2nd Oct 2012 Issue II Volume XIX
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The Arts & Culture Supplement of the University Observer
Armando Iannucci Otwo chats politics with the creator of The Thick of It
Also inside >>
Lianne La Havas
| Lenny Abraham
san | Damien D
empsey
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contents
Mystic Mittens’ feline fortunes
Page 2 – Regulars
While Mystic Mittens reveals your future, Aoife Valentine digs her claws into a certain modern terminology, and What’s Hot and What’s Not ensures trendiness even hipsters will approve of.
Page 4 – Otwo Attempts
Anna Burzlaff goes looking for love in the seedy world of internet dating.
Virgo
August 23rd - September 22nd As the Pisces Moon illuminates your 11th House of Friends and Associates remember that nonsense is a fish in a barrel and you hold the gun.
Page 5 – Travel
The big bad city of New York and the exotic shores of South East Asia form the basis of this fortnight’s travel section.
Page 7 – Hidden Gems
Emily Mullen gives the lowdown on the best cafes Dublin has to offer.
Page 8 – Games
World of Warcraft and Zenith are reviewed, and Steven Balbirnie gets better acquainted with games developer, Jon Blow.
Page 10 – Film
It’s all gone patriotic this issue with interviews with legendary Irish film director, Lenny Abrahamson, and the star of his latest movie, Jack Reynor. Jack Walsh counts down the top 10 grimmest Irish movies, and to top it off we have reviews of What Richard Did, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Resident Evil.
Page 14 – Centre
Emer Surgue talks to the genius behind TV shows The Thick of It and I’m Alan Partridge, Armando Iannuci.
Page 16 – Music
Otwo chats to Damien Dempsey, Bowling for Soup, Tim Burgess, and Lianne La Havas; Stephen Connolly lists his selection of songs to help you kick an early academic lethargy; Heathers update us on their tour; and all the latest album releases get a thorough going over.
Page 22 – What’s On
Anna Burzlaff talks to the man behind Junior Spesh to discover what the clubnight is all about.
Page 23 – Fashion
All the key trends to get you through this Autumn/Winter are revealed, while Michael Madigan gives his take on the highlights from London Fashion Week.
Page 26 – Special Feature
Joshua Gordon talks to Anna Burzlaff about photography, clothes design, and finding inspiration.
Page 27 – Fatal Fourway
Watch the Fatal Fourway competitors rip one another to shreds, all in an attempt to prove the best Disney film.
the
University Observer Volume XIX Issue I Telephone: (01) 716 3119/3120 Email: info@universityobserver.ie www.universityobserver.ie
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Taurus
October 23th – Novermber 21st When you taste vomit in your mouth sometime this week, know that the choice you have made is the right one.
Gemini
Sagittarius November 22st - December 21th On second thoughts, do not go to the Ag building. It is a silly place
April 20th - May 20th Making Chili Con Carni for dinner tonight may or may not aid your success in the next life. May 21st - June 20th Your romantic urges are strong and there’s not much to hold you back from expressing what’s in your heart. Just make sure you bring some tissues to clean up afterwards.
Cancer
June 21st - July 22nd Now is the time to take a risk. Test out the college canteen, but if you find yourself with salmonella as a result, you only have yourself to blame. And this advice.
Leo
July 23rd - August 22nd True friends are hard to come by. Remember that to pee together is a sign of more than similar bladder flow.
Deputy Editor Aoife Valentine Art, Design & Technology Director Conor Kevin O’Nolan Chief Designer Gary Kealy
September 23rd – October 22nd This week you will miss an early class because you slept in, eat something microwaveable, and probably go see Looper. Do not doubt my powers.
March 21th – April 18th Stop wishing for the impossible. You’re an Arts student and will be unemployed for the foreseeable future.
Editor Emer Sugrue
Libra
Aries
Scorpio
Capricorn
December 22nd – Jan 19th The world is watching. So take your hands out of your pants and change the channel quick.
Aquarius
January 20th – February 11th This week you finally stop ‘getting in gear’ and give up on your fitness initiative. It’s no great loss, you look terrible in O’Neill’s anyway.
Pisces
February 19th– March 20th You know that saucy looking first year you have your eye on? Stay away. The temptation may be strong but so are the necessary antibiotics.
Chief Photographer Otwo Editors Caoimhe McDonnell Conor Luke Barry Anna Burzlaff Contributors Stephen Connolly Music Editor Barbara De Kegel Emily Mullen Niall Gosker Heathers Fashion Editor Edward Kearns Michael Madigan Brona Keogh Emily Longworth Games Editor Conor O’Nolan Steven Balbirnie Greg Talbot Jack Walsh Laura Woulfe
Special Thanks Guy, Colm, Orla and Rory at MCD Promotions, Laura, Chantal, Caroline and Amy at Universal, Ciaran at Warner Music, Muller Rice and Donnybrook Fair Mars Bar Squares, Puddles, Seamus and Oswald.
FAAAAAAAIL WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT
WHAT’S HOT oKToBeRFesT
If you’ve missed Arthur’s Day, but feel you are still owed an alcoholiday, fear not. A whole month of celebrating drink lies ahead of us. George’s Dock in the IFSC docklands will be hosting Oktoberfest events with the official food and beers of the German festival until October 7th. Head on over for a guten time.
usA’s neW TV seAson
With the return of How I Met Your Mother, Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Big Bang Theory and New Girl to our telly screens for another season, there’s one more reason to escape mentally from the growing workload of assessments and essays. Unless you have no TV, because you’re in student accommodation, and the internet is now your only friend.
mYsTeRious ‘W’s PosTeRs on CAmPus Or are they upside-down Ms? No one is really sure. The intrigue and anonymity surrounding the minimalist Ws that have been sighted in UCD is not unlike the premise to a Nancy Drew novel. Spending too much time with friends guessing what the W could stand for has become our new favourite way to avoid study.
WHAT’S NOT GReY sQuiRRels
As October has been christened National Squirrel Awareness Month in the USA, we take a minute to reflect on the uselessness of the grey squirrel. Originally brought to Britain to satisfy the Victorian zest for novelty, the grey squirrel has been destroying trees, damaging woodland nests and killing off the native red squirrel ever since. Sound, grey squirrel.
siX
This time ten years ago, Irish pop band Six were number one in the Irish charts with their single ‘Let Me Be The One’. Forged in the one and only ever series of Irish Popstars and managed by Louis Walshe, Six have yet to jump on the bandwagon of pop reunions. Meanwhile, Nadine Coyle, who narrowly missed her chance to join Six, remains a member of the internationally successful Girls Aloud. This is officially the greatest bullet ever dodged in human history.
liBRARY BuildinG WoRKs Level 4 of the James Joyce library undergoes construction work, and the whole floor is rendered useless due to the oppressive hammering/drilling/builder-small-talking emerging from a whole wing of the library space. Unless of course you’ve gone into the library to watch the next episode of Breaking Bad. That is the only thing Level 4 is now good for.
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soapbox
Sick of being defined by no more than her dress size, Aoife Valentine tells the fashion industry to get real With the new fashion season just beginning and fashion weeks taking place across the globe, there’s been a resurgence of the term ‘real women’. It’s in advertisements, it’s in TV shows, and it seems like the world has decreed that women’s magazines must use it at least ten times in everything they publish. ‘Real women’, of course, are those who find themselves buying clothes in any size from 12 onwards. We’ve chosen to skip past the definition of ‘real’ in any good dictionary, and instead have decided, as a society, that it must mean ‘anything but thin’, more commonly phrased as ‘curvy’. ‘Curvy’ doesn’t even mean anything anymore: its definition has been blurred to the point where it rarely means having curves in the right places, and mostly acts as a nicer way of saying spherical. All we know about ‘real women’ is that they are defined by their appearance and not much more, while all we know about ‘fake’ women is that they need a sandwich, stat. It’s an obvious backlash against the waif thin models that have been paraded around for the last 15 years or so and in a lot of ways, it makes perfect sense. Models should be more representative and there have been positive changes in that respect. Increasingly more varied body shapes and sizes are being used in ad campaigns, and the organisers of fashion weeks the world over are banning unhealthy or underage models from their runways. Encouraging women to stop starving themselves to reach an often unrealistic ideal is an honourable intention, but promoting it by defining women solely on their dress size or their cup size is not the way to inspire healthy body image across the board. Those women who are thin, slender, skinny or whatever other way you want to describe those under a size 10, are not fake or artificial, even if they aren’t naturally that size. ‘Realness’ is a way to market products to those who were sick of hearing that they weren’t skinny enough, and to connect to women who were fighting back against the unattainable image of the ‘perfect body’ that was being thrown in their faces at every turn. We’ve just reached the opposite side of the same coin, though. Now, instead of being told that we’re not sexy unless you can see our hip-bones from the moon, we’re being told that we’re not sexy unless we’ve got so many curves Jessica Rabbit would be jealous. Why is it necessary to pick one or the other? Demonising one, no matter which one, isn’t beneficial to anyone. Women aren’t, and can’t possibly, or at least healthily, be one or the other. Those who have a naturally athletic build can’t suddenly get wider hips, and vice versa. Fashion houses may prefer to showcase their designs on slimmer women but they still produce them in a range of sizes because we aren’t all the same. If they can do that, they should be equally able to hire people creative enough not to have to rely on bullying and patronising half of the female population to market and sell their clothes. Healthy should be the aim, and should be what we promote. That, however, won’t fit into one easy size and shape. Maybe once the fashion industry figures that out, women can be defined by more than just their dress size.
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As lonely dark winter nights loom menacingly ahead, Anna Burzlaff tests out the waters of online dating
I
t can be tough finding love in a big city. Lonely nights, dinners in front of the TV, the slow descent into insanity as you begin talking to your cat; these, among many others, are reasons why someone may join an online dating site. While my relationship with my cat is safely within the confines of psychological norms, my curiosity around the phenomenon was enough to compel me to see what the whole thing was about. I opted, under a friend’s guidance, for the site OkCupid, where my first task was to think of a screen name. “AnnaB” was sadly already taken, but thankfully OkCupid was on hand to provide me with a list of alternatives, the first of which was “Anna_cat”. This was brilliant. I could already tell that this was my kind of site. My screen name would set the whole tone of the profile. For all you budding online daters, it’s essential that you realise the importance of your profile picture as it’s going to be the big selling point of your page. I knew to make the most of my site I’d need something good. While a photo showing a lot of skin, accompanied by an exaggerated pout seemed the most desirable choice, epiphany suddenly stuck me as I remembered the hideously drunken photo taken of me, while I crawled along Lesson Street in the middle of the night. At this stage I could really feel my profile taking shape: first “Anna_cat” as my screen name and now the drunken photo. Within minutes of posting the picture I received mes-
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All I was left with was an overwhelming feeling of dirtiness sages from the most charming and literate OkCupid had to offer. “Lol interesting pic” and “My kinda woman” were among the swooning words of flirtation which greeted me. I was left in no doubt that things were getting off to a good start. My next step was to fill out the “About” section. While I was doubtful as to the extent to which people actually read this, I thought it best to be thorough and display all I had to offer. My goals were to make as many explicit sexual references as possible, appear thoroughly idiotic through countless syntax errors, and just come across as an all-round awful person. Also there had to be some sort of reference to cats. My profile, in the end, looked like this:
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OTWO ATTEMPTS...
My self-summary Hey chaps!!!! I’m Anna. I love to have a good time and partying down with the lads, could it be you ;) Let’s get to know each other... sexually. What I’m doing with my life I’m studying for my doctorate in the field of...lol...joke, just having a good time. In all seriousness though, just bants with the lads on Friday nights, ya know. The six things I could never do without My cat’s fluffy and flim flam, and the ashes of my last cat flooper who has a nice place on my mantelpiece ;) lol, bants 2012 Nights out with the girlz obvs!!!! (I always bring the nose powder ;) Definitely not chocolate...ewwww (I actually love chocolate) And the collected works of Joyce Joyce (lol no books are for ugly people) The most private thing I’m willing to admit
I just got out of prison cause they put me there cause I partied too hard, lol!! No but genuinely my court date is in November and alls looking good.
I doubted whether people would take me in any way seriously after what I’d posted. I was quickly proved wrong, however, as I found my number of notifications rocketing. Awfullypale sent me a message saying: Hey there! Whats happening? :) Great profile and one hot lady ;) Best of luck in court :D
Perhaps it was his deficiency of melanin that made him willing to enter into a conversation with someone who referred to James Joyce as “Joyce Joyce”, who knows. It was clear by his use of smiley faces and lack of basic grammar knowledge that I had met my match. My reply would have to be equally well thought out. After what seemed like endless deliberation I decided upon: “Heyyyyyy, thanks bbz!! ;) lol.” Awfullypale and I then embarked on a conversation filled with a series of sexual innuendoes, a shocking abuse of exclamation marks, and a
variety of emoticons. Yet, after a few days, the winky faces began to take their toll. I felt my inner degradation growing. It was all getting too much, and the idea of actually meeting Awfullypale was sending a shiver down my spine. It was at this point that I realised online dating wasn’t for me. Even the kind words of Cute Guy 210 (“haha you’re so funny, quite rare :) i bet your cats taught you that!”) couldn’t quiet my sense of unease. Perhaps my approach had been all wrong, I should have attempted this with a little more subtlety to combat the growing number of perverts scouring my profile. When I received a notification from the site telling me that 56% of users have conversations with their pets, it all got too weird and I knew it was time to go. My stint as an online dater started gloriously. The name “Anna_cat” and my profile picture had brought me a showering of attention, however, the enjoyment soon faded and all I was left with was an overwhelming feeling of dirtiness. I hoped Awfullypale and his winky faced innuendoes would soon become a distant memory. If offered the choice between talking to my cat and talking to him, my decision lay clearly with the former.
