up to ‘Generation Y’: A list including iGeneration, Gen Tech, Gen Wii, Net Gen, Digital Natives and Gen Next. It might be even more useful to point out that our entire generation has been labelled and will probably be best understood post-us through the findings of an online poll. Where our parents and their parents were defined by war, feeling miserable after war and fucking, our thing is computers. And in particular, if the world’s governments recent digital curmudgeonry is anything to go by, stealing things on computers. Whether or not we embrace this or any other characteristic common enough to conveniently lump together Generation Z’s millions of individuals, the numbers are there. In 2011 65% of downloaded music content was done so illegally, making up a significant proportion of the 40 billion files that were traded on the virtual blackmarket that year. Whilst Generation Z are not responsible for the entirety of this number, the tripling of content stolen between 2008 and 2011 does coincide nicely with our cohorts maturation and a 2012 OfCom study that found 48% of British 12 to 18 year olds had illegally shared content. By itself this tells us little of interest: our generation likes stealing music. We know this. But what we don’t quite know, and what seems to be largely untouched as an area of study, is the effect this proliferation of sticky fingers is having on the way we listen to music. According to Matthias W. Kampmann’s application of Heitmann Peine’s understanding of perceived value in his seminal
essay ‘Online Piracy and Consumer Affect’, perceived value is a multi-factorial concept consisting of quality, emotional, price and social judgements. Past a point, Kampmann argues, the less we pay, the less we value an object of consumption. Of the 35% of music purchased legally in 2011, 16% came in physical CD form – a slowly yet ever decreasing proportion. Join these two conclusions together and we find ourselves in a cohort unwilling to buy CDs, willing to steal digital files and, in doing so, inadvertently reducing the perceived worth of the music we listen to. Of course this is not a universal condemnation or truth that strikes home in every instance. But equally, opting for quantity at the behest of quality in an effectively free market, piling tracks into a de facto limitless iPod and glancing at the video game-like listening figures on YouTube and in iTunes can and, at least for me, has become a part of the listening experience. As much as music is one of the purest and most persistent joys in my life, it has become an experience tied up with a multitude of factors that come part and parcel with the unique ease of access that has arisen in the last 10 or so years. Do we still love music? Of course. Does each torrented album lack a certain worth found in the eagerly anticipated vinyl or compact disc release of yesteryear? Probably. And now the market is shifting again. A recent study by the NPD Group found that the number of music files illegally downloaded had dropped 26% between 2011 and 2012. The reason is not, as we might expect, the result of SOPA or the annoying ‘You Can’t Access This Page’ pop-up familiar to any Sky Broadband customer, but the proliferation of streaming. The jury’s still out on whether streaming services will be seen as a friend or foe of the music industry, but what’s not is whether this shift will affect the way we listen to music. As much as Kampmann’s findings and the symbolic displacement of songs following the move from compact to digital suggests a certain gap between the listener and listened to, changing from Hard Drive to Cloud implies a further displacement. Whilst an iTunes library can be as good as erased by a short, sharp knock to the back of your computer’s head, as long as it remains intact, it remains yours. Streaming may be easier, cheaper and an ethically valid alternative to filesharing, but it also removes a sense of ownership. Add to this the fraction of a penny sent to whichever artist with each listen, and Generation Z ‘s perception of music’s value may be severely lessened.
"Where our parents and their parents were defined by war, feeling miserable after war and fucking, our thing is computers. And in particular, if the world's governments recent digital curmudgeonry is anything to go by, stealing things on computers."
