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Issue 261 | Tuesday 22nd November 2011 | concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk concrete-online.co.uk
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NEWS >> P5
Concrete UEA
Bittersweet symphony Whilst the protest drew significant support, the School of Music still looks likely to close with a decision looming Frances Mckeown News Reporter The Save UEA Music campaign stepped up on Wednesday 9 November, as more than 200 students held a rally and march on the University Senate, which was meeting to discuss proposals to close the School of Music. The Senate met after the recent review into the economic and academic performance of the school. It did not make any formal recommendations to University Council in the way it normally does. Bill Vine, a PhD
student who is prominent in the campaign said “That’s ok; we’re not disheartened by that.” At the rally John Bowers, a lecturer from Goldsmiths, University of London, talked about his time studying music at UEA, and described the school as a “cultural asset” and “something we should protect in these beleaguered times.” Alex Etches, who is active in the Stop the Cuts movement, said it represented an “ideological attack on our university.” One banner read: “Total eclipse of the arts”. This feeling was echoed by James Copeland, steward of the campaign who
told Concrete, “We’re protesting for unselfish reasons: education is something that needs to be saved.” There are fears that other schools in Humanities, such as American Studies and Philosophy could also be at risk. Condemned by review The review panel published their report on 28 October, as a follow up to the external review carried out in 2002, which noted that the School was “at the absolute margin of viability.” The panel included Professor John Charmley, as Acting Head
Max Hetherington
of School and senior members of other schools. It reported that continued subsidy and investment in the School was no longer workable from 2012. Music as a subject has risen 10 places to 28th in the Good University Guide 2012. In a recent statement, staff called for a “transparent and independent review of the School’s future.”
Mark Shead interviews Caroline Sauverin about the new hubs
COMMENT >> P9
Supported by petition The Save UEA Music petition now holds more than 8,000 signatures. In the past week over half of these have come from senior academics and professionals around the world. There have been recent statements pledging support by composers and musicians such as Maxi Jazz, Henry Vega and Carlos Lopez-Real. The Save UEA Music campaign will be holding a rally on Wednesday 23 November beginning at midday. The minutes of the Senate’s discussion, as well as the report, will be passed on to University Council for discussion on 28 November, when the final decision will be made. For more information on the campaign and to read statements of support, visit www.saveueamusic.org.
Comment’s Big Debate poses the question: should UEA be a dry campus?
FEATURES >> P14
Samantha Rogers analyses the claim that alcohol is more harmful than heroin
LIFESTYLE >> P20
inside venue this fortnight: • Music’s Alex Throssell interviews Scroobius Pip
>> p4
• Fashion tackle the thorny issue of facial hair
>> p10
• Arts writer Vicky Cann reviews Andy Parsons at the Playhouse
>> p14
Lifestyle Editor Rianne Ison offers advice on how to avoid the “Freshman Fifteen”
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
Address Concrete Newspaper Union House UEA NR4 7TJ Email concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk concrete.advertising@uea.ac.uk Contact 01603 593 466 Concrete is published by UUEAS Concrete Society ©2011 Concrete BMc. ISSN 1351-2773 Letters should be addressed for the attention of the Editor, Chris King. Letters must include contact details, but we will consider anonymous publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity as necessary. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the newspaper. No part of this newspaper may be reproduced through any means without the express permission of the Editor, Chris King.
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comment p7-9
travel p10-11
The fortnight’s news in brief london
norwich
Protest falls flat
Occupy: Norwich
The Union of UEA Students chooses not to attend the London anti-cuts protest. P3
Ingrid Kornstad catches up with the protesters still present at the Occupy: Norwich camp. P4
uea
uea
Hubs scrutinised
Admissions fall
Following the Union’s feedback session, Concrete gets the lowdown on the academic hubs P5
Concrete speaks to VC Edward Acton to get the full story on the drop in admissions. P4
uea
norwich
Library app launched Brothel closed The Library is joining the 21st century by launching a new app for smartphones. P6
A brothel, discovered close to a popular student area, was recently closed by police. P4
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Contributors/Editorial/Contacts Editor | Chris King >> concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk Deputy Editor | Hannah Britt >> concrete.deputyeditor@uea.ac.uk News Editors | James Dixon & Susanna Wood >> concrete.news@uea.ac.uk Comment Editor | Josh Resoun >> concrete.comment@uea.ac.uk Travel Editor | Greg Lewry >> concrete.travel@uea.ac.uk Turf Editor | Becky Hazlewood >> concrete.turf@uea.ac.uk International Editor | Rachael Lum >> concrete.international@uea.ac.uk Lifestyle Editors | Hasina Allen & Rianne Ison >> concrete.lifestyle@uea.ac.uk Sport Editors | Matt Scrafton & Chris Teale >> concrete.sport@hotmail.co.uk >> concrete.sport@uea.ac.uk Chief Copy Editors | Amy Adams & Harry Slater >> concrete.editorial@uea.ac.uk
News
Frances Mckeown, Matthew Myles, Freya Barry, Riccardo Monni, Richard Joslin, Susanna Wood, James Dixon, Dan Pirozzolo, Mark Shead, Michael Drummond, Ashley Davis, Steph Clark
Comment
Tim Rose, Ciara Jack, Kieran Mcmahon, Dominic Smith, Sebastian Crawford, Emma Holbrook, Richard Law, Steph Clark
Travel
Chief Photographer | Laura Smith Deputy Chief Photographer | Harriet Jones >> concrete.photographers@uea.ac.uk Distribution Manager | Stephanie Gover >> concrete.distribution@uea.ac.uk Advertising Manager | Chris King >> concrete.advertising@uea.ac.uk
Media Pack 2011 2012
For all advertising opportunities contact Fran Poole, Retail Services Manager Email: union.advertising@uea.ac.uk I Tel: 01603 592510 Union of UEA Students, Union House, UEA, Norwich, NR4 7TJ
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If you are interested in placing an advertisement in Concrete, visit www. concrete-online.co.uk to view our media pack and advertising regulations, which contain details including sizes and prices. To arrange an advertisement, email Editor Chris King at concrete. editor@uea.ac.uk or call 07515005090.