TRAVEL OTWO
Barbara De Kegel attempts to get to grips with the city that never sleeps, as she learns New York is more than just Manhattan
Navigating New York
N
ew York City: home of bagels, men in suits, and the world’s largest melting pot. It’s a city which should not be underestimated. If you happen to get off the subway too early, you may find yourself in an area unmarked on the eight tourist maps you grabbed from the airport. It’s only in dubious Brooklyn neighborhoods, where the local Wi-Fi networks are named after hard drugs and female body parts, that visitors will truly realise New York isn’t just Manhattan. That there are places where the streets are desolate, the buildings abandoned, the walls graffiti clad, and the trees missing. Even the greatest cities on earth have their hardships, but few of the people on the street seem to have gotten that memo. They say hello and carry yoga matts and are more than willing to help out a lost soul, fresh off the boat. For a proper first introduction to the city, wander onto Williamsburg Bridge, amidst power-walking locals, preferably from the Brooklyn side. You’ll see Manhattan with fresh
eyes, not noticing, from the distance, the havoc, road works, and bulging sidewalks you’re accustomed to expect. All you see is an impossibly vast, dense expanse of skyscrapers, standing in silence: it is surreal. Williamsburg Bridge itself is a stunning piece of architecture that links the two most hipster New York neighborhoods. This bridge lacks the iconography and hordes of tourists its cousin, Brooklyn Bridge, claims, but instead offers character and a great walking path, above the occasional rattling of a J-train. The New York subway is a tourist’s dream. It can get you everywhere your guide book could mention, and for a much more reasonable fare than London’s Tube. However, if you do happen to have a couple of days, and you’re an avid walker, taste the fruits of America’s rich immigrant history by foot, and discover places such as Borough Park, home to an impressive Orthodox Jewish community. While Chinatown is the most wellknown neighborhood with a strong, omnipresent culture, it certainly isn’t
the only one. Between the kosher supermarkets, and identically dressed and coifed locals of Borough Park, you’ll feel immensely out of place, in an intriguing sort of way. Downtown Brooklyn boasts Prospect Park, brought to you by the creators of Central Park. It features a vast rolling meadow, popular with readers from the neighboring colossal Brooklyn Library, as well as school groups, gossipy sunbathers and selfproclaimed park enthusiasts. Cross jogging in Central Park off your to-do list and gaze at the views from around the Jacqueline KennedyOnassis Reservoir. Take a ferry to Ellis Island, home of US immigration, from Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan, and listen to young buskers in Washington Square Park, the garden of New York University. However, the most unique and worthwhile of the New York parks is the old elevated railroad track, turned greenway, called the High Line. Stretching from the Meatpacking District to Chelsea, the Line offers views over the city, as well as the
“Running from the Whitehall Terminal, South Ferry to Staten Island, this bright orange ferry provides spectacular views of Lower Manhattan, New York Bay, and the Statue of Liberty”
Hudson River. In some places the old tracks have been incorporated into the new design, and the wild vegetation flanking the path is an ode to the Line’s previous abandonment. The first section of the High Line was only opened in 2009, after years of local advocacy for the Line’s preservation. Also deserving of a visit is the recently opened 9/11 Memorial, at the heart of the World Trade Center site, which is now towering over the New York skyline. In the midst of a tree covered pavilion, in the exact location the Twin Towers used to stand, there are now two immense square-shaped holes with waterfalls thundering down from all four sides. It’s a stunning way to preserve the footprints left by 9/11. The best deal in town is undoubtedly the Staten Island Ferry. Running from the Whitehall Terminal, South Ferry to Staten Island, 24 hours a day, this bright orange ferry provides spectacular views of Lower Manhattan, New York Bay, and the Statue of Liberty. Aside from the views, a break from the smog of the city for an hour of wind and sea air warrants the trip alone. Not quite so cheap are the $100 Broadway tickets. However, several shows do offer comparatively low-priced tickets through lotteries or special box offices. These aren’t advertised, and are somewhat of a well-kept secret. Every show day, a guy with a bucket sits on a ledge outside of the New World Stages from 6 to 6:30pm. If you walk up to him you can enter your name in a lottery for 25 dollar front-row tickets to RENT. During the week only a handful of people show up, and there’s a good chance you’ll be sitting in your prized seat one and a half hours later. Due to it being Off Broadway and in a small theater, the show is intimate and personal; you feel as if you’re in the story rather than watching it. A couple of days in New York may lead you to conclude that an intricate, compartmentalised toolbox would be a better analogy than a melting pot. New York’s neighborhoods can almost be marked off with lines. Sometimes you turn a corner, and all at once the buildings are a different style, the people are of a different ethnicity, and you don’t understand anything anyone is saying. And that’s the most striking thing about this city: it is a thousand radically different places.
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OTWO TRAVEL
Stories from the South East There’s more to travelling than just the sites. Brona Keogh goes beyond the travel guide, and discovers a different side to South East Asia
A
fter a trip to South East Asia, most travellers will be asked what their favourite place was. There is not, by any means, an easy answer. Each country in the region has its striking features. Thailand has majestic, mountaintop temples. Laos is a cultural feast, as well as a gastronomic one. Vietnam is a country steeped in history that presents itself with strange bird caging superstitions and FrancoVietnamese architecture. However it is Cambodia that could arguably be seen as the region’s highlight. There is omnipotence in the sense of community there, especially in
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skyline may not perhaps be an event you set out to experience, but once undergone you’ll wonder how much poorer you would have been without it. Following a trip to South East Asia one may come home feeling liberated. Order is a necessary nuisance, one we exaggerate in the West. In Vietnam the traffic regulations are a little looser than at home. Imagine six lanes, a hundred cars, and three desperate tourists hugging the zebra crossing, blindly trusting the judgements of the speedy drivers. Or strolling down a path in rush-hour traffic to find it suddenly upgraded to a moped lane.
After five weeks of trail-blazing even the most experienced traveller is bound to be culturally spent and physically exhausted. Phnom Penh. Kids meander around budding couples on bikes and blades. Young families are out anticipating their babies’ first steps, while their grandparents observe from the sidelines. It is enough to simply sit and let the hum of the city dance with your thoughts and play with your emotions, under the tormented sky and relentless waters that wait on orders to attack. Sitting on the boardwalk, watching the lightening lick the tops of the
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Put plainly, those of a nervous disposition may find the Vietnamese trafficking laws more than alarming. Travelling with a friend through the region is always advisable, particularly when it comes to those 30 hour bus rides. You may find yourself coming up with obscurely themed games, but anything to pass the time helps. Distraction from the plummeting death you feel certain to face, due to the bus driver’s disregard for speed limits is also another plus to travelling
in pairs. As much as it is great to find original places to see on these well trodden trails, don’t be ignorant to the milestones you must experience. Do an overnight trek in Thailand. Go see Halong Bay in Vietnam and check out The War Remnants Museum. The Killing Fields in Cambodia are breathtakingly humbling, not to mention inspiring. Angkor National Park, home to a couple dozen of the world’s oldest temples, is, without reservation, unmissable. One must simply stand in awe of the temple’s crumbling towers that leak legend from every fissure, with statues stripped of gold after years of totalitarian rule and colonisation. The walls can be found adorned with ancient Hindu imagery, overlooking the more recent Buddhist statues that bare the bullet holes of the country’s modern conflict. After five weeks of trail-blazing even the most experienced traveller is bound to be culturally spent and physically exhausted. However, the promise of the Full Moon Party should manage to remove your lethargy and give you the push to embark
on the mass migration down south. On the way you might want to make a visit to the setting of the film, The Beach, although it is not anything particularly extraordinary. Long Beach on Koh Phi Phi, on the other hand, is much more worthwhile. Ivory sands, cool blue seas, palm trees; exactly like the pictures in the brochure. It can be easy to confine yourselves to the company of fellow tourists on your travels, but one of the most rewarding things about your time abroad can be the locals you meet. The small villages of South East Asia provide the perfect opportunity to gain an insight into a different culture and way of life. Share a drink with the locals in the town of Phi Phi, and watch them clear shoulders like we would cans. Remember that an extensive trip, such as one around South East Asia, will bring with it certain inevitabilities: you will more than likely get sunburnt, the chances are you’ll leave some clothes behind, you may lose a camera along the way, and laser cards can often be casually donated to the streets. Don’t let the mistakes you make occupy too much of your time and don’t forget that everything is part of the experience. Sometimes venturing far off the beaten track can be overrated. Just because a path’s been walked before, doesn’t mean there’s nothing to explore. What makes us individuals is not what we do but our own individual perspectives. Sitting at the steps in Hanoi at five o’clock in the morning and watching the women behead the chickens and prepare their fruit stalls for the day, or seeing a father, tentatively helping his baby daughter navigate her spindly steps with her wooden walker, is akin to watching the city unfold from the inside out. South East Asia awards any willing traveller with the opportunity not just to visit the countries but to learn the history, meet the people, and listen to the often life-changing stories. Money is fleeting but memories make you the person you are. South East Asia is worthy of a visit for simply too many reasons to list.
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Hidden Gems: Dublin Cafes Long gone are the days of murky instant coffee in chipped grey cups, nowadays Dubliners prefer a more sophisticated and ethical caffeine hit. Here, Emily Mullen brings you the best of the best. The Twisted Pepper Café 54 Abbey Street Middle
Café Irie 11 Frowns Street, Temple Bar
Set in the backdrop of the Twisted Pepper nightclub, a visit to this café will more often than not stir up memories of vomit and hair extensions on the floor. But do not be alarmed; it is amazing what some disinfectant and a sweeping brush can do. The Twisted Pepper Café is now the place to grab a flat white and rub shoulders with the bright young hip Dublin things. While smoking is a terrible habit and you should stop right this instant, for the cigarette and coffee lover the café also offers a charming smoking area to indulge in some cancer-fuelled fun. The coffee is perfect, made by experts, and served by friendly, wellmannered staff, in a thoroughly fun atmosphere. The only drawback is that this hidden gem, could hardly be called cheap. Portion sizes for cakes are teeny tiny and coffee, though impeccable, is bordering on extortionate. Although most do not mind paying for the experience and the location, many might be scared away or even resort to running out the door when the total bill is totted up.
Blink and you just might walk past and miss this hidden gem altogether. Set in one of the less well-known parts of Temple Bar, Café Irie lies on an alleyway, off a rather larger alleyway, over a vintage shop and through a door on your right. You may get lost trying to find it, however once found you’ll immediately reap the benefits of your efforts. It is the quaintest café in Dublin, with mismatched chairs, spoons with smiling faces upon them, and a delightful service undertook by a single waitress. For struggling students this place is a haven of affordable coffees and lemon slices, all you need to reckon with is walking just that extra few metres away from Starbucks and Costa Coffee into this gem. The staff are always lovely, chatty, and super-friendly, and the atmosphere is a perpetually relaxed one. The décor is reminiscent of a cross between Salvador Dali and Francis Bacon’s studio: colourful, haphazard and slightly grotty. It is the kind of place you could imagine spending an entire afternoon sipping delicious flat whites, and breathing in the serenity, while the madness of Temple Bar carries on in the cobblestones below. Cake and coffee specials apply if you land in before six o’clock, which is an added bonus.
The Cake Café 61 Pheasants Place, Dublin 8 The Cake Café is fast becoming a coffee and cake institution and you can’t help but wonder for how much longer this quirky little place will be a hidden gem for. With its fair-trade beans, crushed and brewed to absolute perfection in mismatched cupsand-saucers, this café wins you over with its unassuming kitsch qualities. With espressos as punchy as Rocky, and macchiatos and cappuccinos like ones you’ve just purchased off Piazza Novana in Roma, The Cake Café certainly delivers when it comes to taste. To top it all off, it boasts some of the best pastries and cakes in the city, delightfully served by the friendliest
staff you could ask for. Set apart from the mayhem of Camden Street, hidden away in a sleepy alleyway, this café is an oasis of coffee, sweets and fancy. Languidly while away a summer’s day in the ethereal garden, or when it gets a bit chilly, warm yourself up inside with a cup of coffee as you bask in the charming atmosphere. With toilets flushed with rainwater, biodegradable bin bags and recycled napkins, this is not just a gorgeous café but a café with an ethical conscience to boot. Should you find yourself too comfortable to leave your beloved bed, The Cake Café also offers a home delivery service. What more could you possibly ask for?
Foam Café Strand Street, Temple Bar Priding itself on being a unique café and setting itself apart from the more ubiquitous chain-cafes which seem to be consuming Dublin at the moment, Foam Café is just what the doctor ordered. Part gallery, part installation art piece, the décor of this café/art space hybrid has a mind of its own. The interior design could be termed as overwhelming with every single glance revealing a new colourful and completely random curio. Lying back on a furry sofa with glittery cushions, tinselly objects hanging above, and vaguely pornographic art all over the walls, it’s hard to believe you are still in Dublin City. There’s no need to worry about having something to read with your morning coffee here, simply let the art adorned walls, or the latest installation piece, inspire and fascinate. With all kinds of knickknacks and gadgets, Foam’s quirky and at times baffling surroundings award it with the most unique café experience in the city. Aesthetics aside, the prompt and friendly staff serves you high-quality food and drink at reasonable prices. Enjoy a piping hot Americano from upstairs and enjoy the unique view of the River Liffey below.
