Scene 193

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Dec 08 Issue 193

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Joseph McDermott interviews:

CAGE THE ELEPHANT

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age the Elephant are an enigmatic band. Their rough and raw sound of dirty rock and roll may not seem mysterious in itself but when you consider that it is rooted in the background of a strict, evangelical Christian upbringing then the questions begin. Brothers Matt and Brad Shultz spent their formative years shut up in a severe Christian commune, able only to steal the briefest glimpses of rock and roll, what effect has this deprivation had upon their music? “It has definitely affected us in some way,” admits front-man Matt Shultz “it would be impossible to say exactly how far it influences us, we aren’t trying to fight it or run from it or whatever.” Such an early (and extreme) introduction into religious surrounding seems to have left the band with an unquestionable affinity towards the spirituality of music: “we look at our songs and our work on a very spiritual level; after all we grew up listening to only Christian rock.” While Cage the Elephant talk surprisingly positively about their time on the commune there is still a sense that they may have some reservations towards the church: “we’ve lost one guy to a religious quest, but it was really just about finding himself." Matt concludes the topic of their upbringing with a rather clichéd aphorism: “it was like all things in life; you can choose to take good or bad things from it”.

Despite the serene words concerning their spirituality, their live shows are a world apart from the commune in which they spent their childhood. Described as ‘raucous and high energy’ Cage the Elephant is now infamous amongst the gig-going populace for reawakening the power and punch of rock and roll.

The band is currently completing a sell-out UK tour and spirits are understandably high within the green room: “we get really good audiences, really crazy actually," gushes Matt “we played a venue of twelvehundred people in Middlesbrough and they were an amazing crowd. We certainly weren’t expecting that in Middlesbrough!” It was in the same unlikely northeastern city that was to be the venue for particularly gruesome tale of the tour. “There was a balcony about

twenty feet above the crowd and before the show me and the guys were joking about climbing up there betting each other to jump off it. I was like 'fuck this shit, I knew it wasn’t a good idea!'” recalls the diminutive front-man. “Anyway, during the show, for whatever reason, I climbed up and jumped off into the crowd.

I ended up separating my ribs from my sternum. It didn’t really hurt when it happened but it hurt like a motherfucker in the weeks that followed- still hurts now actually.” You would think that this incident might cast a dark cloud over the tour but, with characteristic cheeriness, Matt adds “At least the crowd caught me…”

Although the band project an outwardly cheerful demeanour their music cannot be described as such; “we call it punk-funk right now.” Well, whatever they want to call it, they sound harsh and aggressive, wild and chaotic but above all, extremely catchy. “We just try to make our music about whatever we love.”

But what is it that influences them, what is it that inspires them to create music? Well it seems like even they don’t know themselves - “for me influence isn’t something you can approach on a conscious level, but then again to fight influence would be wrong, it would be against nature. You are part of your environment and if you love something you want to put it into your music.” The band then reel off a huge list of artists who they give credit to, the list spans generation and genre but centres around old fashioned rock and roll.

The expansive and diverse nature of the list certainly goes some way to explaining the bizarre and highly original nature of ‘punk-funk’.

I put to them the question of what makes Cage the Elephant so different from the other bands doing the rounds? “Are we different from other bands? I don’t know, I think a lot of bands are writing songs to be a certain style but we’re always trying to lose our style.”

With recent time spent in the recording studio what

does this philosophy mean we can expect from their second record? Matt shrugs and with a grin admits that “the new album sounds totally different from the first, we hope everyone hates it!”

The sonic assault of their music, both live and on record, suggests that Cage the Elephant are a band living on the extremes. Within the pages of NME and other music rags they are as famous for their off-stage lust for life as they are for onstage talent: “We do like to enjoy ourselves…” states Matt with a bored, matterof-fact tone, “but then again who doesn’t like to party?

Why the fuck do we do anything?” Well, why do we do anything? “I don’t know… for a laugh I think.”

Does this life of extremes lead to tensions in the band? Surely emotions must often run high when so many people are bouncing off the walls in the confined space that is the tour bus? They answer candidly, “we fight, it’s not a problem. The band and our love for each other is more important so we know when to walk away or if you can’t walk away then just turn away. It never gets too intense.” My curiosity is piqued, bands rarely admit to any sort of internal turmoil, so what was the last argument about? Matt leans in and laughs, in a slightly hushed voice he intones “it was about smoking weed in the van.” He laughs quietly to himself and continues on, “the tour manager complained that he could smell it, and if he could smell it then he might get a contact buzz and mess up his ability to drive, we got into an argument about that. We’re gonna go online later and try and prove that it can’t happen, the whole ‘contact buzz’ is total bullshit I’m sure.”

So this is Cage the Elephant, they are outlandish and reckless, young, original and viciously cool.

They are unquestionably heading for big things. In short, they are everything a rock and roll band should be - long live ‘punk-funk’!

"I ENDED UP SEPARATING MY RIBS FROM MY STERNUM"

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kanye west

Joseph McDermott

808s and heartbreak - OUT NOW

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08s & Heartbreak: Kanye West’s new album; the one with no rapping. Too heartbroken to rap? Actually I think so. The opening track, Say You Will, is backed by what sounds like a lonely choir stuck on the low notes, all sorts of lows, held together by the beat that sounds more like a heart monitor machine and it all ends ominously with the lowest chord drawn out leading us darkly into the opening 'cello of Welcome To Heartbreak. Welcome to sad and surprisingly dark times. The 'cellos are brought back to R&B with some record scratching as the beat kicks in. And then the voice, warped with synth as it is for a lot of the album – the pain perhaps? Or the '80s. A bit of both; the beats definitely miss the '80s and their lamenting old power ballads; it’s all rather wistful.

Heartless is a bit more like the old Kanye with its half-rap verses – "How could you be so Dr. Evil?" With Amazing we’re back with the synthesised voice that carries us through most of the songs. It’s a bit eerie, listening to someone repeating and repeating their troubles, which is what he does most of the time, the same lines drummed in again and again: "amazing, amazing," "your love locked-down, your love locked-down," "ok, ok, ok, ok," (of Robocop). Ok, Kanye, ok. We get that you’re wistful. We’re saved (or maybe just distracted) with the backing tracks which, as usual with Kanye, are excellently chosen and highly dependent on his personal (knowing Kanye) orchestra, especially the emotional strings. Though when the repetition finally stops we get treats like his sung emotional crescendo in Robocop. We learn with Kanye that we can’t underestimate the backing track. In fact if you took it away all you’d have was the same words again and again; a bit like listening to someone just out of a break-up. Funny that.

With Paranoid, stuff is shaken up a bit - again it’s the '80s. Street Lights brings us back down again. A bit like being in a car watching the lights “glowing… like moments,” it's a bit unsettling. See You In My Nightmare is painful, especially with Lil' Wayne screeching despair that finishes the song (and maybe us) off at the end. But it’s all a bit repetitive. Not bad, but sad - and sad again and again, with the '80s. Perfect to have a good power-cry to then, but maybe not every day listening and maybe one at a time. And don’t start with Love Lockdown which, despite being the single, is not the best to cry or to do anything else to. After listening, I’d prescribe the Workout Plan, or at least Through The Wire; back to the old school happy times.

SOPHIE HILL

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LADYHAWKE 'My Delirium' OUT NOW Let me begin by saying that My Delirium is a great example of pitch -perfect electro pop.

Unfortunately it’s about two years too late. Ladyhawke no longer sounds fresh and original, so many other bands have released songs just like this and as a result My Delirium sounds imitative and derivative. It’s not a bad record, in fact its one of this week’s better releases, give it a whirl but don’t expect to be bowled over by its originality.

PORTISHEAD 'Magic Doors' OUT NOW

Strange and unsettling; but then would we expect anything less from the icons of trip-hop.

Magic Doors is littered with the abstract sounds, haunting vocals and complex timings, the overall effect is both dark and delicious. Portishead have settled into a more industrial, sparser sound. This is a record of breathtaking originality but it comes at a price: Magic Doors is not particularly accessible and is in danger of being so subtle that it is lost in the tide of the mainstream.

IGLU & HARTLY

'Violent and Young' OUT NOW

THE KILLERS HUMAN

justice - live a cross the universe OUT NOW

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ustice are not ones for a cup of tea and a hobnob curled up on your settee. Nah, the Parisian techno-pulsating pair are all about the dancing and the flashing fluorescent lights. But is a live album really necessary in such dire economic times? When all of us students are hard at work scrimping and saving those extra pennies, listening to a pre-programmed set and lots of other people having a nice time doesn’t seem so good.