Lifestyle
Features
Chris King, Samatha Rogers
Rebecca Hazlewood, Helena Murphy, Rianne Ison, Hasina Allen, Jessica Ball, Susanna Wood, Alfie Venner Woodcock, Hannah Thomson
Turf
Sport
Claire Murray, Benjamin Brown, William Lacey
International
Robert Norris, Kathleen Gustin, Isabelle Carty
Chris Teale, Kris Nelson, Chris King, Tom Shaw, Matt Scrafton, Billy Sexton
Copy Editors
Amy Adams, Harry Slater, Charlotte Cox, Matthew Weddig, Kirsten Heywood
features p12-14
turf p15
international p16
Olympic Torch Tour - a response When the Tour came to UEA, the Union considered it to be a success; it was fun, different, and made campus look lively. However we were criticised in Concrete for the event’s marketing. The Coca Cola representatives on the day stated that “we’re now only hoping for around 700 people to turn up today,” and that at Leeds “1,200 photos were taken”. Leeds and Leeds Met had a combined total of 85,000+ students compared to our 15,000. So to attract 700 people is an achievement. Coca-Cola wrote to us after the event to say “From what we saw and heard it was a great day and great to see people so excited about the campaign”. It was widely marketed: it was featured on our website, our social media, screens around our building and posters. It was also featured in the EDP, Norwich Evening News and Livewire1350. The Portal is run by the University, so we have no editorial control. Although we are always open to criticism as accountable officers, we are proud to have been selected for the Coca-Cola Olympic Torch Tour, and believe it was a success. Matthew Myles
lifestyle p17-20
NEWS
A word from the editor These are exciting times at Concrete HQ. Now five issues in, our website has finally ditched the techological glitches which have blighted it since birth, and now all campus computers can reach www.concrete-online. co.uk. Further to this, the first ever MediaCrawl was, by all accounts, a huge success. Wristbands sold in huge numbers, and thank you all for coming along and making it such an enjoyable evening. MediaBall is coming up, the more sophisticated of our social soirees, and will take place on 7 December. If you’re unsure about coming along, just ask yourself: how often do you suit up at university, and can you afford £20? Of course you can. Finally, we are always on the lookout for contributors. If we haven’t covered something, there’s nothing to stop you doing so. Don’t hesitate to get in touch! Chris King
NEWS
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London protest neglected Freya Barry News Reporter The Anti-Cuts demonstration organised by the NCAFC to speak out against cuts to education and public services. In London on 9 November there was a remarkably low level of attendance. There were only 10,000 marchers on the streets of Central London, in comparison to the 2010 march which saw approximately 30,00 to 52,000 attendees. The relatively low level of attendance at the march was attributed to a police statement released prior to the demonstration. This stated that in the event of violence, rubber bullets would be made available to officers as a form of crowd control. The statement was criticized on the NCAFC website as “part of a deeply cynical
attempt to pre-criminalise protest.” Despite having participated strongly in previous Anti-Cuts protests, the Union of UEA Students decided to cancel the coaches they had booked to transport UEA students down to the march, ostensibly in the face of concerns about the safety of protesters and a current focus on the UEA Save the Music School campaign. Matt Myles, Communications Officer of the Union, told Concrete:“The Union decided to cancel coaches to the demonstration in London. The proposed closure of the School of Music is a strategic decision by the University, but it stems from enormous pressure from the higher education White Paper which is inescapably linked to national cuts to education. University Senate met on 9 of November to make a recommendation to University
Council for the final decision on 28 November, so there was a call for a demonstration on campus on the 9th.” He added: “We did not want to send any people away from this demonstration on campus so as not to dilute a powerful local anti-cuts message of national relevance. There were some safety concerns over the London demonstration but they were not a deciding factor: it was the Save UEA Music demonstration that gave us good reason to cancel the coaches.” The London march, while garnering lower figures than previous events, was still deemed a success by the NCAFC who are following up the march with a “Day of Action” on 23 of November where students are encouraged to occupy University buildings and walk out of their schools and colleges.
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UEA continues to host political lecture series Riccardo Monni News Reporter Thursday 24 November sees the next instalment of the UEA’s “Too Difficult” series, a collection of political lectures which aim to discuss the impact of various problems facing Britain and how such obstacles might be overcome politically in a well conducted manner. Organised by the University’s School of Political, Social and International Studies (PSI), past lectures have featured such high profile political figures as John Hutton and Shirley Williams, and the present series seems set to continue the trend. Thursday’s lecture on immigration will be undertaken by ex-home secretary Charles Clarke, currently Visiting
Professor in the School of PSI, and even the previous chief of the General Staff, General Lord Richard Dannatt, is set to lecture about defending the UK on the 26 January. Former Major-era cabinet minister and sometime local MP Gillian Shephard and ex-health minister Patricia Hewitt are also set to make appearances, lecturing on the illusory nature of power and gender discrimination, respectively. All of the lectures are free to attend, and students beyond the School of PSI are encouraged to attend the events. Each will occur in the Thomas Paine Study Centre Lecture Theatre, beginning at 6pm, excepting that on the 26th January, which commences at 7.30pm.
NUS Student Activism 2011 sows inspiration Richard Joslin News Reporter The next generation of student activists gathered at Goldsmiths College London on Saturday for the NUS’s Student Activism 2011 conference. Among speakers at the events were prominent trade unionists, representatives from a variety of activist movements including UK Uncut and World Peace Day, as well as organisations such as Oxfam. Concrete was at the event all day alongside officers from the Union of UEA Students and leaders of the Save UEA Music campaign. Hundreds of students from all across the country, some coming from as far as Hull and Liverpool, took part in sessions organised by the NUS all day, with workshops for various types of activism and activist issues, as well as panel debates and discussions by veteran activists and academics. Among such sessions were “SUs and activist groups” by Michael Chessum of NCAFC fame (National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts), “Why Kermit is the best Muppet: Fun approaches to shaping sustainable behaviour”, and “Bollocks to Tax Dodging”.