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OTWO GAMES
ReVieWs WORLD OF WARCRAFT: MISTS OF PANDARIA
T
he latest expansion for World of Warcaft was released last Tuesday with more of a whimper than a bang. Mists of Pandaria is an attempt to reignite World of Warcraft’s popularity which has slipped to below 9 million players, from the peak of 12 million just two years ago at the release of the last expansion, Cataclysm. Mists of Pandaria brings several new features to the game. The most obvious one is the introduction of a new playable race, the unimaginatively named Pandaren, a race of giant pandas. The Pandarian starting zone is the Wandering Isle, which is in fact a giant turtle named Shen-zin Su who has been roaming the seas so long that forests and hills have grown on it’s back. The Pandaren are styled like oriental kung fu monks in a way that seems ever so slightly racist in a way I can’t quite identify. As a starting race however, the Pandaren outstrips all others. Instead of levelling up through endless missions to kill 10 chickens or passing messages back and forth between NPCs, you have to jump between balancing poles and knock other trainee Pandaren off them. The other new element is that the Pandaren are politically unaligned until level 10, at which point you can pick whether to ally yourself to either the Horde or the Alliance. While the Pandaren have their own
language, the somehow forget this after level 10 and as with all other races you can only communicate with your own faction. The Talent system has been radically changed with Mists of Pandaria. While before the expansion you were able to pick a variety of new talents every other level, talents are now automatic. Every 15 levels you will be allowed to pick between three talents tailored to your specialisation. While this is a simpler system, it also means your character is now much less customisable. The final big change is the introduction of pet battles. While previously pets were merely a vanity item, something to spend gold on which would follow you around aimlessly, now they can be trained and sent to fight. You can find trainers in the starting zones and any big city to teach your pet up to three abilities. You can then challenge players in PvP battles. There’s no particular point to doing any of this other than Pokémon nostalgia, but it’s an interesting addition. Mists of Pandaria has many new additions but for the most part they add little to the gameplay. If you had ever had an ambition to be a giant violent panda, then it’s €35 well spent. Otherwise, it’s just more of the same. By Emer Sugrue
Title: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Publishers: Blizzard Developers: Blizzard Platform: PC/Mac Release Date: Out Now Rating: 3/5
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ineth is the first game to be developed by a group of Rensselear Polytechnic students called Arcane Kids. The main character is essentially a futuristic paperboy, initially tasked with the collection of magazine pages and then immediately asked to journey off to the moon “for some reason”. Zineth maintains this playful, tongue-in-cheek tone throughout and it does so to great effect. The most immediately striking aspect of Zineth is its appearance, which can be best described as the wonderful love child of surrealist Giorgio de Chirico’s paintings and the cel-shading approach pioneered by Jet Set Radio. Indeed, the game also owes a good deal of its fundamental design to the latter, taking Jet Set’s core rapid rollerblading mechanic and upping the ante to a ludicrous level. The world is sparse by the nature of its aesthetic, but it isn’t devoid of personality. The original score is appropriately psychedelic and at any time you can pull up a phone menu and access texts and a Tamagotchistyle battle mini-game that is played in parallel with the main game. Most interestingly though, the phone allows for the use of what initially seems like some sort of faux-Twitter. Surprisingly, however, it can actually link to your real world account. To say it was bizarre seeing Ricky Gervais’ tweets pop up while plummeting off a thousand foot high
Title: Zineth Publishers: Arcane Kids Developers: Arcane Kids Platforms: PC Release Date: Out Now
structure made of abstract shapes at 500km/h would be something of an understatement. The Twitter integration has no gameplay benefit but it’s an undeniably neat feature and one that’s something of a microcosm for the game as a whole. Zineth is well aware of its peculiarity and it revels in it. Traversing the environment is exhilarating, thanks to a simple and easy to grasp control scheme, one that allows for fluid navigation of the many obstacles in the world. Potentially frustrating failed attempts are made easier to swallow thanks to a rewind feature that encourages exploration, without draining the game of challenge. There isn’t much variety unfortunately: missions either comprise of the collection of items or the running of time trials. Had the developers been able to apply the same level of creative originality to player objectives as demonstrated in almost every other facet of the game, the results would no doubt have been very intriguing. Considering this is only a student project these shortcomings are easy to forgive. Zineth is a pleasant and inspiring game, a reassuring affirmation that unshackled imagination is very much still alive in game development; hopefully this marks the beginning of a bright future for the talented Arcane Kids. By Niall Gosker
GAMES OTWO
Blow Your Mind The developer of Braid, Jonathan Blow, chats to Steven Balbirnie about The Witness, independent video game funding and Games Jams
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etween 2001 and 2004, Jonathan Blow wrote ‘The Inner Product’, a column for Game Developer Magazine. He wrote in-depth articles on subjects such as scripting languages, AI and animation. However, Blow’s rise to wider prominence came when his preliminary version of the experimental platformer game Braid won the 2006 Independent Games Festival’s ‘Innovation in Game Design Award’, two years before the release of the finished game. Braid’s defining characteristic is the ability to manipulate the flow of time. When asked about the origins of this mechanic, Blow says: “Other games had done rewinding before, but I was frustrated with the way they had done it. I felt there were obviously big missed opportunities… A friend of mine suggested that all games should have rewind in an unlimited way; the way you can press a rewind button when watching a video. That was part of the idea and from there on, it was a process of exploration.” While there was a lot of creativity and thought put into that aspect of the game, the decision to develop Braid as a platformer was a practical one. “I built Braid as a platformer because platformers can be very simple worlds with very simple rules. I knew that when I started messing with time, it would complicate things, so I wanted a simple baseline on which to build. That way, the player can clearly see and absorb the time manipulations affect the world.” Following on from Braid’s success, Blow is developing a new game, The Witness, which is due to be released later this year. “The Witness is a firstperson puzzle or exploration game. It is inspired by games like Myst, in terms of its setting and theme, but the actual gameplay is a very different thing.” With The Witness, Blow intends to redefine a classic games genre in a modern way. “I don’t like the gameplay of traditional graphic adventures. When growing up I used to love adventure games; mainly text adventures, but later I played some
graphical ones. But as the design of video games evolved and new genres were born, we developed ideas about what makes a game good, how games should flow, etc, that substantially contributes to the quality of games today. Classic adventure games never figured out how to adopt these ideas, for the most part, so the genre sort of died out.” Blow’s explanation of his approach to the genre is straightforward: “The Witness goes back to the concept of the first-person graphic adventure and attempts to redesign the gameplay of that genre in a way that is aware of modern ideas of game design. In this case it ended up being a bit of a fusion between an abstract puzzle game and an explorationbased adventure game.” An intriguing aspect of The Witness is the novel process that is going into the design of the game’s environments; architects used to designing for the physical world are part of a team creating structures in a virtual medium.
Blow finds this process to be both intensive and rewarding. “It’s a fair bit of work because I don’t understand anything about architecture and they don’t know about game design, so a lot of back-and-forth has to happen, but the game is much better for it. There is a certain gravitas to the world now that wasn’t there before, and it intensifies as we flesh out the world.” While Blow’s work has attained him the status of one of the industry’s most acclaimed indie developers, he is also a supporter of independents who are only just trying to break into the gaming industry. To this end, Blow is a partner in the Indie Fund, which was established in 2010. “Our main goal is to help developers become independent and stay independent. We do this by funding promising games under terms that are very friendly to the developer, much better than they could get from a publisher. Along with later developments like these big-budget Kickstarter campaigns, we help push counter
pressure on publishers who would otherwise always be trying to push developers into ever-worse deals. Now developers know that if the offers from publishers are bad enough, and their game is interesting enough, they have these viable alternatives.” The Indie Fund has already achieved some successes as well. “Two of the games we have funded so far have been released: Q.U.B.E. and Dear Esther, both of which were profitable. We have several more games we are funding that will be released pretty soon: Monaco, Antichamber, Faraway, The Swapper.” Blow also engages creatively with his contemporaries in the indie community. Over four days in May, he participated in an intensive design retreat called the ‘Depth Jam’ with Chris Hecker, the creator of Spy Party, Marc ten Bosch, the designer behind Miegakure, and Daniel Benmergui of Storyteller. Blow believes events such as ‘Depth Jam’ aid young, up-andcoming developers, as well as those who have much experience in the industry already. “There are a lot of Games Jams now, and these can be interesting places for beginners to learn or for advanced developers to try out crazy ideas. However, Games Jams don’t produce deep games. I feel that there is way more trying-out-wacky ideas than we really need, but very few people are working on making games deep. In the video game industry, overall, we have a crisis of shallowness. So this was our experiment in providing a setting where things can be explored in-depth. We think it was successful and plan to do more of them.” Whether encouraging fledgling developers, jamming with his peers or experimenting through his own work, Jonathan Blow is undeniably one of the most significant figures in contemporary independent games development. This is a reputation that looks likely to be further bolstered, and deservedly so, by the forthcoming release of The Witness.
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OTWO FILM
REVIEWS Title: What Richard Did Director: Lenny Abrahamsan Starring: Jack Reynor, Roisin Murphy, Liana o’Cleirigh Release Date: October 5th
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hese days it’s rare to find a film or show about teenagers that doesn’t treat them as if their only concerns are sex and drugs, instead giving them genuine thoughts and feelings. But if anyone could successfully add depth to teenagers it would be Lenny Abrahamson, director of Irish films Adam and Paul and Garage. This is exactly what he achieves in What Richard Did, loosely based on Kevin Power’s novel Bad Day in Blackrock. The film follows Richard (Jack Reynor), an ambitious rugby prodigy and alpha-male of a group of upper middle class 18-19 year olds finishing up in an Irish secondary school. When the girl he’s fallen for (Roisin Murphy) is seen continuously consoling a male friend, Richard’s jealousy gets the best of him, leading to a tragic reaction. What Richard Did is a slow-burner, purposely taking it’s time to tell a short enough story. But while the pacing is slow it’s never laborious, confidently giving the characters time to chat and interact for no
What Richard Did obvious plot reasons. This creates a very loose feeling, especially for the first half, as if you’ve been given access to voyeuristically watch these young adults just hanging out. Conversations are often light-hearted with distinctly Irish banter, such as when Richard tells an ‘I swear its true’ story about an unfortunate chap losing a testicle in a rugby match. But the film’s tone remains serious, the constantly gloomy Irish weather seeming to literally signify this as the calm before the storm. These seemingly unimportant and uneventful conversations allow us to become familiar with and endear towards these characters, specifically Richard. The extent to which
this succeeds is even more impressive considering the core group of friends are all of an upper middle class background, a group that is generally mocked in Irish media with the likes of Ross O’Carroll Kelly. What Richard Did fleshes out these stereotypes and maturely shows that these are just scared and vulnerable kids. It’s this impressive level of realism that gives the film’s inevitable tragedy all the more emotional impact. By the time Richard does what the title refers to, you’re significantly invested in what he’s going through. What Richard Did is a small film in that it has a tight focus. It sticks
to one character and a set tone and doesn’t budge. There are no real side plots and the sense of inevitability in the title means that even the more light-hearted segments are tainted with what’s to come. And, as if to hammer in the nail, the film opts not to offer any real closure, forcing you to decide for yourself what conclusion you would find satisfactory. In a Nutshell: A slow-burning and emotionally provocative character study of guilt with a distinct mood that stays with you long after you’ve left the cinema. by Conor Luke Barry Title: Perks of being a Wallflower Director: Stephen Chbosky Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd Release Date: October 3rd
Perks of Being a Wallflower
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t is rare that a film is adapted from a book as well as Perks of Being a Wallflower has been here. It is more unusual still that the film was written and directed by the author of the book, Stephen Chbosky. He has pulled it off almost seamlessly however, treading a very thin line incredibly well, managing not to become overly-precious about his book, but at the same time, not losing the book in the dramatics of cinema. Perks is a book which left a mark on so many teenagers when they first read it, portraying the awkwardness
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that most teens go through at some point in a way that so many people could relate to, and the film manages not only to capture those same feelings and experiences, but watching the film feels eerily like reading the book for the first time. It takes you on a full emotional rollercoaster, and it immerses you in such a way, you almost forget you’re even watching a film. It’s very clear that a large part of this is down to Chbosky’s magnificent script, and the fact that he is able to bring his characters to life so unmistakeably because he knows
them inside out. However, the cast seemingly couldn’t be better-chosen. While perhaps Logan Lerman (The Three Muskateers), Emma Watson (Harry Potter) and Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin) could have been seen as a little too beautiful to portray such broken, dark, sociallyawkward souls, they manage to slip into their characters with incredible ease. They are so believable in fact, that Watson’s Hermione Granger days don’t even occur to you while watching; no mean feat with such a long-running series behind her. Paul Rudd also deserves praise for
his, granted much smaller, part. As Charlie’s (Lerman) English teacher, he shares some beautiful moments with the protagonist, which comes somewhat unexpected from such a played-down character in the film. The coming-of-age story is so tired at this stage, there is not much more you can possibly hope to add to it as a film-maker, and Perks certainly breaks no real new ground. There’s the slutty girl, the quiet guy with the crush, the closeted gay student with his equally closeted jock boyfriend, the bullies and as many other stereotypes as the genre has to offer. It is perhaps, a tired story, but Perks manages to tell it in small, thoughtful and rather lovely ways, and it is that, along with the constant underlying darkness, which sets it apart. It comes without the condescension that often accompanies films in this genre, and manages to stay touching and witty, throughout. In a Nutshell: Painful and elating; everything the book is and quite possibly more. by Aoife Valentine
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FILM OTWO
Grimmest Irish Films
The upcoming What Richard Did continues the proud Irish tradition of focussing on the bleakest subject matter possible. Jack Walsh investigates which others are members of this depressing club 10. Adam and Paul (2004) You may have been expecting a blend of the poetic O’Connell St. winos fused with an Estragon and Vladimir-esque comedy duo. Instead you get a hard sharp slap of reality. Cheers, Dublin heroin trade. 9. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) A dramatic and tragic account of the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, portraying each as more of a social revolution in which brother would literally fight brother. But the greater tragedy is the fact that director Ken Loach did not film enough close ups of Cillian Murphy’s ridiculous eyes.