Justice is like a French factory of low-key Soulwax/ Simian Mobile-esque powered madness, the boys know just how to work the crowd to build up the tracks. So maybe that’s worth buying the album for… the sociological interest in the human participation of crowds, aah now this is what I buy many albums for, many. But for those ‘Flux boys’, y’know the ones I mean, the ones where Bloc Party comes on and they slice the air with their horizontal hands above their heads, nod in an unintelligible fashion and shout “Cccccchhooon with a capital CH!” Well those ones anyway, they’ll love the gems of this record, like D.A.N.C.E., DVNO, and We Are Your Friends. Friends is the only track where the shouting takes away from the now legendary words, but otherwise the rowdy crowd only builds up your willingness to dance in little electronic movements round your living room.

Justice’s latest release is one of those albums that you have to pretend you’re somewhere else to fully enjoy its power-house of beats and potential, like all the classics.

They may not have the character of the Hot Chip or Crystal Castles of this age but it has to be said that this album has its fair share of understated ‘choons’.

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OUT NOW

he Killers have prided themselves on brazen loudand-proud, catchy-chorus indie rock, songs which burrow inside your head like musical moles. While third album Day and Age retains the musical hallmarks of previous albums, it also heralds a coming of age, with a level of diversity not previously seen.

The album lets rip with a swaggering anthemic flourish - the opening three songs (Losing Touch, Human and Spaceman) are catchier than the plague of 1665, all airy vocals and taught synth background beats. Elsewhere, there is a refreshingly deeper blend of influence running through. This is Your Life could be Eurythmic (minus Lennox), Joy Ride is full of sax' in an '80s Roxy Music vein; I Can’t Stay even boasts a bombastic reggae beat.

They’ve not been afraid to experiment and, by and large, it works. Opposed to the ramshackle crash-bangwallop of dancefloor staples like Mr. Brightside, there’s even something more contemplative and melodic in songs such as I Can’t Stay and A Dustland Fairytale.

Credit must also go to Brandon Flowers: he is as confident and able a frontman as ever, having (thank God) lost that tash, which made him look like a cross between a criminal and a sex pest. Alas, for all the softy-softly efforts and promising eclectic stuff, the lyrics remain lodged in the land of 'what-the-fuck'. The Killers continue to pose great philosophical questions to plague mankind, such as the central line in Human: “Are we human or are we dancer?” Sartre, eat your heart out. No, they aren’t profound nor particularly subtle, but it hardly matters: this group is going to make a killing again because of a surprising, newfound diversity as well as their sheer weight of catchy tunes and beats.

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ANDY MCGRATH

The Times commented that it feared the bizarre combination new-wave pop and raprock would elicit a new era of Vanilla Ice sound-alikes. I’m here to tell them not to fear: Iglu and Hartley are useless and this single will not even be in the nation’s consciousness next week never mind next year.

White-boy rap wasn’t cool the first time round so why on earth anyone would think it was time for its resurgence is beyond me.

We can only hope that this latest offering is not granted as much radio airtime as its preceding single.

JAMES MORRISON

'Broken Strings' feat. Nelly Furtado OUT NOW Broken Strings starts with the typically dull James Morrison drone, the lyrics are a standard and vacuous affair. But if you can wait out the first minute and half the introduction of Nelly Furtado seems to set the song alight. Neither Morrison nor Furtado are perfect when performing alone, instead it's when they reach their duet that the song begins to peak. Some great harmonies and a more upbeat chorus do the track a world of good. Broken Strings is a palatable pop single but only in parts, it hardly seems worth buying a song in which only two of the four and a half minutes are worth a listen.

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Mr. Oizo

THE NEXT BIG THINGS...

Straight up, French electro.

A favourite of DJs everywhere, Mr. Oizo is soon to become the name on everyone's lips.

AND ONE YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED...

Lykke Li The Voluntary Butler Scheme

Strange and beautiful indie.

A swedish sensation that defies genre, Lykke Li is perfectly weird and wonderful.

Twee indie electro-pop Can electronica ever be cute? The Voluntary Butler Scheme's eccentric beats say "yes"!

GUNS N ROSES

ALICE RUSSELL

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

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wenty years ago, adolescents the world over were growing their hair, squeezing into leopard-skin tights, and shrieking their hearts out to Welcome To The Jungle. How times have changed. Nowadays, these teenage rebels have accepted the futility of ‘sticking it to the man’ and have depressingly become accountants, lawyers, and teachers. Not Axl Rose though.

The howling leader of Guns and Roses has spent the last 17 years of his life creating Chinese Democracy, allegedly costing him $14 million. Unfortunately, the drugs and STD’s seem to have taken their toll on poor Axl and all he has created is an epic mess of shite.

Without Slash’s blistering melodic masterpieces of riffs, licks and solos; the songs are boring, lifeless and constantly interrupted by whiney and directionless fret-wanking. Even Axl, the only original member can’t recreate the intense vocals that previously shook stadiums to their core.

What was once a visceral howl, electrifying and youthful, has now become a painful cry for help, desperately pleading to whoever’s squeezing his testicles.

The lyrics do offer some amusement. Midway through opener Chinese Democracy, Axl asserts the bizarre metaphor “I’ve got more masturbation, Even with your iron fist.” I’m not sure what this means, but considering he looks a bit like a rapist, I don’t think I want to know.

Since John Lydon's butter advert, rockstars seem to be destroying their reputations. It begs the question "why can’t rockstars start dying young again?" If only we had instigated a mass cull before Axl Rose had any ambition to go solo, perhaps then the world would never have been subjected to these 14 songs of turgid, irrelevant, and utterly depressing dross.

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JIM NORTON

POT OF GOLD OUT NOW

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or anyone who is fed up of Amy Winehouse’s musical output being determined by whatever she’s currently taking up the nostril, there is another source of powerful female vocals. Despite a strong following on the soul scene and three fantastic previous albums, Alice Russell’s distinctive and lavish voice has somehow remained relatively unknown. She can soulfully swoon one moment before unleashing sheer, unadulterated power the next and then progress on to deep gospel funk.

Pot of Gold is, quite simply, the musical modern vintage item that you suddenly realise you’ve been missing as soon as you hear it. It is new soul combined with chilling funk, pop, samba rhythms and large '60s-esque backings of piano, strings and big brass. With unbelievably assured sass, Russell demonstrates that female singersongwriters shouldn’t just be about one great vocalist but should also use an entire 11-piece backing band to make their mark and have the listener hanging for more.

Whether you own everything Alice Russell has done from since her Quantic Soul Orchestra days, just knew her for that rendition of Seven Nation Army, or were previously unaware of her existence, Pot of Gold is worth listening to - it has the rare quality of sounding entirely sharp yet somehow retro at the same time.

KATE MISSENDEN

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duffy leeds, carling academy 28-11-08

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o a backdrop of twinkling lights and the striking opening to the title track of her album, Duffy enters looking every part the Sixties singer that she so epitomises. As soon as she begins singing, her voice cuts through the air, seething with her trademark powerful sustain, tremendous range and edgy timbre.

Few others could bring the depth and colour which she forcefully injects into both her softly soulful and out-rightly powerful tracks. Duffy mainly goes for songs from her latest album, although the tasters to her next album indicate that she fully intends to be around for a while. She appears to be moving away from her natural comfort zone of slow, dramatic ballads to give her sheer original glamour to livelier numbers.

Whilst her voice instantly charms the entire audience, the same cannot be said for Duffy’s dancing. It’s not simply the fact

king of leon nottingham trent arena 02-12-08

LITTLE BOOTS LEEDS COCKPIT 22-10-08

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any musical revivals seem perplexing on paper.

Simply looking back a couple of years at the whole cringe-worthy, neon experience that was ‘new-rave’ and its effects still trickling down to the lower echelons of the musical ladder appear to be little more than an in-joke nobody quite understood. Then again, on paper a disco revival taking place in the centre of Leeds seems about as likely as Guns ’n' Roses putting out a record enjoyed by anyone but the crustyhaired roadie types who occupy rock nights, even when the lights are on and the barmen have all disappeared home.