BOOKS
The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Publishing...Wise or Ill-Advised? T
ap a quick search into Google (we tried ‘how to self publish’) and you’ll be bombarded with tips and advice. There is talk that it might be becoming possible to sidestep the traditional route via the established publishing houses which are so notoriously hard to break into, especially for minority writers and controversial writing. Ultimately, these traditional gatekeepers need to make a profit to survive and have vested interests just like any other business. It is also easy to forget that authors often hand over responsibility for marketing and promotions. Claire Chambers of the English Department at the University of York discussed this in depth at the recent ‘Prizing and Publishing Muslims Workshop’ at the Treehouse, pointing out that the novel ‘Kartography’ by Kamila Shamsie has previously been branded as chick lit, featuring blurbs from Elle magazine on the covers. In contrast, Leila Aboulela’s dustjackets enforce her image as a serious ‘halal’ novelist and often feature veiled women. In an article on the Forbes magazine website, writer Deborah Jacobs sings the praises of new online platforms. The rise of social media has opened up new opportunities
for marketeers, so why not would-be publishers and writers too? Jacobs discusses two options which have proved successful for her; using e-commerce tools such as Gumroad, or selling through Amazon. Not surprisingly, the increasing popularity of e-books has made it simple and relatively cheap for indie authors to publish via Kindle Direct – there are no charges for uploading, and the royalties are generous. CreateSpace allows you to create paperback copies to be printed on demand by simply uploading a PDF. Authors are free to design their own cover. Everyone’s a winner! But is this a mere gimmick or a legitimate and potentially successful way to get important work noticed? Are writers best left leaving promotion to the professionals, or not? Smaller UK publishing houses outside the exclusive Londocentric bubble find innovative ways to reach their markets. Comma Press is a not-for-profit initiative which prides itself in taking risks and pursuing freedom from commercial pressures. For example, Comma seeks to accept more short stories and novellas, neglected art forms often perceived as ‘risky’ or inferior to the novel. Here at York Vision Books, we are a big fan of Quirk Books, a company which endorses work outside the mainstream and brand themselves as
‘seekers of all things awesome’. Alt h o u g h sales are usually counted by the number of copies passed through a till, many more can be sold at author-run events and signings aimed at and designed for particular groups. Ultimately, perhaps these developments signal a freer and more diverse market for all kinds of literature – which can only be a good thing for writers and bookworms.
Maddi Howell
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BLIND DATE THIS WEEK we set up third year English Literature student and satirist, Emily Mangles, with our bashful first year Features Editor, Philip Adams. Did this date at the romantic setting of The Charles spark a love which will last all summer? Will Philip no longer be on the pull at Vision socials? Read on to find out about this meeting of two great minds...
Phil on Emily Are you looking for anything serious? No, in fact at the moment I would go to great lengths to avoid it.
What do you look for in a girl? Good sense of humour, can hold a decent conversation and is natural looking.
How did she look? Very smart and intellectual. She was well dressed in an old fashioned but still stylish way. Also she had a cute laugh as well as a pretty and jolly face.
What was the funniest thing she said? She had very amusing views on the fact I’m from Derwent and proud of it, but she eventually got over the stereotype that I must be an alcohol laden incestuous cretin. I also enjoyed her tips and advice for my next few years in York.
Emily on Phil What do you look for in a guy? Tall? Reasonably clean/smartly dressed.
What was the first thing you noticed? He’ll hate me for saying this, but the fact he looked so young!
What did you have to eat and would you return to The Charles in Heslington? Chilli con Carne, and it’s The Charles so yes...
What did you talk about? Being Oxbridge rejects, Helena Horton, the stickiness of Willow, all the usual York stuff. Though oddly we didn’t cover geese.
What did you have to eat?
Was he a gentleman?
I had a hot dog and she had chilli, not the easiest of choices, but thankfully there were no dramatic spillages. For pudding she had the Belgian waffle, a bold choice as a lot can go wrong with a waffle.
Well he paid for the wine with his housemate’s credit card, so I’d say so!
Did you end on a hug, a kiss, or more?
If you met him in Willow, might one tequila lead to another?
Ended on a hug and a ‘hopefully see you soon.’
Tequila makes me vomit so probably not!
Where would you take her for a second date?
Most desirable characteristic or feature?
If there was to be a second date, then a play or a show, she was very into her culture and amateur dramatics.
He agrees that the Errol Flynn version of Robin Hood is the best Robin Hood. Few people do, it’s an acquired taste!
Marks out of 10?
Marks out of 10?
7/10. Very witty and entertaining. Vision thanks the cupids at The Charles, who sponsored this Blind Date
9/10