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esident Evil: Retribution is the fifth instalment of a series that just refuses to politely die. It’s a shining example of why film adaptations of games are an awful idea if you plan on making a film that is in any way artistically interesting. However, it’s equally a spectacular example of how to make massive amounts of money when people go to see it for the ‘so bad it’s good’ factor. Not that Retribution is awful overall. It looks great, the CG is generally excellent and the 3D, strangely enough, actually adds to the film and doesn’t feel completely tagged on. Top marks on the technical front, but the main problems stem from the parts that couldn’t be generated by a computer. As soon as the second film ended, Paul WS Anderson obviously abandoned any ambitions of developing a coherent plot. It began with a viral outbreak in a lab that Alice (Milla Jovovich, the protagonist in all of the films) was guarding, with this virus spreading to a nearby city and turning all the inhabitants into zombies. Alice and a band of survivors escape the city, but she gets captured and experimented on. Alice then develops telekinetic powers, has a nice adventure in the desert, has a fight with her arch-nemesis, who then takes her powers away again, and then she finds a prison full of survivors with the guy from Prison Break in it, they all go to a container ship and have another battle with the aforementioned arch-nemesis. Up until now the plot was at least semi-coherent, but all forms of logic and reason have seemingly been abandoned. It begins on the ship from the end of the last film, moves to a massive underwater lab in Siberia and then finally (minor spoiler alert) a cross between Mordor and Washington DC. The script is awful. Despite writing the four previous films, Paul Anderson still hasn’t learned how to construct an exchange of dialogue between two characters. The acting is, for the most part, similarly woeful. Two characters from the games are introduced and add almost nothing to the film aside from allowing fans to go ‘Hey, I know them’. The one truly impressive aspect is that Retribution has more significant problems than this review has available word count. Resident Evil: Retribution treads that irritating line of not being terrible not but not being any good either. Its physics-defying fight sequences and frequent and fantastic explosions will keep the dumber parts of your brain amused, if that’s your thing. It’s like a really fancy looking package filled with inert gas. And zombies. Who are also full of inert gas. In a Nutshell: Not nearly enough sideboob. by Conor Kevin O’Nolan
8. Garage (2010) Making Garda vetting for petrol station employees mandatory since 2010.
Title: Resident Evil: Retribution Director: Paul WS Anderson Starring: Milla Jovovich, Li Bingbing, Michele Rodriguez, Shawn Roberts Release Date: Out now
7. The Butcher Boy (1997) Set in Clones, Butcher Boy tells the story of twelve year old Francie, who is shipped to reform school after he violently attacks another boy and his mother suffers a nervous breakdown. If the film doesn’t upset you enough you can always curl up with the novel it’s based on and cry yourself to sleep. 6. P.S. I love you (2007). This film could have been all nice and emotional and schmaltzy, but instead Gerard Butler had to pick up a guitar and a bastardized Oirish accent, ruining our international pride. 5. The Magdalene Sisters (2003) Following four young women who were sent to the infamous Magdalene Asylums, director Peter Mullen remarked that the original inspiration for the film was in response to the fact that the real victims had received no form of disclosure, recognition or apology. 4. In the Name of the Father (1997) “Hey,” I hear you shout. “This one had a happy ending!” Well yeah, but that was after Daniel Day Lewis’ character spent years in prison after being falsely accused of being a member of the Guildford Four. And it’s based on a true story. Even our happy films are bleak. 3. Song for a Raggy Boy (2003) Depressing bit: it’s about a sadistic reform school for boys. Not as depressing bit: it started the career of Robert Sheehan, your man from Misfits! 2. My Left Foot (1989) Daniel Day Lewis’ famous method approach to acting went to new levels with his portrayal of Christy Brown, an artist born with severe cerebral palsy, who could only control his titular left foot. 1. Hunger (2008) Hunger is an undeniably raw, visceral and devastating experience. By the time the completely silent ‘bath scene’ plays out you know that last fleck of hope, that last glimpse of reasoning, has broken down. Afterwards it’s mandatory to watch Disney films on loop to block out awful, awful reality.
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OTWO FILM
With the release of What Richard Did, director Lenny Abrahamson and lead actor Jack Reynor sit down with Conor Luke Barry to discuss unconventional script-writing and taking poetic licence to the extreme
Lenny Abrahamson and Jack Reynor
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even during the shoot, if it wasn’t working at the time we’d throw away the scene and just do it the way we felt was right
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n a comparatively short time, Irish director Lenny Abrahamson has established himself as one of the few big names in Irish cinema. With his previous two features, Adam and Paul and Garage, he has dealt with heavy issues about troubled males in Irish society. His most new release, What Richard Did, based loosely on Kevin Power’s novel Bad Day in Blackrock, he continues this trend. The film focuses on Richard, an ambitious alpha-male hanging out with his friends from a prestigious Dublin school. Letting his pride get the best of him leads to a tragic event and Richard is left to deal with the mounting guilt. With such heavy themes in his work there was a concern that discussing the film with Abrahamson and actor Jack Reynor, who plays Richard, would be somewhat emotionally draining. This was a fear swiftly quashed as we wander in on Abrahamson jokingly complaining that someone should open a window because of how much Jack smells, as if we’d stumbled upon a playgroundteasing match. This casual back and forth between the two makes you forget that their respective ages are more than two decades apart. And for a film based so much in a teenage lexicon we were curious to know how much of an input the young cast had in forming the dialogue of the film. “It was all scripted when we shot it but it came out of our working with the cast”, recalls Abrahamson. “But it was very informal,” says Reynor. “There was an eight month stint that we did where we just work-shopped all the time.” Abrahamson chimes in: “We just talked. We didn’t get up and improvise or we didn’t play theatre games or any of the stuff that people do that I’m not a big fan of. We just talked about it. And for myself and Malcolm Campbell, the writer, it just allowed us to get used to how people talked but also to find out so much about their lives and lots of what happens in the film came out of that.” A process like this is almost unheard of, with the cast directly influencing the script. Reynor explains just how much the cast were involved. “Right from when everybody was cast and the ensemble came together and we had the first draft of the script, I remember work-shopping at the beginning and kind of went, ‘Well, imagine if we threw the script away entirely’. We went ‘Okay, who’s actually going to be the central character of the film? What’s going to happen in it?’ We went to the bare bones and said ‘What film are we actually going to make?’ And then whittled it down all over eight months to where we actually had our
solid structure and then, even during the shoot, if it wasn’t working at the time we’d throw away the scene and just do it the way we felt was right.” One particular scene that seems to have benefitted from this process is one where Richard and his male friends are sitting around bonding with natural and familiar sounding Irish banter. “That was one of the places where improvisation does come into the film,” Abrahamson states “But very controlled. We knew what the topics of conversation were. And we’d done loads of them, done loads of deep meaningful conversations, DMCs. We did them all the time in rehearsal. Where we’d go into a DMC and I’d say ‘Okay, school. Is the ethos of school bullshit or do you believe it?’ and they’d actually forget that they were in a film and would just start actually having a conversation. You need to do that a lot because when you’re sitting in a room with two cameras on you, and lights, and people with clipboards, it’s harder. You need to have done a lot to be able to slip into that natural flow. But they talked about a lot of stuff. The DMC got quite ‘D’, got quite deep. But not that ‘M’.” Seemingly these natural conversations are difficult to pull off in film. “Banter’s really hard to do,” Abrahamson argues. “The mistake people make is that they try to go in and detail it so it’s shot in close-ups. The way to think about it is ‘What’s it like when you’re sitting in the pub and you’re looking at a bunch of guys having a laugh?’ It doesn’t really matter what they say but you know exactly the kind of thing they’re talking about. You know who they are from that.” Reynor agrees saying: “That was what Lenny was always trying to do because, like you’re saying, they make that mistake where they try and actually be part of what’s going on. They try and get into the action. Whereas Lenny was kind of observing this from a distance. It’s funny, you can laugh at it but you’re not actually part of it.” Abrahamson caps it off saying: “So if they make a joke, let them laugh at it, don’t expect the audience to laugh at it. It’s a really important difference.” Letting the camera just roll on conversations does have the benefit of creating natural dialogue but blurring the line between character and actor begs the question; how many of the characters’ anecdotes were based on reality? “I did kill my gerbil, man, that’s true,” Reynor reveals with a certain amount of melancholy, referring to a story he tells in the film where, in his youth, he naively attempted
FILM OTWO to give his gerbil a bath. “I drowned my gerbil in a shot glass for real.” Another intriguing story was one Richard tells in the film about an unfortunate rugby player who gets his testicle destroyed mid-game. Abrahamson sceptically remarks: “I think that might have been one of those urban myths. It’s exactly the kind of thing you would say.” A debate between the two generations ensues, Reynor arguing: “Everybody knows that a dude got his ball ripped off playing rugby.” As Reynor racked his brain trying to remember this poor guy’s nickname, Abrahamson suggests “Goebbels only had one ball, so maybe that was the nickname.” Pondering for a second longer he follows up with: “Handy that he already had balls in his name.” Moving away from Goebbels and back to the film, the novel on which it’s loosely based is a multi-character narrative, following different people from the group. With such a unique writing process for the film any one of this group could have become the protagonist, so why focus on Richard? “Because for me,” Abrahamson says, “his was the most complex character in the story. And our Richard is very different to the Richard in the book. But then I started to think about that alpha-male, the sort of beloved one in school, the one that both the teachers and the kids like, which is very unusual. You still have a kid in the middle of all that, having to handle all that expectation and pressure. And there’s something very moving and sad about that. I don’t know how to really describe that except I think that it’s captured in the film, which is why you make a film, to try and capture things which are otherwise very hard to talk about.” Richard is a particularly well thought out character with more depth than teenagers are usually given in film, a point that Reynor seemed
to take joy in. “There’s not really films where there’s that kind of young character who’s layered as much as Richard is. It was like we were really going for it, which was great. That’s a dream for anybody to do.” Abrahamson feels this depth is what lends to its hopefully universal appeal. “The way I always think of it, I think the film is for people the age of the characters, and it’s also for their parents and for their grandparents. Because the film is not a teen film, it’s a film about teens. And yet what I found is that teenage audiences and early twenties, people who are just out of that world, are very affected. When you’re still trying to work out who the hell you are and you have no real idea of who you are. Meanwhile you go about town acting like you really did know who you were. That’s the condition of life until you hit the disappointed years.” The two laugh before he continues: “The decaying years. I’m just entering that myself now. I’m no longer struggling about who I am but I’m kind of just dealing with maybe not being here for too much longer.” This very genuine way of showing young people, not as clichés but as three-dimensional characters, has had an interesting effect on families according to Abrahamson. “Anecdotally people have told me that they’ve had incredible conversations with their kids after this film. When both of them have seen it and they talk very candidly about their lives, about the attitudes in their circles to sex and drugs, to drink, to life. And that’s brilliant. I think the film is very candid and really does throw up a lot of question for people of any age, parents and kids. But it is about that. Fundamentally it’s the study of Richard but it’s also a study of relationships.” Reynor, getting mock-serious, suggests: “We made this film to get families talking.”
Dealing with provocative issues is nothing new to Abrahamson, his last two films similarly challenging audiences. As one of Ireland’s top filmmakers, does he consider himself to be making ‘Irish films’? “No,” he responds without pausing to think.
films in that way. You’ve got to be led by the interior of the film not by its overarching meaning. You can’t do it, or if you try to do it you’re terribly weighed down. So I don’t think about that, I start with something that grabs a hold of me and I trust that if I make
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I start with something that grabs a hold of me and I trust that if I make it truthfully it will be a true film “Irish film got a lot better when it stopped worrying about what an Irish film was. And it’s fair enough, the first people who went out and made feature films here, set here, about here, with Irish talents and actors and crew, there’s an awful lot of pressure on them because the first film everyone’s going to say ‘What’s an Irish film like?’ and you cannot make
it truthfully it will be a true film, that it will have resonances about the society that it’s set in. But funny thing is that it also travels. That it also means something to other people as well.” Things were wrapping up but one intriguing point that hadn’t been touched upon was why, for a film based on a book that was based on true events, is the film so far removed from what actually took place? “I just didn’t want to give anybody any more grief,” states Abrahamson, sympathetically. “People were so obsessed about that case and it was poured over so much that I wasn’t going to do any good by having another go at it. Instead I was just interested in this character and that’s where it started.” Of course, it is still based on the novel and he is aware that elements remain. “It’s inspired by the book and the character of Richard, and things that Kevin wrote about Richard’s childhood that aren’t in the book helped me write the character. We used it as a starting point. I just liked to be able to imagine it myself, where I wanted to go. That way you’re on set and you find something interesting and you can just go for it. I’ve seen films based on real events; I never know how real those connections are.” Lenny sums up his sentiment succinctly: “People say ‘Well, we took some poetic licence’. I decided to take the entire poetic licence.” What Richard Did is released on the October 5th and is reviewed on page 10.