Concrete attended several sessions, the first ones being “Where is Higher Education going? Understanding the White Paper” and “Going greener-Transition universities”. Unfortunately, none of the speakers for the former session were available, but luckily a NUS officer heroically filled in and with only five minutes preparation time managed to give a very well received presentation on the higher education reforms. As for the latter session, well, the two members of Concrete who turned up were the only ones in the entire audience. This made for an intimate, if underwhelming, submersion into green issues across universities. After a somewhat rocky start, Concrete attended the “Hidden course costs” session, in which a NUS Wales union officer enthusiastically presented to the audience how NUS Wales attained legislation in the Welsh assembly that forced universities to list additional course costs that many felt were “hidden” on their prospectuses. Among the audience, union officers from the Greenwich student union seemed enthralled and were vividly describing their own plans to start their own localised campaign for Greenwich
University to do the same. The day ended in a “rally”, with spirited, impassioned speeches given by many, including Peace One Day founder Jeremy Gilley and a UK Uncut representative. Speakers ranged in background
and direction but shared the common theme of the power of the person to affect change. LGBT rights activist, Makinder Chahal, regaled the audience with his journey through Keele’s LGBT society, to various degrees
of applause. President of the NUS, Liam Burns, closed the event with a well-received speech on the power of grassroot campaigns to achieve beyond measure; as the motto stated: “I am the change.” Harriet Jones
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
NEWS
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Brothel in Eaton Journalist is new Enterprise Centre closed after raid Labour candidate gets green light An illegal brothel has been closed down in the Golden Triangle area. The brothel, which was situating on Waldeck Road, off Mile End Road, was raided by police at the beginning of November. The raid resulted in the arrest of four people, including a 39-year-old woman who has been remanded in custody with the UK Border Agency after it was discovered that she was living in the country illegally. This is the most recent in a string of raids in residential areas in Norwich, several of which have been linked to sex trafficking. Inspector Nigel Richards said: “Norfolk Constabulary takes a firm line against the sexual exploitation of women, and members of the public can be reassured that any information passed onto us will be acted on.”
Clive Lewis, 40, has been picked as Labour’s new candidate for Norwich South after a hustings held at City of Norwich school. Lewis, a BBC politics reporter, will challenge Simon Wright for the seat he won with a narrow margin of 310 votes in the 2010 general election. Lewis commented: “I’m potentially the first black MP in Norfolk. I want to reconnect with those voters who’ve become disillusioned with Labour.” Lewis fought off competition from former Blur drummer Dave Rowntree and Norwich City councillor, Victoria MacDonald. The Norwich Labour party chose not to disclose the voting figures. Wright’s seat previously belonged to Charles Clarke and as a former Labour seat, is viewed as a major target for the 2015 election due to Wright’s small majority. Lewis has four years to establish himself.
A £6m grant from the European Regional Development Fund has set in motion a new addition to the Norwich Research Park. A design is currently undecided as there are plans to host a competition which will produce a unique and environmentally conscious building. The Enterprise Centre is set to be built in 2013 and is scheduled for opening in 2014. The development will feature a Centre for the Built Environment with a focus on showcasing and testing sustainable products from local companies. The building will act as a springboard for UEA graduates who are looking to build fresh business ventures. Vice Chancellor Edward Acton commented on the development: “This will be a signature building at the entrance to UEA, reflecting our commitment to business and to coping with climate change.”
Susanna Wood
James Dixon
James Dixon
Occupy: Norwich continues apace
VC Acton dispels fears about falling admissions Dan Pirozzolo News Reporter UEA has seen a drop in applications after hiking its tuition fees earlier this year, admitted Vice Chancellor Edward Acton. He confessed that “there has been a drop in applications to UEA this year” and that application numbers compared to last year have plummeted “particularly steeply.” UEA is charging students fees of £9,000 per year to study at the University, as announced in April. When asked what had caused this drop, he speculated it was to do with the fact those applying now face tuition fees nearly three times higher than they were previously. He said: “There was a surge in applications for 2011, and the rise in the number of applications at UEA was particularly steep and so there has been a particularly steep fall this year. Eager to defend UEA, he added: “Last year was a blip, and if you were to ignore it, the
number of applications hasn’t dropped much at all. Relative to 2010, applications are down just 1%.” The news of a national plunge in university applications of 9% came out last month. The fall in home and EU students applying to universities here is greater than this overall figure though, with a dramatic 12% fall in British student applications and a 9.3% fall for EU student applications. Non-EU students currently pay around £10,000 a year for their studies. The impact of soaring tuition fees has been softened thanks to a significant rise in the number of non-EU students applying. non-EU applications rose by 8.8% and now account for 11,000 of the 69,724 applications received in total (15% of the overall number) so far. The figures released last month are the first in a series of statistics showing applications for courses next year. The final deadline for university applications for the next academic year is 15 January 2012.
Healthy body, healthy mind Philip Thomas News Reporter
Ga Chun Yau Ingrid Kornstad News Reporter Since 15 October, the Occupy: Norwich camp has become a familiar sight in Norwich. Even now, as the weather gets colder and winter sets in, occupiers Kit and Dave say the camp is “still growing”. “The public are definitely
interested,” says Kit. “It’s only 10 in the morning and four people have already come by the camp to ask questions and talk about their own experiences. There are a lot of hard luck stories out there.” Nor is activity within the camp dying out. They have accounts on Twitter and Facebook and run workshops on topics as varied as economics and yurt construction.
Moreover, there are more plans in the works: a concert in St Peter Mancroft Church on 11 December, and a march to commemorate Robert Kett. What can be sure is that they’re not going anywhere. “We’ll stay as long as possible,” says Dave, who has been part of the movement from the beginning. Kit adds: “We’d like to be the longest-standing Occupy camp.”