Victoria Hesketh may not be Axl Rose, but she sure knows how to make the kids dance. Tonight’s line-up is a veritable who’s-who of buoyant pop; with mustachioed wonders, Heartbreak pouting and swaggering around the stage with the joie-de-vivre that could only come from a London band with Italian accents.

The premise of Italo-pop could so easily come across as no more than a tongue-in-cheek bid for quirky success, but the sheer presence singer Sebastian Muravchix brings to the stage has the audience believing that 1983 has come around once again and Herbie Hancock is showing them a terrifying but fascinating view of the future.

As Sebastian’s snaking hips retire backstage, Little Boots enters the stage. Her upbeat synth-pop rhythms and knack for a perfect melody endear her well to a crowd who take little winning over.

The strength of tracks such as Mathematics and Meddle lie in their perfect choruses which transfer well onto the live stage. Far from the usual foot shuffle that accompanies every 'four boys with guitars' band who usually reside in The Cockpit, the audience are contorting on a level not seen since an ambitious DJ drops The Fresh Prince. Little Boots’ performance tonight is joyful and mesmerising, and even the most indier-than-thou type can’t fail to crack a smile at a jubilant keytar solo. With more hook laden and enigmatic performances like this, Little Boots may well outlive any genre she is beset with.

JOE MILAM

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ith the release of their fourth album Only By the Night, Kings of Leon have continued on their progression from a band producing innovative blues inspired rock, to a band producing rock anthems for the mass market.

This progression has had two visible results: I saw them in what must be one of the more glamorous venues on their current world tour, Nottingham Trent Arena

that I can’t remember the last occasion that I saw someone dance for over an hour without once moving their shoulders - it looks overly contrived. Largely, it seemed designed to make the audience, who to be quite honest for the most part don’t seem to have been to a gig for at least a decade, happier about their lack of dancing ability.

Duffy appears highly uncomfortable with the right arm gesticulations interspersed with swinging the microphone around for excessively long periods that she’d clearly been told to do at regular intervals. Despite this, Duffy’s voice is so spectacular in bringing a new source of light to retro-soul that, in all honesty, it didn’t matter what else was going on, her voice and unique charm were still mesmerising.

KATE MISSENDEN

and like most of their dates, it was sold out.

Looking around the audience I could see why, there were men and women in virtually equal number and fans of all ages. Kings of Leon are now a hugely successful band, outlasting The Strokes or The Vines, whose mould they previously occupied.

However, despite being the Only By The Night tour, the set list contained only limited forays into their new and, to many, disappointing album and instead treated the appreciative audience to classic tracks from their previous three albums. This and the bands lacklustre stage presence suggest to me a band who have lost the joy of performing. Yes they have achieved global success but what they have lost in the process is what kept this concert from really coming alive.

The set managed to maintain the high energy of songs such as Red Morning Light and Four Kicks and had most of the crowd dancing throughout, however eventually it became a procession of songs which seemed on the night to lack character or individuality.

ANDY NICHOLS

OLYMPUS MONS york fibbers

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28-11-08

lympus Mons say: "we have a mellow sound." Olympus Mons do not have a mellow sound. "Well, I definitely try to write mellow songs." Olympus Mons does not write mellow songs. "No, honestly we do, we write mellow songs but then when we play them they seem to end up quite fast," appeals front man Aaron. Whatever they say we can be sure of three things: this band is high-speed, they are wild and above all else they are distinctive.

The show opens with an audience request: the spiky indie riffs of Marshall Law rattle out through a speaker riddled with feedback. The band sounds rawer and more alive than ever. The energy of the show picks up with a performance of new single Let The First Time Be The Last, the audience begin to sway, carried away by catchy hooks and enthralled by the conflict of soft tones and harsh vocals.

The sound of Olympus Mons is impossible to pin down, it lies somewhere in a contradiction of familiarity and originality - a heady mixture of stylish indie and violent punk, its not always an easy cocktail to stomach. The audience were certainly responsive although at times there seemed at times an air of confusion surrounding the crowd, as though people were unsure how to react to the band’s barrage of noise.

The set was woefully short though the pace and brevity of the songs ensured that Olympus Mons’ first visit to York was jam packed with anthems and future hits.

JOSEPH McDERMOTT

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The Changeling Dir- Clint Eastwood

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he opening credits of The Changeling immediately announce that it is based on a true story. With extensive research and an impressive 90% of the script lifted directly from court records, it certainly stays as close to the truth as possible. And what an amazing story it is, if not based so closely upon fact, I have no doubt that the film would be dismissed as completely and ridiculously unbelievable.

Set in the ‘20s, single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) returns home from work to discover her son missing. After months of searching and little help from the police, a child, who claims to be her missing son, is found.

Seeing this as an opportunity to correct their negative public perception, the

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Sophie Grencis

Dir- Seth Gordon

Waltz With Bashir Dir- Ari Folman

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f the phrase 'animated documentary' is enough to put you off a movie, then be prepared to miss out on one of the most startlingly innovative films of 2008. Waltz with Bashir (perhaps the title doesn’t do it any favours either) is a film that ticks all the right boxes, yet manages to not fit into any of them.

Fundamentally it is a war film, specifically concerning the young men who fought with the Israeli Defense Forces during the First Lebanon War in 1982, and how it has affected their later lives. However, the film opens out to reveal a complex depth which others in its genre often lack; as the main character, Ari Folman, realises that twenty years on from the war he has absolutely no recollection of any part he played in it, and so decides to set about finding his old friends in order to discover what really happened.

The animation surprisingly helps this process rather than hinders it, transcending from a sickly jaundiced yellow with contrasting shades of sharp black for the flashbacks to a deep swirling blue for an evocative dream sequence. We, as the audience, find ourselves in the same boat as Ari, for as the colour contrasts and fades over the screen it is hard not to feel as if in a dreamlike state, and what a vividly brilliant dream it becomes.

The fact that all of Waltz with Bashir comes from the real recollections of soldiers who fought in the Lebanon War, amongst them most prominent being the director Ari Folman himself, brings a real honesty to the story as we realise that these worries and traumas, whilst changed stylistically, essentially have been felt by real people; something which Folman brings shockingly to the audience’s attention in the inspired shift from animation to real life at the end. In this war, there are no 'goodies' or 'baddies,' no immortal hero to fight the battle one-handed, in fact often the characters are completely perplexed about where they are going and who they are shooting at, at all. Granted, due to the nature of the film some scenes are slow moving to generate atmosphere and occasionally seem to slip into a form of therapy for the director, but this is nitpicking a film which overall blows away all cliché cobwebs to leave the viewer with a fresh and exciting tour de force of cinema.

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n my experience, Christmas films can generally be split into two groups. Firstly, Festive Classics: It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and, for me at least, The Muppets' Christmas Carol. When the weather outside becomes frightful and people want to be filled with warm Christmas spirit these are the films that they turn to year after year.

The second group contains the kinds of films that not even ITV would buy for their Christmas TV schedule. Films which fall into this much less desirable category would include the disappointing Home Alone 3 and the almost universally disliked Fred Claus.

Unfortunately for Four Christmases the chances of it becoming the newest member of the former group are slightly lower than the chances of the Christmas tree in the centre of York turning into a rocket and blasting off towards the North Pole. Although the producers should bear in mind that sometimes Christmas miracles do happen.

The concept of Four Christmases is simple and yet the plot is still full of holes. An unmarried, but very happy, couple (Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon) whose relationship seems to be founded on a mutual dislike for

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police use the reunion of the child with his mother as an example of their good work. However, when she claims that the child is not her own, no one believes her and she is persecuted by society. .

Although ostensibly sticking to the truth of this story, Clint Eastwood’s film is slightly more debatable in its motives. The film strives so desperately to be epic, no doubt with an award or two in mind, yet somehow just doesn’t quite hit the mark. Jolie will probably receive an Oscar for her performance, but that’s not to say that she deserves one. The film does demonstrate that there is more to her than a pair of giant lips on legs, however apart from a very nice array of hats and her disturbingly sinewy hands, I found little else that was memorable about her performance. Her various teary reactions and breakdown scenes are convincing enough, yet the obvious strength of the woman which her character is based upon just doesn’t seem to shine through in the way in which it should.

Overall, although it gives the impression that it is trying slightly too hard to be something which it will never be, the facts behind it still make The Changeling an interesting watch. Even if the directing does feel a little obvious, the story has the ‘wow-factor’ which is enough to make up for it, while the script’s dedication to truth demands some respect.