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OTWO
Armando Iannucci
In a brief stop-over in Dublin to add a James Joyce Award to his heaving mantelpiece, Emer Sugrue sits down with Armando Iannucci to talk about the politics of television, the politics of the United States and Britain and the politics of politics
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hen Armando Iannucci stood up to give annual BAFTA Lecture last month, his message to the television industry was simple: “Make good programmes. ‘Make good programmes’ is all I’ve ever believed; it’s all I’ve ever wanted to believe. Don’t underestimate the intelligence of your audience. Make good programmes, and they will come.” Iannucci certainly practises what he preaches. He has created and written shows including I’m Alan Partridge, The Day Today, Time Trumpet, In the Loop, Veep and The Thick of It, amongst dozens of producer credits on comedy shows from Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle to The News Quiz. His award winning series The Thick of It satirises politics at the highest level and fully expects his audience to keep up with it’s sharp with and frantic pace. The programme takes on the day-to-day life of inept cabinet ministers, their clueless staff and the man who tries to keep them all in line and under
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control, spin doctor and connoisseur of cursing Malcom Tucker. The forth series, which started airing last month, has seen many changes from the previous series, reflecting the change in political circumstance in the real world. While the The Thick of It was originally designed to shine a light on the problems of the long in power Labour Party and particularly their reliance on spindoctors as summed up in Tucker, a character heavily based on Former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Press Secretary, Alistair Campbell. The tables have now turned however. After 13 years in power, Labour have been cast into opposition in favour of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. The new series adapts to the new circumstance by putting the previously minor opposition characters into power, and swapping back and forth each between the two sides, before pushing them together for the final three episodes. “I just felt it’s sort of inevitable really because otherwise it would be more of the same. Times have changed, the party in power is different, the whole
dynamic is different and we need to reflect that. In turn that would probably be quite good for the show because it will introduce whole new characters, but also our old characters will be in completely new situations that we’ve never seen them in before. It’s refreshing.” “I was intrigued to see how people would react because I knew it was going to be very, very different and therefore peoples expectations would be. I knew Malcolm wasn’t going to be in the first episode. I thought there would be some people who’d really hate this, but I think you’ve got to keep changing, got to keep moving and I think now people have cottoned on.” Most of the speculation in the run up to the series was how Tucker, a man used to incredible political influence, would cope with being in opposition. “Dyed-in-the-wool, die-hard Thick Of It fans will think ‘What are you doing?’ and there’ll be others who are new to the show thinking ‘Who is this Malcolm?’ So we’ll see, we’ll see by the end of the series. The story line suddenly explodes next week
and that takes you right through to the end of the series … Episode 6 is an interesting one, completely different from anything we’ve ever done before.” This has been rumoured to be the final series of The Thick of It, which Iannucci reluctantly confirms. “I think so. I mean I haven’t said no, just the cast have all kind of moved on to do 101 different things so it was really difficult to get everyone together. Everyone wants to do it but, just logistically, it was a nightmare trying to get everyone together. And now of course because we have all these different parties it means the cast is enormous, but it’s certainly left open at the end if we wanted to do like a special or one off or a catch-up or something. We could do it but just personally, I sort of feel I’ve taken it as far as I want to take it.” Alongside proclaiming the importance of making good programmes, Iannucci also used his BAFTA lecture to defend the home of many of his works, the BBC, and he called for the organisation to stand up for itself against government and media
OTWO criticism. “I think it is very nervous of bad headlines for some reason, especially bad headlines from the Daily Mail, so it instantly apologises. If ever it’s accused of a crime, no matter if it’s
their model will make programmes, and actually it doesn’t matter what the ratings are; they don’t take money for commercials. It’s all about how many people will subscribe to it. And they’ve discovered that people
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Personally, I sort of feel I’ve taken it as far as I want to take it a crime it hasn’t committed, it still hands itself into the nearest police station. It was doing it again this week, it was apologising for a report talking about a conversation the queen had, and it wasn’t like it was a massive breach of national security or anything but by apologising it just made the matter worse. I think it forgets that we all quite love the BBC, and it forgets that actually that kind of support it has in the country is much, much more important and much bigger than any kind of strange right wing opposition that it gets in tabloid newspapers.” The BBC has had massive cut backs in recent years, with the closure of many of it’s regional broadcasting centres and thousands of jobs lost over the last few years. Rather than government demands however, this seems to be an internal policy. Iannucci muses on the BBC’s impulse for self-annihilation. “It’s almost like it wants to get in there first. It’s sort of a choice between being punched in the face and punching yourself in the face; it likes to punch itself in the face because some people are out to get it and I’ve never really understood why.” “You see the thing is the BBC can’t win. If they get good ratings, they get criticised for getting a lot of money, and spending licence payers money on stuff that is too commercial, and then if they get bad ratings they get criticised for spending licence payers money on stuff that isn’t finding an audience and so they really don’t know which way to turn. But that’s why I feel it would be better if they just decided what they want to do and stuck to it, and were just more vocal about it rather than bending every which way whenever someone criticised them.” Although most of Iannucci’s work has been with the BBC, he has also created shows with the US channel HBO. HBO has been getting huge praise worldwide and unlike any other channel, it relies neither on advertising money nor government funding. As a subscription service, they make their money through people ordering the channel. This allows them to make original programming free from the constant drive for viewers, and according to Iannucci, gives much more freedom for television writers than even the BBC currently provides. “HBO were just great. They do have lots of money because they sell all of their stuff all around the world and they don’t actually have to make that many programmes... Having said that,
will subscribe to it if they make programmes that are really good. They don’t mind if there’s a programme on late at night that’s not getting many viewers because they’re actually being talked about the next day. That’s all they’re interested in, that sort of ‘buzz’ from programmes and to get buzz they have to make things that stand out.” His current project is also with HBO, as the second series of Veep is currently being written and due to start filming in November. While Veep is ostensibly a US remake of The Thick of It, it is in reality a completely different experience merely based on a similar premise and format. In Veep we are shown the every day workings of the Vice President of the United States, Selina Meyer and her staff, as she tries have some measure of political influence and get through her meetings and photo-ops without embarrassing herself or the President. While the lack of real power is a similar theme among both shows, the characters and the whole personality of Veep has a very different feel to The Thick of It. While The Thick of It has a slightly frantic vibe from all the outspoken characters, Veep has
a calmer air, but a less honest one. The staff shield the Vice President from criticism where possible, and tell co-workers that things are fine when they really have no idea how to solve a problem. Iannucci agrees saying “They’re not very good at being direct. They’re all very good at being positive but they can’t bring themselves to be negative.” It feels no less true to life than The Thick of It, yet the contrast is striking. Iannucci attributes this to the vast differences between British and US politics. “The thing about American politics is it’s continually all about getting reelected. It’s all about raising funds so no sooner are you are elected than you’re thinking of your re-election and therefore you’re trying to get into certain groups and raise money and its all about patronage and who’s going to support you, so actually I think
going out, the feedback we got from Washington was ‘yeah, yeah, that’s how it is, that’s what the city is like’” While Veep may have picked on the position with the most interesting visibility-to-power ratio to keep with the theme of frustrated ambitions of The Thick of It, one key difference between the two countries in Iannucci’s mind is the ability and power to make changes and push policy. “What does happen in American politics is they have power. They’re able to do things and that power is spread out far and wide in Washington. You have departments; the senate, the House of Representatives and they all have some kind of power, whereas in Britain they don’t unless you’re the Prime Minister. And even then you’re restricted by the treasury and by the economy. You discover
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In Washington, irrespective of what party is in power, there’s about 500 people in Washington who run the country its a completely different mindset from Britain.” “I’ve been interested in American politics for a while and you just research it and the more you research it the more you meet certain types of people and you start basing your characters on that type - lots of young geeks who are very ambitious and slight older, less principled and more people who run think tanks and lobby firms - and you gradually build up a picture of how Washington works. Its interesting because when it started
that in Washington, irrespective of what party is in power and who the President is, there’s about 500 people in Washington who run the country.” Some of the stories Iannucci has picked up from his research are quite alarming. “You have someone who is 24 and wrote a paper on American policy in Central America: what America should do with it’s budget for Central America and he presented it to his boss, who was too busy; so she presented it to her boss, who was too busy; so her boss then said “Oh, why doesn’t he do it?” and suddenly the 24 year old was in charge of America’s budget for Central America, even though he’d never bought a car or knows how to buy a house. So that I thought was frightening.” With more worrying anecdotes from the world of politics than could fit in a book, never mind an interview, how does Armando Iannucci get access to such insider information? It’s spiritual predecessor, the 1980s political satire Yes, Minister was revealed decades later to have had unauthorised consultations with government advisor to gain insight into the political process. Iannucci laughingly denies any level of infiltration. “No, I just go round and I ask questions and say ‘Look, I’m not making a documentary, I’m not out to expose a scandal, I’m not naming names. I don’t want to know actually the dirty stuff; I just want to know the normal stuff, the day-to-day stuff. What time do people get in, what time do they get home, who do you work with, what’s the office like, what’s the atmosphere like? Then gradually as they’re telling you that, they tell you the good stuff. But fundamentally we make these stories up. We base it on how we think it might work, but we make it up because they have to be funny. Then occasionally we found out they actually happened, just by coincidence.”
Photographer: Caoimhe McDonnell
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Damien Dempsey With the release of his new album, Damien Dempsey chats to Conor Luke Barry about his “shite” songs and getting back into the swing of things
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he most striking thing about meeting Damien Dempsey is that for such a tank of a man and such a confident singer, he’s extremely soft-spoken and gentle. Wearing a constant concerned expression on his face, it’s as if he never stops reassessing his own feelings on the world. “I’m a shy person and introverted naturally, and I have lack of self esteem and confidence. Maybe I’ve learnt to hide that, you know?” It was a refreshingly blunt and honest response, something that not all Irish people can be so open about. “The sort of fellas I hang about with now, they’d be youth workers and all, I could talk about things with them. It’s easier with some friends than others. Other guys would be going ‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ They’d close up; they’d clam up when you start getting into your feelings.” Having said that these same guys reacted positively to his music, songs steeped in feelings and emotion. “What I was singing about probably touched them, you know? They felt I had a lot of courage to be singing about what I was singing about.” This is exactly the niche Dempsey fills, using his music to deal with issues that have a resonance with a huge audience. Dempsey’s new album, Almighty Love, has been in the works for four years. What took him so long? “I was trying to go in a different direction and it wasn’t working. Just write something upbeat to jump around to, sort of festival songs.” What type of upbeat music? “Just about girls and dance floors.” For anyone who knows Dempsey, this is an odd direction to take. His sound is guttural and passionate, singing about issues close to his heart. This is something he realised while aiming for a more pop style. “The songs I was writing were shite. Well,
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they weren’t shite. I was just trying to get good beats over traditional music. But I realised then that people don’t want a festival album. They like it for the lyrics, that’s why they’re into my stuff really. I realised about two years in that I was on the wrong road, I had to come right back and start writing songs that meant something to me.” Back in classic form, Dempsey returns with a slew of tracks dealing with issues that mean something to him. For instance, a track called ‘Community’ describes a longing for a sense of community he feels Ireland has lost. “Where I come from, people couldn’t afford to live up there any more. People who wanted to buy their first house there couldn’t afford to. So they had to move out to Cavan and Meath and the community was getting torn apart. As well as that, people got the big loans of money. It turned into competition. Who had the most houses, who had the biggest holiday home abroad, or who had the biggest SUV and all. People started competing against each other. Other people who couldn’t afford to live here went down the country, these new estates, people didn’t know each other or their neighbours.” This is particularly important to Dempsey as he still lives on the estate where he was raised. “I prefer a bit of community. I still have that where I live. If I lived in a big house on a hill I might get a bit detached. It’d be lonely too.” Another of his tracks is a cover of ‘Fire in the Glen’, a more traditional, nationalistic song about standing up for your country. As the only cover in the album what was the significance of its inclusion? “It’s kind of relevant for today. Just what’s going on, how we’re being ripped off. People giving out about it in the pub, and nothing happened. A few marches, but the people who were giving out fuck about it in the pub didn’t come out and march
about it. I suppose, with ‘The Fire in the Glen’, we’re being burnt here, but there’s no fire in the eyes of our Irishmen, I’d just like to see the people get back into that spirit. We should be like France, or something, where the people just strike. Not put up with the shit. The government is just totally disconnected from the people. They don’t give a fuck.” This disconnection of the government is one of the overall themes of Dempsey’s new album. He sings about an Ireland that is losing its sense of self but he clings to the hope that we can recover that identity. He explains his feelings about what he considers to be a general divide in this country: “There’s bad feeling against travellers in this country. Because there’s a few bad travellers that go around in criminal gangs, the rest of the traveller community is tarred with the same brush. It’s kind of the same as people, say, with my accent, you know? Cause there’s a few bad eggs, a whole class in Dublin could be tarred with the same brush, call them knackers and that. And then there are people in Dáil Eireann, getting away with robbery. That’s what I tell people. It’s not the travellers; it’s the ones in Dáil Eireann that’s robbing you.” Damien Dempsey is a necessary singer, a vent for a lot of the pent up frustration of modern Ireland. But the overall message of his album is summed up by his choice of title, that whatever struggles this country faces perhaps it will bring us closer together as a nation. A message he probably wouldn’t have gotten across if he’d stuck to his plan of a festival album. It’s good to have him back. Damien Dempsey plays the Button Factory on October 4th. Tickets are priced €28. Almighty Love is out now.