Monday saw the launch of the annual Wellbeing Week organised by the Dean of Students office. Wellbeing Week promotes all aspects of health and fitness amongst students and staff at UEA, from exercise and healthy eating, to managing stress and depression. Events include free taster sessions at the Sportspark where participants can sample the activities on offer, including the climbing wall and trampolines. Furthermore Sportspark are running gym inductions and tours of the facilities. Wellbeing Week doesn’t just concern physical fitness
however. Several events. concern lifestyles and personal happiness, with workshops in yoga, meditation and mental health. Elsewhere catering promotions will be running throughout the week at food outlets on campus. A highlight of the week is the Wellbeing Fair in the LCR taking place today (Tuesday 22), from 10.30am until 3pm, which incorporates Sportspark competitions, a mini-health check, the UEA Human Library and giveaways from sponsors Rainbow Wholefoods. Sportspark taster sessions and gym inductions must be booked in advance. For more information and full details on upcoming events, visit uea.ac.uk/services/students/ wellbeing/wellbeingweek.
NEWS
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
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Hubs put under Union scrutiny Susanna Wood News Editor The new academic hubs have been put under scrutiny by the Union of UEA Students. After receiving complaints from students, the Union organised a stall in the Hive on Thursday 17 November where students were able to offer anonymous feedback on the hubs. Questions asked were: “How did you find your hand-in process?” “What would you improve?” and “Are you satisfied?” According to comments on the feedback sheet, the new drop boxes for coursework have been generally well received, and the efficiency of the new system has been praised. However, concerns have been raised regarding coursework receipts, which are no longer handed out upon submission. A word featuring heavily in the feedback was Now that coursework receipts are no longer issued, what proof will there be that coursework has been handed in? Submission of coursework is recorded online, and can be tracked by students via E:vision through clicking on ‘assessment submission’ then looking under the ‘status’ column. By the coursework in question, if it has been submitted, the status will confirm that the coursework has been submitted and will show the date it has been submitted on. The aim is for a majority of the submission process to be carried out electronically within this academic year, though this may take longer to fully enforce.
“confusion”, with students finding it hard to adapt to the new system. One second year student in LDC said: “I think the fact that we’re not being issued coursework receipts is a serious problem. If our coursework is lost or misplaced and doesn’t make it to our tutors, we have absolutely no proof that we’ve handed it in on time, or even at all. I can’t believe there’s no a system in place to protect students against lost coursework.” Meg Evans, the Academic Officer of the Union, told Concrete: “It’s been a bit of a mixed bag regarding the hubs, with people having both strongly positive and strongly negative reactions. We decided to do the feedback now because most people have just handed in coursework, and coursework receipts are something that we’ve received complaints about.” She added: “Obviously a big restructuring is going to have coursework on to be marked the day after submission, and takes the marked work back afterwards for two more days for quality assurance and change coursework back from anonymous registration numbers back to the student’s name. This should be an improvement on the previous system as, when work was inside boxes in the school’s corridors, we experienced complaints that work was sometimes lost and could be
effects. With the feedback, we can identify common themes and take them up with the University.” The academic hubs form part of a departmental restructuring called the Integration Project. Designed to help the University cope with cuts to funding, the restructuring has been centred on administration to avoid cuts to academic services. News reporter Mark Shead spoke to the Director of University Services, Andrea Blanchflower, and the Head of Learning and Teaching, Caroline Sauverin, who explained some of the issues raised by students in the feedback form (for the full interview, see below). Blanchflower added: “There are some teething problems, but we aim for the hubs to go from being good to very good in the near future. We appreciate the feedback from students and will be happy to address any more issues that arise.” accessed by other students, when certain people wished their work and their marks to be private. How can students find out where exactly their work is to be submitted, and to whom? You can find this information if you visit the UEA website. It can be found clicking on ‘services’, ‘administration’, ‘learning and teaching services’ then
Laura Smith ‘coursework’. In most cases students will submit the work at the hub which covers their school. However, if students want to submit their work in the evening when the hubs are closed, there is an evening submission box in the library. A box should also be available for coursework that is handed in early, though early submission boxes may not be assigned to a single module. All work in boxes at the hub is collected daily.
Hubs questions... ANSWERED
Pippa Artus
Since the hub system has been implemented, coursework seems to take longer to get back to students. How do you plan to address this? Coursework shouldn’t be taking longer to be returned to students, and should be returned within 20 days since it was submitted. If this is not the case, the student should raise the issue with the head of their school. The hubs pass
• Further hub problems? Email concrete.news@uea.ac.uk with your stories • Read Mark Shead’s interview in full on www.concrete-online.co.uk
Isn’t it an unfair extra expense that students must print off their own cover sheets? The LTS is aware that some students are unhappy with printing their own cover sheets, but this should be remedied in the future when coursework is submitted online, so there should be little need for printing anything coursework related by that stage. Meanwhile, schools have been encouraged to share printing credits amongst their students, which could help cover the cost of cover sheets. Why aren’t there always enough boxes to put completed work in at the hub? And why have there have been situations where relevant submission boxes don’t seem to be available at all? In the short term, more boxes have been ordered so this shouldn’t be an issue for affected students for much longer. However, if there is a significant issue, such as no appropriate box being provided at all, this should be raised with staff at the hub. In the long term, submission boxes will not be an issue as most work should be submitted online instead.
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
NEWS
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world News from around the world, brought to you fortnightly by Concrete Britain
Italy
Syria
Burma
Switzerland
A brown skeleton with a beak and some “meat” on it still can by mistaken by some for a leaf now-a-days as a decomposing bird carcass was found by a Somerset man recently in one of Tesco’s salads. Tesco says they will be conducting a thorough investigation.