Four Christmases

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marriage, children and families find that their values are questioned, and ultimately turned on their head, when a rather convoluted set of circumstances sees them having to attend four different holiday celebrations on one day.

Putting aside the implausibility of the plot, (very rarely do people change their entire world view after only one day and especially without the intervention of several ghosts) the film also fails to deliver in several other areas.

The jokes may raise a small laugh but nothing was memorable enough to cite here and what actually sticks in the mind are the jokes which drag on too long, the slapstick beatings Vince Vaughn’s character takes at the hands of his cage-fighter brothers are a prime example.

Finally, the message of the film, a rather predictable “Family is important after all!” is conveyed with all the subtlety of a knock-out punch from Santa himself.

The overall impression is an odd one; the film feels rushed and yet still drags. A concept that could have been turned into a fair Christmas flick is poorly realised and feels like a lazy effort from actors and actresses who have already shown that they can do much better.

ans of The Depp unite this yuletide… if you’re missing the tuneful magic Grease brought to campus this term and you like a bit of edge to your musicals, then this is the film for you.

Cry –Baby (1990), from the Director of the original Hairspray John Waters, is a play on the classic theme of the good girl, bad boy love story.

Set in Baltimore in 1954 at the start of Rock & Roll, the film follows Johnny Depp’s juvenile delinquent character Wade ‘CryBaby’ Walker (who sheds one tear a day for his executed parents) falling for goody-goody ‘square’ Allison. Of course Allison’s even squarer boyfriend doesn’t stand for it and starts a revolt against the ‘drape’ gang leading to cry-baby’s arrest and a great homage to Elvis’s Jail House Rock.

Depp’s hip swinging action is a must see.

In true musical tradition love prevails and everyone has a damn good sing song about it along the way.

This film sees Depp parodying his own bad-

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boy image and Waters stepping away from the usual stock musical characters to create an entourage of misfits and ‘freaks’. There are particularly humorous performances from notorious porn star Traci Lords as the seductive Wanda who puts Keira Knightly’s pout to shame throughout; and Kim Maguire as the endearingly named ‘Hatchet-Face’ (you’ll see why when you watch the film, grotesque is an understatement). And what would a John Water’s musical be without his favourite Ricki Lake, this time taking on the role of Cry-Baby’s pregnant, hard-as-nails sister Pepper Walker.

All in all, this is a perfect film to cheer you up on a cold December night; there are plenty of laughs and a lot of eye candy (for the boys and the girls) and Waters delivers a musical with a twist for an older, perhaps more mature audience.

If the wonderfully kitsch tag-line "too young to be square... too tough to be shocked... too late to be saved," appeals to you, then this is a definite must see.

Annie Duffield

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LEEDS FILM FESTIVAL

Laura Cress embarks on a voage of Japanese discovery, without ever leaving Yorkshire

L

ondon. Cannes. Venice. Toronto. Leeds. Yes, that’s right Leeds can quite rightfully stand proud (or at least slouch with a sense of self-satisfaction) amongst this list of other cities, for it too has its own film festival as Charles Rivington and I discovered mere weeks ago. Our plan: to lay bare the film festival experience and all its nuances. What we actually ended up doing: getting up ridiculously early for a Saturday morning and seeing some of the most bizarre yet fascinating films to come out of Leeds and the rest of the world (this was an international film festival after all) in the past few years.

Our first choice of viewing (after navigating our way to the box office from the kind directions of an old man who thought we were looking for a bar... at half nine in the morning) was the Yorkshire Short Film Competition, a collection of some of the best short films to come out of the region this year. We watched in quiet confusion and awe as we were presented with tales of singing fish, '70s childhood romances and adopted-daughter-meets-realmother-but-with-a-psychotic-twist horrors and on the whole we both felt that the filmmakers had really done the region proud with some standout use of ideas and cinematography.

If Monty Python were to take over our day, now would have been the time to hear the phrase, "And now for something completely different,” for the last two films we watched were an absolute contrast. First, we saw Mind Game an animated film spawned from a cult underground manga series, and were suitably and utterly bemused by what we saw (it seemed to be a running theme of the day). However, it was great to see such a large turnout of casual film watchers and manga-mad fan boys alike, as it illustrated that film festivals are gradually becoming much more accepted in the public eye and are seen as more than just a place for avant garde types to brown nose their favourite Czech animator (although, a survey may need to be done to see if avant garde types do actually exist in Leeds anyway!) We also became quite excited when we discovered a DVD vending machine, but that’s another story for another time.

Last on our agenda was 20th Century Boys, a Japanese live adaptation concerning the interesting premise of a mysterious cult that begins to play out the same prophecies a group of friends made when they were children. This was perhaps the best film we saw although we were more than just a little miffed at the 'to be continued' ending!

We were disappointed that we only got to watch a few of the many films that were on offer at the Leeds Film Festival, but from what we did watch, we would definitely recommend it as it was amazing to see such a wide variety of different cultures coming together just for this one event. So this time next year head on down to Leeds for something other than Oceana and you won’t regret it (especially if they still have that DVD machine...)

Laura Cress

F

Jingle Balls!

or many people the Christmas season seems to be a period when all dignity and self-control is lost. At no other time of year would it be considered appropriate to eat twelve mince pies and chug down a gallon of raw egg and brandy before heading off to bang on people’s doors and sing tunelessly at them about camels and angels and the silent night that they were probably hoping for.

Yet, at Christmas, this sort of behaviour is acceptable, encouraged even, and still the most cynical soul will merely shrug and say "oh well, ‘tis the season." It seems to me that a similar thing happens to people’s film watching habits. At no other time would anyone actually choose to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger arguing over toys or Dolly Parton dying and coming back as an angel or Tim Allen doing anything other than being beaten over the head with Rob Schneider’s dismembered limbs. Yet at Christmas whole families sit down and pretend to enjoy hours of the most infuriatingly tedious drivel. Similarly, Hollywood regurgitates the same hackneyed cash-ins year after year, well-aware that the undemanding public will go and see them simply because they have the word ‘Christmas’ in the title (see Four Christmases) and this is a real shame because some truly great films have been made about this most magical of times.

It's hard to talk about Christmas films without mentioning Frank Capra’s beloved It’s a Wonderful Life which many people consider to be the best Christmas film ever made. However, while I agree that it’s a moving and entertaining film, I think that they are wrong because the best Christmas film of all time is Bob Clark’s A Christmas Story which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The film is based on the memoirs of the humourist Jean Shephard (who also narrates the film) and follows the exploits nine-year old Ralphie during the run up to Christmas as he desperately tries to convince his parents to buy him the Red Ryder BB gun which everyone seems to think will "put his eye out." It is more of a series of connected and often hilarious vignettes than a plot driven story and is likely to be remembered for its small, very human moments such as the mother trying not laugh as the father tries to fix a novelty lamp; the disappointment on Ralph’s face when he decodes Orphan Annie’s message with the "Secret Decoder Ring" he sent away for in the post; and the parents putting their arms around each other on Christmas night at the end of the film.

It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story are not the only good Christmas films either; The Nightmare Before Christmas, both versions of A Miracle on 34th Street, Bad Santa (if you’re feeling a bit Scroogey), The Snowman and Joyeux Noel are all far more worthy of your time than a million Jingle All the Ways or Fred Clauses. There really is no excuse for watching bad movies this Christmas, just pick up the remote and turn over!

Christmas, this sort of behaviour is acceptable, enc

Charles Rivington

Vision'S%Top 5....

Favourite Films of 2008 % (So far...)

As we enter the festive season and the year begins to draw to a close, I like to look back at some of the year's cinematic treats that made me feel like Christmas had come early...

5. Wall-E (dir: Andrew Stanton) Forget Big and Carrie, Ellen and Portia, Meryl Streep and every male actor over the age of 40; 2008’s couple that you could root for were robots Wall-E and Eve and their touching romance was at the heart of this year’s best animated film.

4. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (dir: Guillermo Del Toro) In a summer dominated by darkness, Hellboy II provided a feel-good superhero movie with witty dialogue and lovably weird characters (including a German gas robot, a hulking red devil and a fish thing) as well as Del Toro’s unique visual style all coming together to create one hell of an entertaining film.

3. In Bruges (dir Martin Macdonagh) Colin Farrell can act. Who knew? Who remembered? In Bruges, with its surreal dark comedy and taut thriller, proved to be the perfect way for him to refresh our memories and was also one of the most hilarious and affecting films of the year.