MUSIC OTWO
Old-hand at the poppunk scene, Bowling for Soup’s Eric Chandler chats to Greg Talbot about the importance of Twitter, touring taking its toll and playing the hits night after night
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owling for Soup are veterans of the pop-punk music scene. After 18 years and 12 albums, the Texans’ longevity and success is undoubtedly evident. The band was originally drawn together by admiration for each other’s’ talents and abilities, in an unassuming fashion. According to bassist Erik Chandler, it “started out as hanging out and drinking beers”, but the band did not waste time. “We played our first show a month later, recorded our first album three months later and we just kind of never looked back.” Their most recent record takes the form of Bowling for Soup Presents One Big Happy, a collaborative effort with other bands of their genre, the Dollyrots and Patent Pending. In conversation with Otwo, Chandler explains that the other bands on the album “are pretty much, as far as bands go, our best friends in the world”. With this affectionate sentiment in mind, he explains the motives behind the album: “We toured extensively with both bands, but never together, and they have done shows together, but never with us and it was like, ‘Let’s get the fans together’. Last year we split a 7-inch with the Dollyrots where they did two of our songs, and we did two of their songs and we thought it was a great idea to contribute one new original, then everybody cover one of each of the
Bowling for Soup other bands songs.” For those die-hard fans out there, however, Chandler insists there is little to worry about when it comes to Bowling for Soup getting bored of music, or dwindling off the radar as a stand-alone band. He’s excited to get started working on a new Bowling for Soup record, however he does warn there may be a little waiting involved: “We are in the discussion phases of that right now, that would be in nest year before it would happen, but we are talking about it.” As talk turned to Twitter, Chandler highlights the important role that social media has to play in publicising bands and their music today, and in particular when it came to developing Bowling for Soup’s relationship with their fans. “That’s one of the
greatest new ways to keep in touch with fans. It is immediate; ‘I just did this and I’m telling you about it right now’; and they can respond back to you in real time, it is really cool. We have embraced it, and we’re trying to get some people in certain areas of the business that work with us, who are still a little more old school when it comes to things like that, and we’re trying to say this is where it is going.” Twitter making life easy isn’t what has made Bowling for Soup so eager to get in touch with their fans; Chandler was once in charge of responding to as much of their fan mail as he possibly could, before Twitter ever existed. “We always have, especially once Myspace became as big as it was. That was my job, just to respond to all the emails we got on Myspace. And then it is like, we get so many, you start to respond to every third one, and people get their feelings hurt. It’s like I’ve got 1,000 emails here, I’m not going to get to all of them!” Excitement and anticipation is building in fans for the upcoming tour, and the band themselves are no exception to this. “It’s always a good tour. Our October UK and Ireland tour is always amazing.” The lengthy life-span of Bowling for Soup is demonstrated in the confident and meagre approach to preparations for the tour. “Ah, we don’t prepare. We’re in and out of town until just a few days beforehand, and then we have like three days to rehearse before we take off.” Though, not to appear too blasé, Chandler reassures us that they “will spend those three days rehearsing, for sure.” Touring America and Europe does take its toll on the artists, particularly time spent travelling this side of the Atlantic: “ It’s harder on us when you tour over there because you are so far away from family, and the conveniences that you are used to, and
so your daily routine gets messed up.” Despite this small hindrance, Chandler talks positively about touring in Europe, “The crowds are definitely different. It’s just a different kind of music fan over there, like everyone is there as a community rather than there just by yourself or with your two friends, to be kind of see and be seen.” With having well known hits such as ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ and ‘Punk Rock 101’, you would think Bowling for Soup would be tired of performing their more celebrated singles show, after show. Chandler however, says he rarely gets sick of playing the hits. “I haven’t yet, I’ll say that. I can’t imagine that I would, I can’t imagine that you would get tired of playing a song that got such a huge reaction.” All the same, having such a large collection of recordings does help with organising a set. “We have such a big body of work, I guess it’s easy to switch songs in and out, so that you’re not getting tired of any. Songs do get cycled out of our sets, and after a couple of years they make their way back in.” A humble pride of his and his band’s work is manifest in Chandler, even still: “There’s not one I don’t enjoy playing.” As our chat comes to a close, Otwo is assured that notwithstanding Bowling for Soup’s immense work load and extensive touring schedule, there are holidays planned within the coming months. “After this tour it is pretty much it, for the rest of the year. We will be taking out annual Christmas hiatus. We fly back to London on November 10th and we will be headlining our bands Warped tour. Then that’s it.” Bowling for Soup play The Academy on October 18th. Tickets are priced at €25. Bowling for Soup Presents One Big Happy is out now.
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Tim Burgess Lead singer of the Charlatans, Tim Burgess chats to Stephen Connolly about going solo, drugs, and the legend of the Manchester music scene
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h Manchester, nothing to answer for. You’ve made a happy man very old,’’ or so honked Steven Patrick Morrissey in a rare moment of affection while playing a homecoming gig in 2004. The quote is included here as he makes a valid point: while one may question whether Morrissey has ever been qualified to be termed as ‘a happy man’ in the conventional sense, he’s otherwise not wrong. The drizzly erstwhile Roman fort of Mamucian’s various music scenes are famous for their cast of splendid bands, begetting such gloominaries as The Smiths, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, and The Fall, but took their toll on many happy men, most notoriously the wild-eyed sons of the legendary ‘Madchester’ scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Among these were the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, and James, several now lingering as emaciated spectres, haunting sold-out arenas still. It was a time where ‘baggy’ stood unquestioned as an acceptable term for a musical style, guitarists studied the distorted musical belchings of 1960s psychedelic rock while frontmen delved further back into the past, turning to ape fossils of the Late Miocene sub-epoch for inspiration, and ‘Brit pop’ was but a hideous unibrowed foetus. More pertinent to the purpose of this interview however, and relatively
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unscathed by the period are The Charlatans, of whom Tim Burgess, our patient and pleasant interviewee, is lead singer. While their first UK top ten single, ‘The Only One I Know’, may quite possibly be, well, the only one you know, their recording history has spanned from 1988 to these current times and includes songs like ‘One to Another’, ‘Flower’ and ‘Love is the Key’ and the UK chart-topping albums, 1990’s Some Friendly and 1995’s The Charlatans. Most of the media interest concerning Telling Stories, Burgess’s autobiography published earlier this year, focused on the numerous druggy anecdotes included. One story in particular caught much attention, involving ‘‘blowing cocaine up one another’s arseholes,” an incident which, to the best of Burgees’s memory, occurred in an Irish hotel. When discussing the herculean drug consumption in that era, Burgess continues to be frank: “I think we all dropped E, had acid, speed, coke… It’s something we all did at some point.” He connects his personal acquaintance with drugs to events in his life such as moving from Salford, the Borough of Greater Manchester to Cheshire’s Northwich, (“not exactly the big city”). “For me it was just a huge part of experimentation. I grew up in a small town and getting high was a really important part of me growing
up, finding my way back from where I wanted to grow up. I always had this feeling that I was dragged away. Cocaine keeps you awake at night so you can keep writing ‘til twilight, and perhaps it made us feel a little braver in some things that we did. With coke however, everything that is good about it eventually reverses. If it makes you brave and wiry, after a few years the opposite happens and you find yourself bloated and paranoid, quite the reverse. That’s when I knew it was time to stop. For a couple of years after stopping I really had to learn to be myself again.” When Otwo tries to picture the 1990s music landscape, it’s difficult not to imagine the various bands lurching about the same North London pub, discussing the next Marc Bolan riff they intended to steal, perhaps even living in one giant house; Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker cooking while Brett Anderson of Suede having his jeans sewn on by Blur’s Graham Coxon. Burgess however, is quick to dispel such fanciful notions, and insists that it is only in retrospect that we connect these bands. “It wasn’t really like
miss the band, on this particular solo album I went away to Mexico for two weeks to write it with Kurt Wagner, and then recorded it in October within two weeks, I don’t pine for them every day. And by the way, the Charlatans have not broken up, if people are thinking that.” Manchester’s legacy as a source of musical talent remains an obsession of music journalists and fans to this day. NME’s coverage over Oasis’s Gallagher brothers’ disputes over which is the bigger Muppet is tireless, the aforementioned Morrissey’s truculent utterances receive more attention than any other ageing curmudgeon in Europe, while the Stone Roses headlined a sold-out appear-
“it’s just me; I do whatever I want. I didn’t miss the band” that,” Burgess explains. “I mean, we recorded with the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses in the same studio in Wales, but we were very rarely drinking in bars or that sort of stuff. I once saw John Squire [Stone Roses’ guitarist] buying a canvas painting in a shop, and I once saw Shaun Ryder [Happy Mondays’ singer] talking to a painting in a pub, that’s pretty much it really.” Tim Burgess’s solo album, Oh No I Love You, is his second in ten years and was written with Nashville cult songwriter Kurt Wagner. On his decision to once again record solo, Burgess is again pleasantly transparent. “It’s quite simple. With a band you have to collaborate with four other people. On the solo stuff, it’s just me; I do whatever I want. I didn’t
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ance in our very own Phoenix Park this summer. Why has Manchester been so endurant in our collective memory? “Well, the records are very good, for one thing,” Burgess offers. “Tony Wilson [co-founder of the pivotal Factory Records label and The Haçienda nightclub] believed that it didn’t matter how much a record cost, what mattered was the importance of the record. Nothing came between him and his bands making really great records. The Charlatans made some fantastic records too and I think that’s what kept people interested: the music.” Tim Burgess plays The Workmans on October 26th. Tickets are priced €20. Oh No I Love You is out now.
MUSIC OTWO
Lianne La Havas Before Mercury Award nominee Lianne La Havas embarks on her European tour, Aoife Valentine chats to her about doing what you love, drinking with Bombay Bicycle Club and not being able for the rock-and-roll lifestyle “I found that the Bon Iver tour was more relaxed because I was just on my own, I didn’t have a band at that point, and they took me in like I was a little sister. It was very exciting but I found there was a lot more drinking that I did on the Bombay tour, so it was a bit more full-on.”
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f there’s one thing that you pretty much immediately glean from speaking to Lianne La Havas, it’s that she almost can’t believe her luck when it comes to where she stands today. The 23-year-old London native has been nominated in the BBC Sound of 2012 poll, and her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough?, which was released two months ago, has been nominated for the Mercury ‘Album of the Year’ award. She counts Prince and Stevie Wonder as some of her biggest fans and she’s toured with an impressive line up of bands since her appearance on Later… With Jools Holland less than a year ago. More than anything else, La Havas repeats how happy she is to be in the position she is, but it seems she’s taking her success largely in her stride. There are no diva requests when it comes to this folky-soul singer-songwriter, as she appears almost scared to criticise even the smallest aspects of her life. With a constant emphasis during our conversion on how much she loves absolutely everything in her life; it seems that she’s dealing with her new-found fame by simply taking each day one at a time. “I love my job a lot and it’s really, really fun so I’ve just been keeping busy, playing a lot of shows, amongst other things… I kind of feel like it depends on the day and the venue and the atmosphere and the colours of the place that you’re in but… I like it all equally, to be honest.” It wasn’t always La Havas’ life plan to head into the music business, but after auditioning for her school choir, she felt a gradual pull towards the industry. “I always loved music but I didn’t always know that I would pursue it as a career. That was a quite recent development, but I always sang and I always loved music, so it was kind of a gradual decision I made… It was also just feeling like I didn’t really want to do anything else because it brought me the most happiness.” She was first signed to Warner Brothers Records two years ago, and spent the time since intensively song writing, before finally releasing her first LP in July. The record is quite
eclectic stylistically, though she isn’t quite sure why. “Maybe it’s just because I’m an eclectic kind of person and I like little different styles of things and I can appreciate music from all walks of life and all genres… It was just always how we felt we should interpret each song, is what happened.” La Havas is quick to admit however, that with such a long writing and recording process, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. “Yeah, of course, there were many times where it was a struggle but you know, that’s life.” While she doesn’t shy away from the fact that often she was ready to give up trying release her music, it was her passion for what she was doing that eventually resulted in an album release. “I really love music, and I found it my favourite thing to do… I felt compelled to share the songs I was writing with my friends and then that developed to wanting to share them with a larger audience. It
kind of lends itself to that, if you decide to write music in the first place with personal lyrics.” Her lyrics are almost totally autobiographical, and that is something which has been very important to her for her debut. She, however, isn’t ruling out taking another tack later on in her career. “That is the nature of the way I have chosen to express myself. That’s not to say I wouldn’t love to write music for someone else or something else, but for it to be completely truthful, then it has to be from the heart.” Though Is Your Love Big Enough? takes us through numerous aspects of her love life, and her past relationships, with the album’s title she wanted to steer away from that side of things. “I wanted it to have a positive title and to be kind of cheeky and funny. That was the song on the album that is about the love that you have for yourself rather than talking about any of my relationships. I wanted that more than anything else. Otherwise it would have been self-titled, but that’s just boring.” Though quite sweet and innocent in her answers, when talk turns to life on the road with Bon Iver and Bombay Bicycle Club, La Havas reveals that perhaps she’s not afraid to have at least a little fun. “I found that the Bon Iver tour was more relaxed because I was just on my own, I didn’t have a band at that point, and they
took me in like I was a little sister. It was very exciting but I found there was a lot more drinking that I did on the Bombay tour, so it was a bit more full-on.” She quickly reverts back to goodgirl mode however, and admits immediately after that it was on that tour that she learnt that the infamous rock-and-roll lifestyle simply isn’t worth it when you’ve to get up and do another show the next day. The biggest lesson she’s learnt? “Know your limits and try and get as much sleep as possible even though sometimes it’s impossible. You have to look after yourself as best you can.” While she’s on the road for the next couple of months, a sophomore effort is top of her agenda. She isn’t however, giving anything away. “I’ve started thinking about it but I don’t know what’s going to happen. I haven’t even finished a new song yet, so watch this space.” Lianne La Havas plays the Olympia on October 15th. Tickets are priced at €21. Her debut album Is Your Love Enough? is out now.