Former prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, has finally released his highly anticipated album of love songs, entitled ‘True Love’. With a series of sex scandals and a worsening debt crisis left in his wake, this album is sure to be the perfect send off for Mr. Bunga Bunga.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad faces increased pressure from both Arab and western leaders to step down. Echoing events in Libya earlier this year, Assad’s government is criticised by much of the international community for continuing a violent response to protestors. Some speculate Syria may descend into civil war.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party is set to re-enter Burmese politics in a currently unscheduled by-election. One hundred senior NLD members had previously met in Rangoon to discuss whether the party would take part in local by-elections. Reports state that Suu Kyi is to run for office.
An appeal by a man fined for hiking naked past a family with children has been rejected by Switzerland’s highest court. Local authorities can fine anyone hiking nude, apparently a popular pastime. The man was hiking through Appenzell, eastern Switzerland, known as a bastion for devout Christianity.
Ashley Davis
Steph Clark
Mark Shead
James Dixon
James Dixon
World News focus: Silvio Berlusconi steps down amid Italian turmoil In the midst of Italy’s financial woes Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has resigned. Occupying the country’s top job for 17 years. Berlusconi had been one of the most powerful figures in Italian politics for over a decade. Between May 2008 and November 2011, Berlusconi faced 50 votes of no confidence passing the final polls by the skin of his teeth. However, soon before his resignation he lost his majority. His final act as prime minister was overseeing the passing of an austerity measures bill which aims to kick-start the country’s economy by implementing major cuts. Along with Greece, Italy is one of the countries worst hit by the current crisis in the Eurozone which sees Germany and the IMF having to bail out Greece in order to prevent the collapse of the currency. The 75-year-old, Italy’s third richest man, is currently facing a slew of court battles centring on claims that he had sex with an underage prostitute alongside allegations of corruption and misuse of power to get the same prostitute out of trouble with the law. The alleged
incident with the 17 year old prostitute, took place at one of the former prime minister’s infamous ‘bunga bunga’ parties. On the subject of Silvio Berlusconi’s parties British Prime Minister David Cameron said in February 2011: “I’ve learnt if the Queen asks you to a party, you say yes. And if the Italian prime minister asks you to a party, it’s probably safe to say no.” As he travelled to hand his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano his road was beset on either side by angry protesters eagerly awaiting his resignation. Many were shouting “buffoon” as he finally entered the presidential palace.
Even with his resignation it is clear that Italy has not seen the last of Berlusconi. The media mogul has owned various organisations that provided country-wide local TV stations and is currently coheading the company Epsilon MediaGroup with the German corporation Kirch Group. It is also obvious that Italy’s economic problems will not be solved by his resignation, although some improvements might be made as a result. The new prime minister, technocrat Mario Monti, will have to deal with the nation’s failing debt rating and the scary state of the national deficit. However, the departure of Berlusconi will do wonders for the international image of the Italian government, long wracked by allegations of corruption, inefficiency, and of course the accusations of Berlusconi’s indecent sexual exploits. Time will tell if Italy goes the same way as Greece as the situation in the Eurozone gets steadily darker with economists in Britain becoming more worried about how the continent’s problems will spill across the Channel.
Library app launched Richard Joslin News Reporter The University Library has recently announced it is ‘trying out’ a library smartphone application. The LibraryAnywhere app, available on iOS and Android, is primarily for searching the book catalogue, but it also boasts features such as links to opening times, library news, floor plans, and PC availability. A news statement on the UEA website proclaims “The Library is responding to the rapidly increasing use of this technology by trying out a Library app for mobile devices. The app allows you to search the library catalogue for book titles, check availability and location. We’ve also got links to other useful Library information”. It
also has the ability to scan the barcodes of books and tell you if the library has a copy. Second year computer science student, Charles Cope, told Concrete that: “After a quick try out of the app, I’m not really sure how useful it is. There’s quite a bit of information, but if you go to the library on a regular basis I’m not sure you’d actually need much of the information given by the app. A lot of the features are also just external links to web pages. That said, it is nice to have all of that information in one place, especially the link to view which computers are free. Other than that, the app is nicely laid out and rather user friendly and no trouble to navigate.” The app has 2.5 rating out of 5 on the Android Market. It is available to download from http://www.uea.ac.uk/is/cis/ teach/libraryanywhere.
Mark Drummond Maddie Russell
COMMENT
news p2-6
travel p10-11
features p12-14
turf p15
international p16
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Ciao Silvio! With the departure of Silvio Berlusconi from Italian politics, Tim Rose reflects on the life of the greatest lad in Europe In the end it was not the underage sex or the corruption scandals, but the issue of the Euro, which brought about the demise of arguably the greatest European statesmen of the modern era. Silvio Berlusconi dominated Italian politics for nearly 20 years through a unique combination of charm and political skill, alongside undoubted ravishing sex appeal. Despite these attributes though, he was forced to resign last week after it became apparent that he was unable to solve Italy’s burgeoning debt crisis. Berlusconi rightfully gained a reputation as one of the world’s most flamboyant political leaders. His love of women has been well documented, with particular attention being paid to his legendary “bunga-bunga” parties, where many highly attractive young women reportedly fell victim to his charms. He was not without enemies though, and his political opponents took each antic as
an opportunity to bring about charges of corruption against the Italian prime minister. This was particularly hard for Berlusconi’s supporters to take, as the idea that a man as attractive as him might have to pay for sex was quite simply preposterous. As a highly successful businessman, rather than a politician, Berlusconi never fitted comfortably into the European political establishment, which explains why Merkel and Sarkozy, clearly envious of his charms, helped to bring him down. At least now he can be free to enjoy his playboy lifestyle without outside interference. What now for Berlusconi? Surely a career as a party organizer has to be in the pipeline, given his unrivalled expertise in the field. Or there is always the possibility that he could return to politics if he is called upon. Whatever happens from here, Silvio Berlusconi will always be one of greatest, and most unashamed, lads in politics.