2. Dark Knight (dir: Chistopher Nolan) There isn’t much that you can say about Dark Knight, about its astonishing performances, about its reinvention of the superhero genre that hasn’t already been said countless times before. It is an awesome film though.

1. There Will Be Blood (dir: Paul Thomas Anderson) 2008’s only masterpiece, Paul Thomas Anderson’s ambitious, frightening and breathtaking portrait of a consummately evil man (a magnificent Daniel Day Lewis) was essential viewing this year.

SPOTLIGHT

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teleVISION

Santa’s TV Treats

TURN ON...

Sophie Grencis tells us what’s worth watching this festive period.

W

atching TV over the holidays often leads to selfquestioning. "Why am I not out sledging? Why am I not putting out mincepies for Santa?

Why have I become bored with my family after only two days home? Why on earth am I sitting here watching this pile of souldestroying crap?"

But panic not; settle down and indulge, because we all understand that Christmas TV is a vital guilty pleasure of modern life - and besides, it's bloody cold outside.

From the listings released so far from ITV and the BBC, it looks like this year will be no exception to the usual cheesy festive drivel that we all love to hate. The BBC annually wins the viewers, and as Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, has so aptly put, this year: “The whole family will be able to sit back, relax and let the BBC entertain them,” (read as “let the BBC entertain them so that they don’t actually have to talk to each other, thank God.”) Wallace and Gromit are to act as the framework, featuring in a series of mini clips as well as their new anima-

tion, A Matter of Loaf and Death, a title vying to be a Vision headline if it hasn’t been already.

With specials from Gavin and Stacey, Shooting Stars, Doctor Who, QI, Top Gear and Jonathan Creek, there should be something for everybody. There will also be a new episode of The Royle Family, sadly minus Ralf Little, which does have the potential to go very wrong.

However, hopefully it’ll live up to its high expectations and be just as good as we remember.

Blackadder Rides Again, a documentary featuring the first ever in-depth interview with Rowan Atkinson about the series, is also in store from the BBC. In addition to this there are the traditional classic films that people will either love or loath, The Great Escape, Zulu and The Italian Job for the boys and The Sound of Music and Love Actually (okay not a classic yet but on the way there) for the girls.

This year ITV have announced that their advertising revenues have seriously dropped, making it likely that their listings might also be a little lacking. On the other hand, they have managed to secure The Girls Aloud Party, featuring the girls singing (unsurprisingly), interviewing and, slightly worryingly, performing sketches. This probably blew ITV’s entire budget, because apart from this, its festive offerings look pretty dire. Apart from Andrew Davies’ (writer of period drama Tipping the Velvet) Gothic ghost story Affinity, which does look fairly promising, the network seems to have little else to offer beyond The Big Match Revisited, involving re-runs of old football matches.

Not that the BBC’s listings are all that appealing, with a documentary entitled The Truth About Carols, offering little more than the title implies, and a drama entitled Crooked, which is allowing Derren Brown an acting role; clearly the Beeb is not without its flaws in judgement.

But then again, when we consider our alternatives such as watching the news (recession, job losses, terrorism, rising fuel costs), suddenly the Christmas listings look a lot brighter. And for those of you who think that they are above it all: cheer up, you miserable bastards.

...TURN OFF As usual this week’s Hollyoaks episodes are crammed full of pressing issues.

First things first, Friday's episode tackles the day-to-day problems of impotent schizophrenics, as loveable emo Newt discovers his medication has the unfortunate side affect of stopping him from performing in the sack. This means Lauren, his sexually-frustrated girlfriend, jumps to all the wrong conclusions about their relationship and thinks it’s all over.

Then, elsewhere, things go from bad to worse for Tony as he is forced to turn himself in to the police, after unwittingly bedding a minor. She just happens to be the brand new McQueen cousin, set to stay in the street to fill the void left in our hearts

by Tina’s (long overdue) death.

In more exciting news, the latest Christmas spoilers are out, and it’s not looking too good for Louise. Since her fiancé Warren has been sleeping around, as all good nightclub owners do, their relationship has taken a turn for the worse.

Linked to the spreading rumours that Roxanne McKee (Louise) wants to leave the show, there is an up-and-coming explosive Christmas episode that I’m pretty sure we will never forget!

Hollyoaks Drinking Game

A

s the latest Hollyoaks gossip wasn’t fantastically entertaining this week, we’ve decided to ease the boredom with a Hollyoaks-themed drinking game. Drink when: • A McQueen says or does something slutty • A massive stereotype comes on screen, e.g.

Calvin- straight edged copper, Warren - seedy night club owner etc • A piece of current popular music is shoe horned in to show that Hollyoaks is the young person’s soap

And for anyone up for watching the Hollyoaks later episodes on 4oD drink when: • • •

Swearing is used for no other reason than to prove that this is ‘Later’ Some of that raw Hollyoaks sexuality is slapped in your face When a fight breaks out that is clearly of no harm to either participant

Sophie Walker

INTERVIEW

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games Fallout 3

Xbox360, PS3, PC

F

allout 3 throws you into a futuristic post-nuclear wasteland populated by savage super mutants, deformed insects and people struggling to survive.

Great writing and dark humour make the game very charming, but note that it’s rated 18 for a reason. Expect masses of gore, foul language, a few drug addicts and the occasional prostitute too. This

game isn’t for the faint of heart.

After emerging from a bomb shelter you must brave the ruins of Washington DC in an attempt to find your father. Clichéd? Yes. But that’s where the stereotypes end. This is not your average shoot ‘em up; in some ways it’s more of a dungeon crawling RPG. The open-ended structure means you can go wherever you want, and do whatever you want. You are presented with a world rather than a path, and this is what makes it special. The attention to detail is unrivalled; every house is unique, every character has... character and every task feels different. Not only that, the way you interact with the world is your choice too. If you want to be a jerk to pretty much everyone you meet you can, and because the world feels so alive these people will react to your decisions and there will be real consequences.

So if you’re looking for an outstanding single player experience, look no further than Fallout 3.

COMING SOON Spring 2009:

Street Fighter 4 (360, PS3, PC) It’s the first true Street Fighter game since 1999, and represents a return to the roots with gameplay more similar to the second instalment.

The Sims 3 (PC) It’s mostly more of the same for anyone familiar with the series, but with far more detail and freedom than ever before.

Halo Wars (360) Bungie presents Halo with a real-time strategy twist. Whether the more PC-centric genre will translate well to both the console and the fans of the series is yet to be seen.

Madworld (Wii) A truly mature game designed specifically for the Wii, this game features, in the developers’ own words, “comical, over-the-top violence that anyone could enjoy.”

Resident Evil 5 (360, PS3) This time the king of survival horror puts an emphasis on two-player co-operative play, so don’t be afraid of being forced to play by yourself in the dark.

ASTON RAMSDEN

Rob Sienkiewicz

LittleBigPlanet PS3

M

edia Molecule’s ambitions with their first game are to bring social networking to gaming. LBP is very simple to play, a sidescrolling platformer incorporating jumping and grabbing, built with superb physics and playable by up to four people at once, online or local. The cute graphics and iconic customisable Sackboy (and Sackgirl) characters, should be enough to convince non-gaming friends to play with you but I’ve found the game itself to be too difficult for them to keep up. Since you’ll mostly be playing user-made levels, the game can be very unforgiving.

The game features a powerful level-creator. You can publish levels you make and all other online players can try it. Yes, most of the levels are terrible, however, if you can find them there are some amazing experiences to be had already. Although LBP is the most polished game I’ve played in a long time (with narration by the Stephen Fry) it would have benefited from some extra development time as sifting through the rubbish levels is a lot more difficult than it should be.

We’re all on student budgets, so is it worth the money? Well, if you can’t get online I’d say absolutely not; if you can then LittleBigPlanet is a great laugh and perfect for killing a few hours with friends as there’s always something new to check out.

But there’s no rush, just like the websites it’s modelled on, LBP will only get better as time goes on.

Rob Sienkiewicz

Guitar Hero - PS2

H

aving seen many a man fall victim to this game, I was well aware of the dangers it posed. Luckily I am, in fact, female and as a female I would not let this happen. Thus I cockily took charge of the cheap plastic Fender-wannabe guitar - with only five colour coded notes this would be a breeze!