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MIXTAPE
SONGS TO KICK EARLY ACADEMIC LETHARGY
As the giant cogs of University College Dublin resume their inexorable course, Stephen Connolly offers inspiration by way of song to help you to avoid being ground into underachieving sludge ‘Street Hassle’ - Lou Reed There comes a time in every undergraduate’s life when they question exactly how worthwhile their degree actually is. Be still, worry not. Why? Lou Reed limped out of Syracuse University in 1964 clutching a degree in both journalism and creative writing and now look at the man: twenty solo albums of muttering and clanging and all the cheap aftershave a man could ever hope to drink. ‘The Great Beyond’ - REM Should your engagement with your chosen field of study wane, remember that outside of the artificial constructs of the education system, someone of your slender grasp of reality is of almost zero worth; save from the precious few joules of energy to be obtained from burning your corpse. ‘Concentrate’ – XZIBIT Mr. Xzibit’s sincerity is undermined in this particular piece by the overall dearth of coherence to be found in this informative composition, not to mention the peculiar inclusion of couplets such as “congregate, associate/don’t fuck yo’self, procrastinate.” What is commendable however, is how he gracefully declines to (or possibly neglects to) rhyme with the words “fellate” and “masturbate”. ‘Oh Father’ - Madonna Keep your head down, and maybe, if the old man has had enough to drink at your graduation party, he might look you in the eye. ‘A Little Less Conversation’ – Elvis Presley vs. JXL Wafting through a haze of dated techno comes encouragement in the form of a ghostly bollocking from beyond the grave. Perhaps avoid following his direct example, as tripping balls on painkillers has been reported to hinder acquisition.
‘Heaven’ – Talking Heads What better impetus to give the intricacies of Employment Law the benefit of your attention than to listen to David Byrne’s howling realisation that after your frustrating life and inevitably embarrassing death, heaven promises inconceivable mundanity. At least you might get some work done there, provided there are available sockets. ‘Don’t Stop’ - Fleetwod Mac If the batshit Californian-British five-headed monster Fleetwood Mac managed to haul their beaded necks from their dunes of cocaine long enough to harmonise over this chorale of coercion, you can surely at least give the German Plusquamperfekt half an hour of your precious time. ‘You Keep it All In’ – The Beautiful South You wish. Your learning process has all the reward and gratification of trying to paint a watersnake. Buy a highlighter. ‘Fun Time’ – Iggy Pop One must let the hair down from time to time, as it were. Schedule periods of recreation, the odd whopper session perhaps to punctuate your 36 minute marathons of study. Iggy Pop and David Bowie apparently “get stoned and run around,” for example. Bless them. ‘The Fear’ - Pulp If any real sense of duty to yourself or indeed your parents fails to take root, fear is your final hope. As it becomes clear that your efforts this semester shall once again amount to nought, that sensation is your very own disenchanted intestines seeking to flee from the sinking ship that is your academic endeavour.
Heathers Hi again everyone! Hope you’ve all had a fun start to the college year. It’s been a pretty crazy couple of weeks since our first article in the middle of September. We’ve been promoting our new album Kingdom all over the country and are delighted to say that all the effort is paying off. It landed into the charts at number eight in the first week, and almost three weeks on; we’re delighted that it’s still in the Top 25. We had dreamed of landing a Top 10 but when we heard that new albums by The Script, The xx, David Guetta and a little-known character called Bob Dylan were all being released the same day, we started doubting that would happen. But thankfully, people seem to be reacting very positively to the new material on Kingdom, and with The Late Late Show having us on the night of our album release, coupled with all the positive reviews we’ve had in the press, we were delighted to secure the number eight slot! The second half of September has all been about gearing up for our Irish tour that kicked off on September 26th in Limerick. Our new band (comprising of two amazing musicians called Tom Drew and Boomer Opperman) arrived in the day before and we’ve been having so much fun on your. Limerick, Waterford and Belfast are done, and as we write, we’re resting up ahead of our biggest ever Dublin headliner at The Academy. We’ve heard it has sold really well which is fantastic, so we’re really looking forward to all our fans, new and old, checking out what our new live show is all about. After Dublin, we’ve got a day or two to rest before going back on the road to Cork (October 4th), Kilkenny (October 5th) and Galway (October 6th). After that, we’re going to be doing some writing for other acts, which is something we’ve started doing very recently. Then we’ll be planning out the next few months with our booking agent. We do have a few other Irish dates planned for October which we’ll announce details of in our next update from Camp Heathers! So, for now, take it easy and we look forward to maybe seeing some of you at one of our tour dates very soon. L&E xx
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album REVIEWS
Mumford and Sons Babel
The Vaccines - Come of Age
Grade: C+
Grade: B-
Considering Mumford and Sons’ Babel is following their hugely successful debut album, Sigh No More, it is not surprising that fans will be expecting another completely revolutionary piece of work from the folk rock four piece. The album, in its entirety, is enjoyable, composed of hearty, rustic folk songs that have you passionately belting out the lyrics after only one listen. However, there is little artistic development to be commended between Sigh No More and Babel. The album opens with an explosive instrumental from the title song, ‘Babel’, that is particularly reminiscent of the intro to the famous ‘Little Lion Man’ off Sigh No More. It’s clear that Mumford and Sons are unlikely to ever break away from their signature sound, a sure sign of their commitment to avoiding the dominant synthpop and dubstep music culture of today. Babel finds itself concerned mainly with the struggles of young passionate love. We listen as Marcus Mumford angrily condemns his lover in ‘Holland Road’ for her “callus mind” whereas ‘Ghosts That We Knew’, a particularly sweet song, indicates that the couple are leaving their troubles behind them. The album also contains a haunting religious overtone from beginning to end, with a conflict between holiness and the devil suggested in ‘Whispers in the Dark’. With its passionate lyrics, energetic banjo playing and emotionally identifiable themes, Babel acts as a logical, while not revolutionary, follow up to Sigh No More.
If rock and roll is perceived as a perpetual adolescence, then The Vaccines are showing signs of growth. Their sophomore album marks an ironic entrance into adulthood. Come of Age pulses with the same youthful energy and angst that drove their debut, only now it’s more mature and refined. Critics yearning for the synonymous dreaded second album from the quintet have been left dumbfounded, with this starkly different variant piece of work. Tracks like ‘All in Vain’ show that the NME darlings have honed their song writing skills to a fine craft, through mastering loud-soft dynamics, and diversifying their instrumentation to accompany lyrics that still tell of yearning and self-destruction, yet through a more mature and developed sound than their previous work. The Vaccines are at their best, however, when they play fast, loose and raw, like on the impressive opener ‘No Hope’. The drums pound and guitars roar as Justin Young recklessly howls with an endearing disregard for pitch, not unlike that of Julian Casablancas. The only faults on this record come when the band gets lethargic, disregarding their new found experimentation and falling back into their maudlin comfort zone with songs such as ‘Change of Heart Pt. 2’. Otherwise this is a band that is surely developing, yet still able to tap into raw teenage power.
In a Nutshell: A very enjoyable, sing-a-long album.
by Edward Kearns
Muse - The 2nd Law Grade: BThe Resistance marked a new direction for Muse. The 2009 release saw the relatively familiar bombastic blasts and electronic swells of the past take precedence over the rocking riffs the band had been acclaimed for. However it still maintained that quintessential Muse sound. The 2nd Law, which despite seeing Bellamy reclaim his axe, somehow loses a little of that distinctive mark, with the trio wearing their influences a little too proudly on their sleeves. The opening track ‘Supremacy’, almost too inspired by Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’, is an immediate reminder of Bellamy’s flawless ability to pull off hair-raising falsetto choruses. The album flows well though it falters a little in the middle, but it returns to form strongly enough to be forgiven. This is most notable with bassist Wolstenholme’s couplets detailing his struggle with alcoholism, while ‘Liquid State’ in particular, is an exuberant revisiting of a rawer, younger and more aggressive Muse. ‘Unsustainable’, the vastly superior of two dubstep-influenced tracks, melds gritty drops with elegant soaring strings to an unlikely great end. And how ironic it is, given
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all its grandiose, that the album closes with its most subdued and yet emotionally affecting track, ‘Isolated System’. Bellamy’s lyrics are perhaps at their most simplistic and clichéridden; when everything is executed with such conviction and undeniable technical talent though, it’s very difficult to care, a prime example being the rousing Queen infused ‘Survival’. Muse must be credited for constantly evolving their sound. Hopefully though, in the future, they’ll be able to rebuild what was once a more cohesive and firm foundation, one that isn’t so transparently derivative of its forefathers. In a Nutshell: A thrilling identity crisis. by Niall Gosker
In a Nutshell: Raucous restlessness with a new-found purpose.
by Laura Wolfe
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Club Night: Junior Spesh In the first in a series of articles on some of Dublin’s biggest club nights, Anna Burzlaff talks to one half of Junior Spesh about reggae, good vibes and fried chicken
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it’s less glitz and glam and more rum and red bull
Bremnar
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ancehall in Dublin may have seemed farfetched a few years ago but to the surprise of many, the boys from Junior Spesh have managed to bring a little bit of the Caribbean to our rainy shores. Many clubs follow a prescribed formula of Top 20 hits, shockingly applied fake tan, and copious amounts of alcohol. For the reggae-loving stoner, it can be tough finding an appropriate outlet to pass your Thursday nights. Junior Spesh was spawned out of a desire to fill just this vacuum. That, and of course, a love for chicken. The night’s somewhat unusual name comes from London grime group, Red Hot Entertainment. Their song, ‘Junior Spesh’, a four minute ode to fried chicken, seemed the perfect title to compliment the event. “We all loved chicken, so we decided it would be funny to start a name like that.” Tagdh Byrne and Mark Byrne are the creators of this dancehall and reggae inspired night. In the years since it started Junior Spesh has become one of The Twisted Pepper’s biggest weekly parties, promoting a different kind of clubbing through its music choice and overall theme. Boasting DJs such Brenmar, Annie Mac, and Skream, Junior Spesh is all about the music. While the emphasis undoubtedly lies with reggae, hiphop, and bass, Byrne stresses that variety is an extremely important component: “My favourite thing about Spesh is there’s a lot of unpredictable
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parts about it.” Junior Spesh’s latest endeavour was a celebration of 50 years of Jamaican independence (certainly not a typical calendar date for most club nights), turning the Twisted Pepper into a mini Kingston, filled with palm trees and free jerk chicken. The club night shies away from the formulas of its contemporaries: it’s less glitz and glam and more rum and red bull. “It’s not about VIP areas or bottles of champagne and drink offers. It’s about, basically, just really, really good music, and somewhere hopefully where you can let go and enjoy yourself, without thinking about how much money you need to spend on booze or what you need to look like.” In other words Junior Spesh is a just a really, really friendly night. Since Junior Spesh’s inception the night has been steadily gaining a loyal following. Certainly for those looking for something different Junior Spesh boasts the credentials. When asked about the night’s ethos, Byrne replies: “Great vibes, great music, and great people.” A statement which would make even the least likely clubber grab some fried chicken and dance the night away. Junior Spesh takes place every Thursday from 10:30pm in The Twisted Pepper.
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My favourite thing about Spesh is there’s a lot of unpredictable parts about it
Annie Mac
FASHION OTWO
Best in Show Michael Madigan investigates London Fashion Week and how it continues to create opportunities for young designers
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ondon Fashion Week has the reputation of being the most creative of all fashion get-togethers, where Paris remains chic, New York maintains its cool, sleek edge and Milan continues to pour out the old Italian favourites. But with the emphasis placed on younger designers and attempting to grow and develop homegrown creativity, London has always maintained its image of youth and vitality. Not many, however, see it that way. Due to the massive scale of New York Fashion Week this year, which was always a prelude to the British event, London was ultimately forced to decrease in size, effectively turning it into London Fashion Weekend. However, the British Fashion Council and all accompanying forces rallied together despite the time constrictions and created a weekend long event that, as it always has done, astounded, surprised, and inspired its spectators, from editors to bloggers. Due to its obvious proximity to Ireland, many Irish designers who have made large enough waves to show during London Fashion Week are selected to demonstrate their new collection for the upcoming season. One of these designers, an old favourite, is milliner Philip Treacy. The milliner’s long-awaited return to London Fashion Week was met with not only adulation and his signature ludicrous headwear, but also with a surprise guest; Lady GaGa opened the show, wearing a transparent pink veil. The show was, of course, a resounding success, with many fashion editors hailing it the return that Treacy deserved, with a collection that was part inspired by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and part science fiction. One of the best attributes to London Fashion Weekend is its dedication to young talent, and its constant showcase of the newest of the new. Two such designers of Irish descent that have already begun to flourish under their own label are Simone
Rocha and JW Anderson. Rocha, daughter to designer John Rocha, showcased a collection that seemed to encapsulate every sort of hue, fabric and trend, from dreamy, crisp white shirts to neutral toned leather skirts to gold metallic dresses. One of the most buzzed about upand-coming designers, her talent was exemplary in the Perspex-heeled brogues she sent models down the catwalk in. These were the ultimate in newwave talent placing their own signature on something quintessentially British. Rocha graduated from Dublin’s very own NCAD with a BA in Fashion, and then moving on to the hallowed ground of Central St. Martin’s, where she studied towards the renowned Fashion MA. She is now based in London, although her label continues to grow and receive a fan base both at home and further abroad. Another Irish designer that created waves during London Fashion Week is JW Anderson. At 29 years of age, he’s designed 14 hugely successful collections and secured collaborations with one of the high street’s biggest and most influential stores, Topshop, who even allowed him to show in their space during Fashion Week. Originally starting out as a menswear designer, his first womens-wear collection was described as a mirror of his fashion origins. The only way to describe Anderson’s work is purely androgynous, and he’s acknowledged that himself. For this collection, his designs were utterly simplistic, with sophisticated ruffles that draped from hip to knee. Using a pale palette, Anderson’s work seemed to work on juxtapositions. While the collection was heralded as inherently futuristic, there was a quiet, romantic quality to each piece of the collection, which added to the dream in contrast to the white, clinical space where the collection debuted. While London Fashion Week prides itself on championing new designers and honing their skills,
it would not be what it is, were the heavyweights not to continue showing their latest collections. Burberry long held the belief of being the victim of ‘chav-culture’, and was in desperate need of a new vision. Joining the company as chief creative director in 2009, Christopher Bailey has turned the fortunes of the house around, creating a more modern look for the brand. The latest collection displayed a revival of the classic Burberry trench coat, with a brightly coloured, metallic twist. Showing the collection in the London landmark Royal Albert Hall, this collection only added more credit to the creative genius of Bailey. One of the best shows that occurs in London Fashion Week is Mulberry, the leather goods designer turned fashion brand. Always keeping to a quintessentially British, feminine aesthetic, one of the biggest attractions to the show, always housed in Claridge’s Hotel, is what the models are holding. The leather goods for which the brand is famed for continues to enthrall both fashion insiders and customers, due to the quality of the bag and the timelessness of the design. Another attraction to the Mulberry show is who’s sitting front row. Editors, bloggers, socialites and more often than not celebrities, like every fashion show, are in attendance. Mulberry, always grateful for the attention of any given starlet on their goods, have named two of their handbags after their ardent followers, Lana Del Ray and Alexa Chung. Both styles sold out within hours after going on sale to the general public. London Fashion Week, in general, is about celebrating and diversifying young talent and ensuring they have a future in the industry. But had it not been for the helpful guiding hands of heavyweight, more experienced designers, along with the higher powers within the industry, these designers, some from Irish descent, might not receive the accolade that they deserve.