Thank you for your patience, Germany With Germany receiving a 6 million tax break, Ciara Jack looks at what David Cameron can do to say “thank you” This month, Angela Merkel has caused business and financial spectators to jump up and down and point with excitement by agreeing to a 6million tax break for low to middle income Germans. Merkel reached the agreement amongst her Christian Democrats as a way of saying “thank you” for bearing the hefty financial burden of bailing out debt-ridden European states. This is a fantastic example to the rest of Europe for the positive benefits of having a well thought out fiscal policy. After all, it’s no surprise that the European Central Bank is based on Germany’s Bundesbank. Moreover, maybe this idea of saying “thank you” to citizens is an idea that could transcend throughout the rest of Europe. I don’t mean just by giving your citizens the odd tax-break now
and then, I’m talking about days where people just let themselves go for 24 hours, structured around a particular theme. Here’s my idea for Britain: medieval day. Have you got a pitch fork that’s just collecting dust in the garage? Well why not give it a vigorous wave about on a day where neither hygiene nor occupation particularly matter? Think of the benefits of medieval punishment. Cameron could be locked in the stocks, and Theresa May could be dunked in the Thames, just in case she is a witch. Fed up of your council not doing as they’re told? Well why not protest with a cry of “gardez l’eau!” as you hurl your excrement into the street from an open window. The possibilities are endless, the euro may be faltering, but your sense of fun doesn’t have to.
The fate of European democracy The debate over the relocation of the European Parliament has been overlooked in the national press, Kieran Mcmahon says why must protect European democracy at all costs With David Cameron speaking this week of refashioning the EU and a well-publicised Eurozone crisis showing no signs of abating, it seems certain there are to be ringing changes in the Union. Troy Davis, a Strasbourgbased academic, political theorist and recent visitor to UEA, believes one such change may be already underway, that is the transfer for the European Parliament from Strasbourg to Brussels. Davis spearheads the Campaign for European Democracy which is trying to prevent this change, one which he argues could jeopardise one of the founding principles of the EU, and that is separation of powers amongst the legislative, executive and judiciary. Davis asks: “Which Europe do we want? One where the fate of nations and 500 million citizens is decided in a tiny part of Brussels, or a polycentric Europe with powers clearly separated and real checks-andbalances exist between the 3 capitals, Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg?” The arguments being put forward by MEPs such as Geoffrey Van Orden are that it will save money on travel costs, though many of these claims are based on flawed data and
ignore the obvious benefits of convenience for many Brusselsbased MEPs. There are also spurious claims of environmental savings, which could be easily rectified without resorting to drastic and potentially compromising changes. Besides, the necessary extra building work that would be needed for this change will largely negate any environmental benefits from reduced travel. A more efficient solution would be to properly utilise the often underused, though very elegant, purpose built Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg. At the moment the issue is only being debated by MEPs, while national debates focus on the
economy. Cameron and Clegg disagree over Europe, with Cameron speaking in terms of a power-centred “British view” of Europe and prioritising national concerns, and Clegg favouring Eurocentric growth and looking beyond the archaic and outdated Eurosceptic arguments. The irony of this is that with the Strasbourg question buried amongst the noisier Eurosceptic debates. It is vital that the democratic integrity of the EU is preserved and it would be a great shame if economic turmoil and power-wrangling allowed it to be compromised. Whatever the future of Europe, it is in the interests of all of us to keep it democratic.
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
for Dominic Smith
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Editor: Joshua Resoun Email: concrete.comment@uea.ac.uk
THE BIG DEBATE
COMMENT against Sebastian Crawford
With alcohol such an intricate part of the student university experience,
and a growing amount of evidence detailing its affects, Concrete asks: Should the University of East Anglia become a dry campus? For those of you who have ever had the unique pleasure of spending a night on the town with me, you will probably agree that if I am to graduate from the UEA with an ounce of dignity left, then the sale of alcohol on campus should probably be banned. Thinking back to the Tuesday LCR last week, I remember spending a good few minutes lying on the dance floor in a puddle of spilt snakebites and double vodka Redbulls, after I somehow fell flat on my face.
“If I am to graduate from the UEA with an ounce of dignity left, then the sale of alcohol on campus should probably be banned” The previous evening, whilst managing to stay on my feet for the night, I still have no memory of anything after about 1am. If this is not bad enough, something which I apparently [having no memory once again] did on a night out a few weeks ago became the central talking point of MediaCrawl, with everyone aware of my embarrassing antics. It had taken me just a few drinks to go from a sophisticated student who enjoys reading, lattes, seminar discussions, political debate and spending a large amount of time in the library to a horrendous mess with a northern accent which only grows stronger with each pint that I consume. At the end of the day, we’re at university to discover our inner-selves, to gain a degree in a topic we’re passionate about, to learn crucial life skills, to make ourselves a better human being. Yet, after moaning that we’re all going to be in debt, rather than spend our loans wisely, we all decide that whilst a textbook costing £20 is ridiculous, it is seen as an achievement if you can do a whole night out on the same amount of money.
A dry campus may make us realise our priorities, and we could all therefore leave UEA with a first class honours degree in an academic subject, instead of scoring top marks in how to walk around the streets of Norwich at 5am trying to get gain entrance to a stranger’s house because you’re so drunk you cannot find your way home. How can we complain about the increase in tuition fees if we’re all going to laugh about how stupidly drunk we get? If you wanted to have fun you should of stayed home and got a job. We should not be spending our weekends lying in bed feeling sorry for ourselves, only emerging from your room when it is time to start pre-drinking for the second night in a row, but volunteering, finding an internship, or, crazy as it sounds, studying for our degree.
“How can we complain about the increase in tuition fees if we’re all going to laugh about how stupidly drunk we get?” None of us have any selfcontrol it seems, and, as I am the worst abuser of alcohol, it appears that the only cure is for UEA to ban alcohol on campus.