Seven attempts of Smoke on the Water later I was finally moving up in the Guitar Hero world. Ignoring my flatmates’ annoyance and blatant jealousy as they left me alone in the early hours of the morning with my nemesis, I finally proceeded on to ‘expert’ mode.

This was it, I was the new Jimi Hendrix; unstoppable and undeniably talented. Before long I slept, ate and craved Guitar Hero.

A month later and most of the psychological harmful effects seem to have warn off, my friends and family have accepted my apologies and we are now on speaking terms.

I am now awaiting Guitar Hero: On Tour for Christmas, but rest assured I will not let it possess me again…

Hannah Belcher

Like games? Want to write about games? Email vision@yusu.org!

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MY CHRISTMAS WISHLIST

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It’s Christmas! Well, it isn’t quite yet, but if you’re anything like me, you are already eagerly awaiting the 25th while counting down the days with an equallyanticipated chocolate advent calendar.

However penniless we students are, we can’t expect amazing presents without at least attempting to buy some in return so here are a few ideas for the close family:

Victoria Lovegreen

Name: Dad If your dad is anything like my dad (and I hope for your sake he is not half as embarrassing) he really loves crime novels. He'll tell you a million times that he has figured out whodunnit and then goes really quiet halfway through when he realises he is completely wrong. John Le Carré’s The Most Wanted Man is perfect. Set in the Cold War and using the technical spy terminology of the time, it is perfect for someone who enjoys a gripping and realistic novel.

Mum I don’t know about your mum, but mine absolutely loves ITV’s This Morning, even going to the frankly quite weird extent of addressing the presenters as Phil and Fern, as though they are close personal friends of hers. So I know she will absolutely love Fern: My Story, a truly heart-warming and brutally honest autobiography from the TV presenter about family, public battles with weight loss and depression, as well as her job on the daytime programme. It shows a completely different side to the usually bubbly presenter, which no one can fail to respect.

Granddad Grandparents are always notoriously difficult people to buy presents for, considering they generally take a rampant dislike to any invention made after Britain went metric. Luckily, you can’t really go wrong with a simple book. For grandfathers this Christmas, I would strongly recommend the The Ascent of Money: A financial history of the world by Niall Ferguson. And no, while the subject may appear a bit dull, it is actually not only interesting, but also especially relevant during the credit crunch, providing possible answers for why we are experiencing this economic downturn.

Grandma Again, very tricky to find a present for. When I personally think of something that Grandmas would like (aside from Strictly Come Dancing tickets) it is pictures of the beautiful countryside and hearty homemade meals. Combining these two thoughts is the cookery-book-cum-travel-guide One Hundred and One Beautiful Towns in Italy: Food and Wine Guide by Simonetta Greggio. With stunning pictures of quaint little French market towns and delicious recipes, including traditional pastries and cakes, written in an easy, casual tone, thoughtful grandchildren who buy the book can’t help but hope to sample this taste of France.

Teenage siblings

Everyone’s brother and sister are different and so it is difficult to prescribe one book to fit this category. But I think that a book worth buying this Christmas as a gift is Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. Although not the most cheerful of books for Christmas, it is b i b -the first in a series looking at an imaginary world, where segregation exists, but as a thoughtprovoking twist, black people are the dominant race, and white people the inferior in this imagined apartheid. It is sure to have the reader, whatever gender, gripped. Truly a worthwhile read for anyone.

Younger Siblings Personally I don’t even think you need to be young to enjoy the delights of The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet and Allen Alberg, with its envelopes addressed to the most intriguing recipients of mail and pull-out letters and presents, games and flyers. It was one of my favourite books when I was younger (ok, it still is one of my favourites) thanks to the timeless joviality about its jolly, to quote the title, postman and his rhyming tale.

Help for all liophiles:

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Ntionl yr of rding?

2

008 is the National Year of Reading. No, I didn’t know either and, as an English Literature student and avid reader, I really should have done.

Despite clear publicity flaws, when I actually ventured onto the website (www.nationalyearofreading.org.uk) ready to write a rant about lack of enthusiasm for our most ancient tradition I instead found a surprising number of events occurring and some of them were actually in York! As it turns out our quaint little city is home to a veritable plethora of reading groups, workshops and literary festivals, none of which I had any idea existed.

Among the rich pickings was a workshop dedi-

themes change slightly with November edging towards a more media-centred approach with Screen Reads, exploring the diversity of reading and writing scripts, TV and films. But it was the theme for December, that made me rethink my appraisal of the whole scheme: 'Write the Future: texting, blogging etc'.

It not only outraged me that this year of national dedication to reading culminated in no more than a "hey, hw r u?" but it deeply, deeply concerned me. The average text should never be more than 30/ 40 words tops, any longer and it simply means the sender is too socially inept to have called you.

Texts are for flirting or checking where your mate is in Gallery when you get lost after going to the loo, they are not the intellectual equivalent of a 500 page novel.

Is this really what literacy has been reduced to? The influence of the National Year of Reading was most specifically aimed at children in primary schools only learning the skill for the first time and they are being taught to equate text banter with grammatically correct syntax.

In this electronic age are books becoming obsolete? There is more than a smidgen of irony to be found in the fact that this first ever National Year of Reading is also the year in which the electronic book was launched. The Sony Reader costs £195, can store 160 books and runs on a battery that lasts long enough for you to get through a copy of War and Peace. Slick? Definitely. Economical? Perhaps.

A fad? Undeniably.

Texts are for flirting or checking where your mate is in Gallery ... they are not the intellectual equivalent of a 500 page novel. cated to the union of science and poetry, a reading of Mats Rehnman’s Nordic tales, a graphic novel reading group and a chance to meet Dan Wadell, author of the Who Do You Think You Are? book accompanying the popular BBC series… diverse to say the least. Event themes differ with each changing month. July, for example, was 'Rhythm and Rhyme': poems, poetry and lyrics and the theme for September was 'You Are What You Read': cultural, personal and local identity.

As we progress towards the end of the year the

Rowling in it T

hursday the 4th of December sees the release of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling’s accompaniment to the Harry Potter series. The book houses a collection of fairytales, all supposedly classics of the wizarding world.

Following in the footsteps of the Brother’s Grimm, and citing the Canterbury Tales as inspiration, it comprises five fables, with The Tale of Three Brothers sounding familiar to anyone who has read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bookshops around the country, in keeping with tradition, will be opening at midnight for fans who want to own their copy in the early hours of the morning, with Borders throwing a 'Yule Ball' for its nocturnal shoppers, and promising carols and face painting.

This general release, neatly dated just before Christmas, marks the second time the book has gone to print. In In the final months of last year, seven were published, each hand written and illustrated by J. K. Rowling herself.

Each one was bound in Moroccan leather and decorated with silver and semiprecious stones – a different stone for each edition. Six of these lavish books were dedicated and given to people involved in the production of the original series, as the gift you give someone who already has everything impres-

sive book profits can buy.

The seventh (marked out by its moonstone-studded cover), though went to auction in London on 13th December, predicted to sell for around £50,000 – but the book eventually raised £1.95m for the Children’s Voice campaign run by the Children’s High Level Group. Founded in 2005 by MEP Emma Nicholson and J.K Rowling herself, the charity raises awareness of the plight of children in living in residential intuitions across Europe, as well as working with governments to improve the quality of their services, with initiatives including training for community nurses and links between Romanian children in school and those in public care.

The final general release copy will not be as ornate as the hand crafted originals - though a £50 impulse buy on Amazon will get you a collectors’ edition complete with limited edition prints and velvet carry pouch, but proceeds will go to the same charity. While, it would be easy for a cynic to point to the early December sale date and accuse Beedle the Bard as being one more way for Rowling to squeeze a bit more profit out of the Harry Potter series, with all profit going to charity, this book is a less guilty purchase, and perhaps a more Christmas-spirit induced Christmas present.

Miriam Hunt

Despite the obvious benefit of feeling like you’re in Minority Report whenever you whip out this dinky gadget, I hold strong in the belief that these e-books will not replace our beloved paperbacks. I am not afraid of advancement but I believe there is a tradition connected to literature and I am certain that the many reading groups I found within York’s city walls do not meet once a month to huddle around a glorified Nintendo DS.

Jennifer Keogh

e-book gum

I

t’s the technology that must be starting to make librarians all over the world nervous.