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OTWO FASHION
DIRECTIONS Oasis Military Ponte dress €62
Victoria Beckham A/W ‘12
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he military look is never one that strays too far from Autumn/ Winter collections. This fashion favourite is the one that keeps on giving, from cosy over-sized parkas to khaki coloured blouses, and it’s all about how you wear it. The key to pulling military off is how best to translate from catwalk to high street, or even on campus. Singer turned darling of the fashion world, Victoria Beckham, sent models down the catwalk in khaki and clack army inspired dresses. For the more high-street oriented student, Oasis have a great version of this in their Military Ponte dress.
M I L I TA R Y BAROQUE
B
aroque-inspired clothes can be defined into one word: opulence. The Rococo look is key to this season’s wardrobe. The jewel tones, the use of gold and intricate patterning are all ways to brighten up the cold, dreary mornings on campus. Dolce & Gabbana led with this look in their A/W ’12 campaign, and many high-street stores picked up on this, including the heroine of the high-street, River Island. On offer is a black cardigan with gold detail in Rococo-styled patterns for €54, which is a great, foolproof way to translate the trend without overstepping the mark.
Dolce & Gabbana A/W ‘12
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River Island Cardigan €54
FASHION OTWO
With a new season comes a whole new array of trends and clothes that are itching to be worn. Michael Madigan looks at the clothes directly from the catwalk and how best to translate them onto the high-street
Givenchy A/W ‘12
Topshop Black lace and sheer skirt €50
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lame it on Rooney Mara’s Oscar nominated turn in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or maybe the fashion world had a little teen moment, but this season, the gothic look is back. This time around, it’s all grown up. Catwalks were filled with models sporting edgy little black dresses and heavy eye makeup. Beauty wise, clever eye-liner use and blood-red lipstick are all must haves when it comes to taking on this look without looking sulky. There’s a romantic idea in this look however, as the use of lace and sheer fabrics all soften the trend. Get the gothic look for less with a black lace and sheer skirt from Topshop for €50.
G OT H I C ANDROGYNOUS
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adies, it’s time to man up; the everpopular androgyny look is back, and this time it means business. For the upcoming internships or first proper-job interviews, invest in a trouser suit. The key to not becoming overly literal with this trend is to soften it in unexpected ways, like pairing it with a sheer blouse or accessorising with strong statement jewellery. Oasis are currently selling a pair of work-wear trousers with zip-detail that fits nicely into this trend, without being too difficult to pull off, costing €56.
Oasis Zip detail trousers €56
Kenzo A/W ‘12
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The Perfect Shot Photographer and fashion designer Joshua Gordon, talks to Anna Burzlaff about inspiration, legacy, and what it is that makes a photo great
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good photograph is something that you can’t stop staring at, or at least for Joshua Gordon it is. The photographer turned clothes designer is becoming somewhat of a rising star both at home and abroad for his striking pictures and cutting-edge design. His blog and label, FucknFlithy, along with his work for numerous fashion spreads, has pushed Gordon beyond the realm of hobbyist and elevated him to a standout figure of today’s Irish subculture. Currently based in Manchester, Gordon emerged on the scene a few years ago like a creative bang in a barren Irish wasteland. Not only boasting a portfolio of photography, which includes work for clothing labels such as Lazy Oaf and stores like Urban Outfitters, Gordon, with FucknFlithy, is also a glorified next-generation businessman. One could reasonably argue that this is an age of commercialised photography. For the beanie clad hipster, an SLR camera has become as intrinsic to his identity as the cup of black coffee and cigarette in his hand. A proliferation of not always the most inspiring kind; it can be difficult to find amongst the precocious images something of worth or longevity. When it comes to today’s plethora of aspiring photographers, Gordon is nonchalant in his response: “Maybe in a year they’ll start and then they’ll just give up, and it will just be the people who were at it already. I don’t think it’s a massively big deal. All the people running around with SLRs aren’t very good anyway.” Gordon is certainly one of the few that has managed to take his photography to the next level. Beginning as what could be termed a rolling page of photographic inspiration, Gordon’s blog developed into a forum for art, featuring and discussing the work of iconic photographers such as Mary Ellen Mark and Jürgen Teller. It’s a tribute to some of Gordon’s biggest influences. The inspiration Gordon draws from these iconic names can certainly already be seen within his photography, but is about to become all the more pertinent as the young Irish native is
looking to turn his lens towards documentary work: “I’d love to do some documentary photography projects. I want to do something on the sex industry, taking pictures of escorts and their homes, and really weird, seedy stuff.” Now Gordon is undoubtedly seeking to push away any titles of fashion photographer, as he says: “I don’t really like the title of fashion photography; it tends to all be really cheesy photos of badly dressed girls in abandoned houses. I like taking portraits of people.” For the time being his focus lies firmly on what he knows best: friends, parties, and day-to-day life. Gordon’s work is certainly striking, containing an urban rawness that enables at times an eerie closeness between subject and viewer. For him this is the majesty of portrait work, encapsulating a person’s qualities in an instant. “I just really love taking portraits. Trying to capture someone’s personality and what they’re about in one picture. I just find it really interesting.” This isn’t about a social message by any manner of meaning. For Gordon his responsibility lies in the aesthetics, while the interpretation is for the viewer to construct: “I’m more focused on taking really, really broad interesting photos, more so than spreading a message to other people.” As for inspiration from his native city, Gordon is slightly more reluctant to attribute too much, if any, credit. “There isn’t really an Irish creative hub. If there is I haven’t really witnessed it. There’s a few key people doing interesting things but it wouldn’t be like London or New York or anything. It’s the same in Manchester, there isn’t a massive amount of people to collaborate with or create things with but I tend to just work on my own anyway.” It’s important to point out that Gordon isn’t wholly disparaging of the Irish artistic scene as he emphasises that the lack of inspiration he received from home is not an insult to what goes on there. As he puts it: “There’s lots of interesting stuff going on [in Dublin] but I’d more so take influence from heads in London and people taking pictures in New York
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I’d love to do some documentary photography projects. I want to do something on the sex industry, taking pictures of escorts and their homes, and really weird, seedy stuff 26
in the 80s, like Bruce Davidson and all that.” While his retrospection in terms of other work is evident, Gordon admonishes a similar approach when it comes to his own work. “I’m just thinking about shoots I’m going to do in the future and not really the old ones.” It’s clear the photographer does not take himself too seriously. It can be difficult at times to make out what Gordon is saying as he strains to supersede the noise emanating from his roommate’s loud interjections in the background; these are the people that form the basis of Gordon’s current work, however are not so accommodating when it comes to interviews.
If Gordon’s ethos behind good photography is creating “something that you can’t stop staring at,” then perhaps he has already, at such a young age, achieved his aim. The Dubliner is far more humble in his own estimations however, insisting there’s much room for improvement: “I’m just trying to create strong, timeless photos, and I’m nowhere near that point yet. I haven’t been consistently working hard enough on it to get to that level, to the level I hope to take it one day, of just really strong, gritty, intense photographs that people can look at in 50 years and think: ‘Fuck, how did that image come about?’”
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FATAL FOURWAY
best classic disney film
In the first frantic Fatal Fourway of Volume XIX, our editors fight it out to decide which TV series most deserves to be back on our screens
Mulan
Mary Poppins
The Lion King
Aladdin
Emer Sugrue
Aoife Valentine
Anna Burzlaff
Conor Luke Barry
As last issue’s joint-champion in both the online vote and in taste, this issue I argue for loftier things. Aladdin, The Lion King and Mary Poppins (Which doesn’t even count as a Disney really. Live Action is for chumps) just don’t measure to my pick for best Disney classic: Mulan. Mulan is a girl in an unspecified period of ‘ancient China’ (after the formation of a unified state, but before foot binding) who is beautiful and smart, but too clumsy to find a husband. Being considered a failure of a woman, when her ageing father is called off to fight the Huns she steals his armour, cuts of her hair, and pretends to be a man to fight in her father’s place. Naturally, Eddie Murphy serves as her tiny dragon sidekick. The brilliant thing about Mulan, apart from the amazing catchy songs about killing Huns and wanting to shag pretty girls, is that she is one of the only heroines in a Disney film who doesn’t get a man to save her. Mulan fights alongside men and becomes their equal. She doesn’t need to be saved by her romantic interest; she saves him, and then goes on to save China like a boss. Mulan is one of the rare films with a female lead that could actually be a role model to little girls. So if you don’t vote for Mulan, you hate feminism. And women. Sexist.
For those of you who were not enamoured with Grey’s Anatomy last issue, this week I’ve brought you entirely the opposite. There is a severe lack of hot doctors in Mary Poppins. If you’re looking for those, you missed the boat. Mary Poppins will merely bring you to a world of fun and magic, and it has heart in abundance. It just so happens that those are the key qualities to any good Disney film, and even more coincidentally, they are what make Mary Poppins the greatest classic Disney film of all time. Mary Poppins is one of those films that awes you with its magic and trickery when you’re young, and then sticks with you forever. We were practically in our teens when Mulan came out. What is Disney without the association with your pre-school life? Mary Poppins also has Julie Andrews, which is quite the trump card, because who didn’t want Julie Andrews to be their nanny after seeing this film? Nannys everywhere were suddenly substandard because drawers didn’t do as they willed just because they sang, nor could they jump through the ground into a world full of penguins and horses where they could generally lollygag about. Let’s not even get into Mrs Banks as the children’s mother. Mary Poppins brought you the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and with an awesome soundtrack to boot. To choose any other film would be an insult to Walt Disney himself.
Let’s put it simply: The Lion King is pretty much the basis of all morality in the world. We can try to hide under the guise of education, or parental upbringing, but we all secretly know that Simba’s journey to adulthood and defeat of evil (in the form of that treacherous Scar) is how we learnt right from wrong. If you didn’t cry at the end of The Lion King, it is a medically proven fact that you’re an evil sociopath. I’m not even making that up. What other film can claim such a weight of social responsibility? Mary Poppins’ contribution to moral development, on the other hand, ended in convincing upper class snobs that hiring a nanny to do all your work could be undertaken guilt free and I’m pretty sure Aladdin is mildly racist. The Lion King disseminates the greatest life lesson you’ll ever learn and ‘Hakuna Matata’ is the official anthem happiness in the world. To top it all off, not only is The Lion King the grounding of all morality as we know it, it’s also got the voice of Whoopi Goldberg in it. It actually could not be any better.
Back when I was a little tiny infant I pretty much structured my life around the plot of Aladdin, stealing bread from markets and trying to get the sitting room carpet to fly. To this day, if I see an appropriately shaped lamp I’ll check if it’s full of genies. Having said that, while childhood me enormously enjoyed Aladdin, he also enjoyed spending hours sitting in the hot press eating biscuits, so it’s fair to say I wasn’t the most critical of kids. Now that I’ve grown decrepit and cynical does Aladdin hold up? A thousand times yes. Firstly, this is Robin Williams’ best ever role (big words considering he played Mrs Doubtfire), using his improv abilities as the Genie so well that he made me believe magic was real. Similarly, the genuine terror that Jafar instilled in me is the root cause of my anxiety attacks, according to my psychiatrist. It also has some of the best Disney music, from the haunting tones of ‘Arabian Nights’ to the jaunty tune of ‘Prince Ali’, though fast forward through ‘A Whole New World’ because it’s awful. There are some wonderful morals too such as it’s fine to steal if you’re poor, and don’t be ashamed of being poor because eventually you’ll marry a princess and become very rich. Also Jasmine has a pet tiger, which never struck me as odd until now. If all of your youth had to be erased apart from one piece of pop culture, it would be the equivalent of murdering your child self to pick anything other than Aladdin.
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