The Fact Box • The NUS estimates that on average, students spend £675 a year on drinking. • On average, students put on 14 pounds of weight due to alcohol consumption during university. • In the UK, around 33,000 deaths a year are alcohol related • 6.4% of people in the UK are alcohol dependent. • There are 130 calories in a 175ml glass of win, and 200 calories in a pint of beer. • Studentbeans.com placed the UEA at 23rd on their “University Drinking League”
Drinking is an extension of our heritage. It is a British tradition, dating back to when it was safer to drink beer than the water that was available. Our skill in brewing the finest ales and ciders, coupled with the social liberty that drink bequeaths to us, loosening our tongues and occasionally our belt straps, has ensured that it has become a part of everyone’s life: from that first gulp of cheap lager as a teenager to the last drop of single malt as an ageing soul. So the idea of making UEA a dry campus has sent a tremor of fear through me. Banning alcohol from being sold on campus would not only undermine a custom that has been practiced on university campuses since the time of Henry VIII, it would destroy the social lives of thousands of students who enjoy drinking in the Red and Blue Bars. I have no doubt that, if asked, 99% of students at UEA would say they wouldn’t go out if they couldn’t get alcohol on campus. Socialising is made that much easier through drink. How many people would you not have met if your inhibitions hadn’t been dismissed by that last pint or shot? Everyone needs a little Dutch courage to get themselves going, whether that be initiating a conversation or attempting
to dance the night away. In addition, amusing events always seem to ensue when drunk; everyone has tales involving alcohol, often focusing around: “Why did I do that last night?” On a more serious note, the University should have no reason to ban alcohol on campus, due to the sheer amount of revenue generated for the Union through drinks sales. This money goes to fund other social events and sports clubs so, in a way, your sports clubs facilities are improved the more you drink. Furthermore, drink doesn’t discriminate. You can be of any social class, race or ethnicity and you can still buy a drink for the same price as everyone else. This allows all types of people, with a diverse range of interests and talents to integrate and get on better with each other, furthering social mobility around campus and creating a more unified UEA.
“Amusing events always seem to ensue when drunk; everyone has tales involving alcohol, often focusing around: “Why did I do that last night?” After a long day in lectures, people need a chance to relax, unwind and catch up. Not only does alcohol physically relax your muscles, it creates a happy “buzz”, whose distribution could potentially become a problem if people were not allowed to buy alcohol on campus. A ban on the sale of alcohol would not only literally, but metaphorically create a “dry” campus. Evenings would be dull and uninteresting. There are those who may say, “why do you need to drink to have fun?” but drinking is part of university life. UEA would fail to attract students who also consider the social side of their experience when they are applying (which is everyone) and current students would become disillusioned to say the least.
COMMENT
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Reality killed the video star Emma Holbrook asks: is reality TV losing touch, or have we lost touch with reality? Nowadays, reality TV is inescapable. Constituting at least half of the television schedule, the nation has become obsessed with indirectly experiencing other people’s “reality” that we may have lost sight of the word’s meaning. The idea that people would live their lives on television without
alteration is frankly ludicrous, and yet the oxymoronic television format remains and week after week, audiences are willingly manipulated into ignoring how blatantly scripted this “reality” is. The XFactor has yet to give up the façade of being a singing competition rather
than a popularity contest. This year, the show’s ratings have suffered a surprising blow and with the novelty all but certainly wearing off, the programme will undoubtedly soon follow Simon Cowell’s example and move to America – the home of modified reality – for good. But if Big Brother has proved anything, it’s that these shows are deceptively enduring. It would be easy to dismiss reality television as a dying breed, but in fact it is quite the opposite: an immortal hydra, which grows another head once the voyeuristic audience tires of its predecessor. We live in a country that deems The Only Way Is Essex worthy of a Bafta and puts Frankie Cocozza in a singing competition instead of the dustbin. Unless that situation changes rapidly, reality television is here to polarise viewers for many years to come.
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Shooting Stars fizzle out Richard Law laments the cancellation of Shooting Stars After sixteen consistently ingenious years, arguably the funniest, craziest, and certainly most quotable comedy on television has been cancelled. For the uninitiated, the Shooting Stars experience is difficult to describe. Perhaps it can be thought of as the panel show Monty Python never made, but even that is misleading. The BBC confirmed its decision in this statement: “In the future there will be less space on BBC2 for comedy/ entertainment panel shows”. This is a strange justification for axing a programme that essentially employs the panel show format solely to achieve a uniquely contained type of sketch show. To describe Shooting Stars as a panel show is as meaningful as placing bets on which team will win Mock the Week, whose pitiful, humourless death – I might add - the BBC will inhumanely prolong like that of
a tired old pet they can’t bear to put down. The BBC has made many curious cuts of late, but none more so perplexing. TV critic Ian Hyland tweeted that the BBC “could make half a series of Shooting Stars for the money spent promoting Ricky Gervais’s ‘Life’s Too Short.’” A grand idea, and while they are at it they could complete the series with that portion of the licence fee that is pumped into BBC 3, the televisual equivalent to subsidising your own lobotomy. Of course, nothing golden can stay, and it is perhaps desirable for the sake of our memories and nostalgia that Shooting Stars should end when it is at its best. That said, it is discouraging, if not tragic, to see the platform for two innovative entertainers at the height of their powers dismantled for the continuation of mediocrity in comedy.
The English Disaster League Steph Clark discusses the behaviour of the police during protests by the English Defence League on Remembrance Day On 11 November, nearly two hundred members of the English Defence League (EDL) were arrested at the Cenotaph in order to prevent a widespread breach of the peace. In the days leading up to Remembrance Day reports surfaced that they were going to attack the Occupy: London camp outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral. With the now banned “Muslims Against Crusades” causing great controversy over burning poppies last year, it is understandable that the police wanted to take adequate measures in order to keep the peace. However, the EDL stated clearly on its website that it was not an organised march, the EDL simply said: “this is about the memories of the fallen past and present.” In the past there have been a number of violent clashes between police and EDL members at a number of demonstrations across the country, and a heightened police presence would be understandable, especially if
they were heading towards the Occupy: London camp. However, this situation never arose, and it raises important questions over the behaviour of
the MET over the arrests. The law clearly dictates that police officers have the power to arrest someone if they believe that a breach of the peace is “imminent”.