In these times of economic instability and mass redundancies, even they are not free from a little job insecurity as the rise of the ebook threatens to make their role increasingly redundant. Well, perhaps we haven’t quite arrived at the point of turning on our TV sets to see pictures of forlorn looking librarians leaving bankrupted libraries, complete with possessions in boxes.

Yet the increasing popularity and market of e-books surely must present a future danger. Originally produced specifically for speciality subjects with a limited audience, the expansion of the e-book market has brought with it many advantages for both authors and readers and it shows no signs of slowing down.

We no longer have to venture to our local libraries, trawling through the shelves and attempting to break the bizarre code that is the Dewy Decimal System in order to find the books or information we are looking for.

Instead, like pretty much anything in our lives today, a wealth of literature is only a few clicks away.

Now, from the point of a view of a student living off campus who has at times, I am sorry to admit, been branded with the label “lazy,” the immediate benefits of e-books are as plentiful as the vomit collected in Amy Winehouse’ toilets. However there are more advantages than simply the opportunity to put even less effort into your studies than those unlucky scholars who have gone before you. Features such as the search tool make essay writing

a dream as no longer do you have to do the work in searching out your subject matter – simply typing your desired topic into the search box is sufficient and you will find all references to it neatly highlighted for your convenience.

Laborious note taking can become a thing of the past as reference can be easily copied and pasted and as essay deadlines approach there no longer needs to be the traditional scramble between forty students for two books; online resources are infinite. All this seems ideal when compared with the current perils of a trip to the library and the associated frustrations of items being on loan and the stringent time restrictions on key texts.

Surely the student body would benefit from increased spending on access to e-books rather than their 3-dimensional counterparts? The more romantic amongst us will surely lament this viewpoint, arguing that the experience of reading is greatly shaped by the aesthetics of the book in question and actually holding it in your hands, and to some extent they do have a point.

Reading great works of literature such as Dickens or Austen from a computer screen is unlikely to be inspiring and it is slightly more difficult to pop a lap-top into your handbag in case you can snatch a bit of time to read a bit. So if you haven’t already, then start using e books, and then never will you be harassed by over zealous, semi socially retarded library assistants demanding ridiculous fines because you have handed what is apparently a ‘key text’ in a few days late. Destroy the library. Read e books.

Josie Whittle

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The Culture Crunch

F

ashion, music, dance, in fact youth culture in general, don’t seem to be in a fantastic state at the moment. Try naming three current fashion trends, or four bands who have made it big this year and I predict that you will find it surprisingly difficult.

Think back to 1997, 1964 or even 1927 and try the same. Easier than you thought? This is not just a gift of hindsight but is, in fact, indicative of something more significant.

The Roaring Twenties, the Swinging Sixties and the Naughty Nineties are easy to romanticise. Jazz, Free Love and The Spice Girls were cultural phenomena that inspired whole generations, but do the youth of today have an equivalent? Or, thinking of it, did the young adults of the Thirties or the Seventies have something comparable?

Arguably, no. Some decades seem to lack that cultural cohesion that sparked the ‘revolution’ of the Sixties, for example, and it seems to have something to do with economics. The Twenties, Sixties and Nineties were periods of great economic growth, where increased expendable wealth drove consumer spending and hence cultural development, whilst the recessions of the Thirties and the Seventies had quite the opposite effect.

So, in a time where some experts warn that our global financial crisis may be of a similar scale to that of the 1930s, what are we left with? Those uninterested in the high arts can console themselves with the knowledge

"Some may already have noticed the sharp rise of ticket prices on campus"

"The Roaring Twenties, the Swinging Sixties and the Naughties Nineties are easy to romanticise"

that it is not just popular culture that will suffer. Not only will arts ticket sales fall, so will donations and funding, and all this while costs will be on the up. Arts professionals will have no choice but to be more fiscally orientated, keeping expenditure down and taking fewer creative risks.

Even at university we will feel the impact. Some may have already noticed the sharp rise of ticket prices on campus as costs soar. As students are forced to take on part-time work, their extra-curricular activities will be the first thing to suffer and campus arts are unlikely to further develop over the next few years.

So things aren’t looking to good for arts and culture as we head into 2009. Though it is predicted we will return to economic growth by 2010, let us not wish away the years too quickly, as the Bard himself once wrote, “restraint hath its own medicine,” and we can only hope that these new financial restraints may be a help rather than a hindrance, leading to a new, more tempered creativity.

Zoe Stones

Grease Lightning

utler B e h T What

SAW

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INTERVIEW

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Emily Mears takes us round York Art Gallery's latest exhibition...

Can we really write on the wall?"’ exclaims a little boy, brandishing his chalk like a sword.

‘Yes darling,’ sighs his weary mother, ‘but you have to write about the painting’.

Writing about paintings is something Tracy Chevalier is used to. Artwork is often her inspiration.

Her best selling novel, A Girl with a Pearl Earring, magically transforms a silver tinted Vermeer into a caught moment, a stilled scene in a tale of love, loss and adventure. When " Eager spectators must throw away she became writer in their spectacles and pick up the pen" residence at York's art gallery, therefore, it became clear that her own exhibition might involve the mingling of something literary with paint. A Thousand Words, an apt title for such an exhibition, is a true blend of the arts. Behind the gilt framed watercolours runs a thick band of blackboard,

that she believes will animate onlookers. In a recent talk she gave about the exhibition Chevalier spoke of how she wanted the selection to be like "box of quality streets," everybody should have their favourite.

And indeed the exhibition is a veritable mish-mash of shiny purple wrappers and matt green mint triangles.

Everybody can find their favourite, whether it be the white cold, and Twentieth Century sketch of a surgeon or the Seventeenth Century, and flushed red portrait of Poussin. Yet, even with the right paintings, can the public imagination come up with any telling tales?

Walking around the room I stop at intervals to inspect these snippets of stories. I laugh, frown and recoil at the odd jumble of faintly humorous, daringly dark and often startlingly obvious remarks. Only one comment, it would seem, possesses the potential for a real story. Next to the portrait of a posh lady with a haughty air and a flouncy golden dress somebody has scrawled in loopy writing: "she smelt the whiff

LISTINGS

What Not To Miss This Christmas...

Jack and the Beanstalk Fe, fi, fo, fum… This year’s fantastic pantomime is Jack and the Beanstalk… Starring Ace from Gladiators! It's worth seeing if only for the magical growing beanstalk!

Location: Grand Opera House York Dates & Times: Friday 12th December – Sunday 4th January 7pm, or 1pm matinee - £9

"Bringing an author into the glorified realms of a gallery was bound to spark controversy"

scribbled over with chalk. This extended blackboard is Chevalier’s innovative idea. Eager spectators must throw away their spectacles and pick up the pen.

Chevalier’s aim is for the public to create ‘beginnings, middles and ends’ for the paintings she has chosen.

Chevalier has purposefully picked paintings

of burning pudding coming from the kitchen…

But how to get away without being rude to the guests." It definitely wouldn’t be a spine-tingling thriller, but perhaps it could become a Jane Austen-cum-weight watchers parody?

Bringing an author into the glorified realms of a gallery was bound to spark controversy.

Brush strokes sitting beside words, blackboards intruding on canvases, snooty art lovers reading and writing… juxtaposition gone mad! But though it was a risky business, both York Art Gallery and Tracy Chevalier, are reported to be thrilled and pleased with the public’s response, however off-the-wall it might be! Flippant fairytales and old-fashioned oils can, as the exhibition proves, make for interesting viewing.

The Ice Factor York’s open-air ice rink has opened once again, complete with log cabins! Set against the spectacular backdrop of Clifford’s Tower, they also provide a heated café for that essential post-skating hot drink.

Location: Clifford’s Tower Dates & Times: Until 4th January 2009: 10am - 9.45pm Prices: £8.95 adults, £7.95 concessions.

College Culture

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elcome weary travellers, as we navigate deeper into the murky depths of the Isles of Spork and its collection of delightful and derelict huts we like to call home. Some say there is a land there which few dare traverse, mainly due to its inexplicable distance from the rest of the Isles, and they call this land Derwentasia.

Upon reaching the enchanted land of Derwentasia, you may be forgiven for thinking that you have actually arrived at the High Fortress of Gildricke C Blocke due to its forebodingly sparing use of the idea 'architecture,' but never let that fool you, for inside there lies a treasure trove guarded by the mightiest of dragons, the Derwentian Barre Staff. Yes, the Derwentasia Barre is known across the lands for being 'kinda big' and a place where many Kings and the odd Pirate President recall countless battles of sport lost and, well, lost some more.

If the Barre is not your kind of thing, then why not wait for the singing sessions that occur every so often at the end of the magnificent liquid feast harkened as 'Clubbe D'. These normally occur when several Derwentian knights, after a little too much grog, sing the Derwentian Gaelic chant, “I love you Derwent.”

No one quite knows what spirits this chant is supposed to invoke, but by the looks on many of the knights faces it is clearly one with a paralytic effect.

Derwentasia is a mystical area that will forever have its place in the culture of the Isles of Spork, yet one must note that severe overexposure to its ilk may cause asbestos poisoning, so always bring a mask!

Festival of Angels Stunning ice sculptures to get you in the festive mood.

Location: The Quarter, Grape Lane, York (near El Piano and Vudu) Dates & Times: Sat 13th & Sun 14th December: 12pm to 6pm Price: Free!

SPOTLIGHT

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ow, who ever thought we’d be able to say that we are actually "dashOh the ing through the snow?" iling it h-ta hig of ry glo supreme se open hor one a on ary libr the to swiftly ing turn n sleigh, and the . way the all ng ghi lau , around Incidentally, in case this crim inma the in ed tion inally isn’t men ducstream news, this page’s pro the by d iche tion was greatly enr ) by? (rug e stit sve tran so thirty or the banshees who tore around

music Glasvegas 11/12/08

The Asylum Hull £12 8PM Viva Glasvegas These Scots have enjoyed a lightening rise to fame over the last year.

Formed in 2001 by cousins James and Rab Allen, with the line-up finalised in 2004, their journey to notoriety has had the steady chug of the 3.15 London-Glasgow at the mercy of engineering works. Having arrived, they’re now enjoying the heady stratospheres of Glastonbury, T In The Park, Latitude, Reading and Leeds Festivals and sharing produceers with Franz Ferdinand and Muse.

As one who ordinarily dabbles strictly in the music of those known better for their haircuts and associations with George Michael, X-Tra Curricula is enjoying being on the 'told you so' pedestal. Having seen the band before, they hit the gig time in one of York’s more modest venues (think somewhere between a church hall and the YUSU Bar as is) they have definitely gone places.

The Asylum seems to be the greatest thing to have happened to Hull since John Prescott if biased reports are to be believed. When masquerading as Hull students, talk a lot about how great the asylum is and throw eggs at people. One to live life by: If it’s good enough for 'TwoJags'... although that could get you into a lot of hot water. Better stick with fabulous Glasvegas; much more than scotch mist. www.hullstudent.com

frosty library clutching WKDs one y in eve last week. Topped onl two by s litie qua its Vision-like gh bru Van in ons falc g din men hol ly den sud s car park. Why do bird r? nea y’re the e tim appear every And Because they’re falconers. rry she , yed ty-e from these mis la ricu Cur ra X-T s, sing soaked mu of dishas brought you its sack hours tractions for the last few of ins stra the ile Wh ty. par of the o, disc the ive Wham! try and rev SS p. dee dig to not ised you are adv

Stiff Dylans 12/12/08

The Duchess £6 7PM The oldest trick in the book If you’re aged between 13 and 17 you may have lost your grip on this issue, and reality, in a state of teencrush asphyxia. In which case, thanks for reading and try to have a friend catch you. If you’re not drifting in that greasy sea of uncertainty, imagine how you felt when Gary Barlow wasn’t middle aged and cosy, or when Leonardo Di Caprio stared through a fishtank. Gentlemen may imagine the first time they opened up to Page 3, although X-Tra Curricula is reliably informed that this particular sensation is not what the band was named for. They spring from the pages of Louise Rennison’s essential teen book series into this summer’s film adaptation Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

Originally cast as the band in the film, they can’t get out of character, but far from being worried about normal patterns of detachment, let’s all catch some "zero crap plodding... good tunes that come naturally and sound fresh with a pH." If you’re old enough for that teenspeak reference to irk and confuse, maybe this isn’t your cup of lapsang souchong. In case you still need pursuading one way or the other, we leave you with this from band member Matt: "I’d like to think that if an alien landed we could give them a copy of our CD, tell them that everything society is based on is somewhere in those songs and let them get on with it." Quite. www.theduchessyork.co.uk

Theatre Jack and the Beanstalk

York Grand Opera House 12/12/08-04/01/09 7PM/4PM £9 Sadly it’s not behind you.

Stop right there. Leah Bracknell from Emmerdale and The Royal Today as well as Ace from Gladiators? Throw your Christmas lists on the log fire it’s all come true! Look on this not as falling prey to the ineptitudes of the under fives and tranvestites on stage, but as a poignant tale of mother and son, just trying to make a bean during the credit crunch. www.grandoperahouseyork.org.uk

LISTINGS

it's

The Pogues

more

Leeds Academy 09/12/08 £28.87 7PM

Steve Coogan 13&14/12/08 Leeds Grand Theatre £36 7:30PM We don’t care about the Norfolks Yes it is a bit steep, especially as The Mighty Boosh are playing for ten quid cheaper, but seeing as Coogan’s netting the cash from that too he’s having the last laugh whatever you do. Wikipedia, the last bastion of internet truth, has written of "mixed reviews." What, of the actor who appeared in the so questionable it hurts Tropic Thunder? All this, plus a Courtney Love fling and pregnancy rumour (hands up who hasn’t), and being tarred with the black brush of "celebrity drug pusher." Knowing me, evidently not knowing you. www.leedsgrandtheatre.com

The Ice Factor until 04/01/09 Next to Cliffords Tower £7.95 The icing on the skate Sadly not Simon Cowell embarking on a mocking tour of the arctics.

He'd melt anyone's poles. There’s a fully licensed bar and illuminated oak tree in the middle (safety first) of the rink as well as X-Tra Curricula's much heralded favourite, theatrical lighting. Ending what seemed like an interminable spate of fraudulent rinks across the North East, this one is 100% ice. "Ice Marshalls are on hand at all times to prise you off the handrail and get you skating," like the insufferable Redcoats of yesteryear. Chilling. www.theicefactor.co.uk

Fairytale of York(shire) You know that song about Christmas where the Irish people swear at each other? Yes, Westlife are back in town! No, of course not, they’re being forced to learn to dance by the sounds of it; a prerequisite for Louis Walsh endorsement. So continuing the dubious band name theme, its the Pogues - named after the Irish for a term of abuse along the lines of “I don’t care what you do but I’ve got one idea.”

Formed in the sacred decade, they fell fowl to frontman Shane McGowan’s alcohol problems in the mid-nineties and have not recorded anything new since re-forming in 2001. Well great, what an enticing prospect. You may have noticed that promotion is not always the intention of this page.

Why, it's a yes: McGowan (pictured one who mistook a tobacconist for a dentist) was once in a band called The Nipple Erectors, or The Nips to their friends. What is more, they use a tin whistle.

Why its a no: They’ve performed with Katie Melua.

the reel

world Changeling

the home front

Nightmare Before Christmas

Vanbrugh 9PM £4.50/5otd 13/12/08 (Saturday Week 9) Truly terrifying Revealing their JCRC election results on a night based on the premise of your dreams turning into nightmares wasn’t Vanbrugh’s most sensitive move, but to be Frank, that’s life.

Many would agree that sitting on an old man’s knee in a small shed is nightmarish, and they’ve got a professional photographer to immortalise the full horror. DJ Nik-

will set the office party scene that's likely to blight many of our lives until retirement. What’s your worst nightmare? Answers on a postcard...

Angelina Jolie does the unexpected and doesn’t take in a child.

“I have got six of them now”

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

It’s an acting zoo with Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen and Alec Baldwin. Let’s hope no one set his fur flying.

Four Christmases

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon run the festive family gauntlet.

Scene is:

Scene Editor: Andrew Nichols Music Editor: Joe McDermott & Hollie Price Music Deputy: Kate Miseada & Sarah Stretton Film Editor: Laura Cress & Charles Rivington Film Deputy: Annie Duffield & Tom McDermott TV Editor: Scott Bryan Deputy TV: Sophie Walkes & Sophie G Games Editor: Jerome Josy

Books Editor: Jenny Keogh Books Deputy: Miriam Hunt & Victoria Lovegreen Culture Editor: Zoe Stones Deputy Culture: Jenny McLarney & Stephanie Hood Listings Editor: Sophie Sabin