Yet how can they judge if someone is about to do this? Surely one must commit a crime before being arrested? With the introduction of plastic bullets in
police tactics, and a blanket ban of protests in five London boroughs enacted already, the state is becoming more and more wary when protests are involved.
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TRAVEL
Deep history? Vibrant culture? Cheap beer? Czech! Greg Lewry reports on UEA Travel Society’s Autumn trip abroad to the fascinating and beautiful capital city of the Czech Republic UEA Travel Society’s first trip abroad this year took them to the Czech Republic’s capital city Prague, as famous for its fascinating history as its reputation as one of the clubbing capitals of the world. With a wide range of European cities offering cheap flight connections from London Stansted, we plumped for Prague and it didn’t disappoint! Flights were around £50 return, including taxis to the Czech city of Brno (2 ½ hours from Prague by train). With a pint of beer averaging about 90p, this was a long weekend away affordable for any cash-strapped student. Our afternoon flight on one of Ryanair’s basic but reliable aircrafts landed perfectly on time in Brno and we sampled our first Czech beer in the airport’s bar before heading to the train station to catch the Eurocity train to Prague. It was already dark by the time the bright lights of the city loomed and we made our way to our accomodation. Hostel Elf, in the Zizkov area of the city, was our home for the next three nights. It offered comfortable beds in a private room, free breakfast and a friendly atmosphere for just £10 per night. Zizkov is known for its abundance of bars and we explored the first one we found
a few minutes from our hostel, an intimately atmospheric venue with cosy nooks in which to sip mugs of Czech beer whilst planning the weekend ahead. The next day, we set out early to catch the free tour of the city, starting in the jawdroppingly beautiful Old Town square. Sandeman’s New Europe offer free tours of many cities throughout the continent and we were lead around by Londoner Reg who has lived in Prague with his Czech wife for many years. Reg took us through the Old Town and the New Town, showing the effect of decades of communist rule upon the city and giving a comprehensive history of the Czech Republic. I learnt more from the tour than years of school history lessons, but three hours of walking had left us all with rumbling stomachs, so we headed back to the Old Square to hunt down the best goulash in Prague. Czech cuisine is very heavy, with meat, potatoes and dumplings dominating restaurant menus, but when the temperature is around 5oC there’s nothing better than a plate of steaming goulash. Prague pub crawls draw in tourists from all over the world and with the promises of unlimited alcohol and entrance to
some of the most exclusive clubs in Europe, it’s not hard to see why. Czechs are very proud of their beer and in most restaurants, bars and off-licenses, a pint or a can of beer is cheaper than a bottle of water or a can of coke. The bar crawl was a great way to take in Prague’s party personality. Visiting Eastern Europe’s largest nightclub with five themed floors was a fantastic experience and a brilliant night was had by all until the taxi ride home! Our driver sped dangerously through Prague’s deserted streets whilst blasting out Atomic Kitten at full volume, as we screamed out our best
pronunciation of the street name our hostel was on, causing a few U-turns before we safely made it home to the correct hostel. Burdened with hangovers, we made it into the Old Town square for lunch the next day, trying out a few more Czech delicacies such as sugared rolls of bread and stewed potatoes. The stunningly grand Charles Bridge was next on our agenda of things to see and we marvelled at the statues that adorn it across the Vltava river. We also ventured on another Sandeman’s tour, this time around Prague Castle, which is the largest castle complex in
the world. In truth it’s more a collection of palaces with the mighty St Vitus’s Cathedral in the centre, but it took three hours to tour around and even then it didn’t feel like we had seen it all. Feet aching we headed to a southeast Asian restaurant for a filling dinner before slowly working our way back to the hostel via a few interesting bars which we couldn’t resist spending 90p for a pint of Prague’s finest brew at. The next day would be spent making the long journey home, lost in the memories of a fantastic weekend away and discussing tentative plans for the next Travel Soc adventure abroad!
Perfect Pacific island paradise in Vanuatu Vanuatu is one of the lesserknown, unspoilt, paradisiacal Pacific Islands, just a two hour flight from New Zealand. It is known for its beautiful palm tree-lined beaches, amazing diving and crystal clear water, but it is also a cultural gem. I discovered ancient, tribes on traditional village tours complete with dancing and ritual ceremonies. I absorbed the buzz of the fishing and tourist town of Port Vila on the main island of Efate and even took my chances thrashing a Quad bike in the jungle and along the beaches.
There is accommodation available for any budget and a host of reasons: from downtown backpackers to the luxury Iririki Island Resort getaway. Regardless of where you stay or what you do, you are sure to have a unique experience of Pacific island hospitality, and the carefree relaxed attitude. A perfect escape from busy New Zealand, a great stopover on your way back home, or a quieter alternative to the generic backpacker island of Fiji. Kimberley Sparkes
TRAVEL
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Concrete’s top five trips for the festive season With Christmas coming up, here are our suggestions for where to spend it: 1. New York City Expensive, but NYC is the ultimate Christmas location, filled with festive spirit. See the Rockefeller Centre and the huge Christmas tree now sporting 30,000 lights, skate at Central Park and visit Macy’s elaborate Santaland. Wander around Times Square and soak up the holiday spirit and beautiful decorations - Perfect for a romantic break. 2. Lapland Where better to go at Christmas than the home of Santa Claus? Pine trees, reindeer and cosy log cabins ensure that a break in Lapland will provide you with an idyllic, traditional Christmas. Enjoy meeting Santa, going for a sleigh ride and relax in your log cabin by a roaring fire with a glass of mulled wine. 3. Cologne The Christmas markets in Cologne are unbeatable, attracting two million visitors
every year. There are a total of four markets around the city, the most popular being ‘Am Dom’. It has 160 stalls around a Christmas tree selling a range of Christmas decorations, arts and crafts, ceramics and other items. Musicians and countless food stalls make it a market you can spend a day at. 4. Goa Although it’s not a traditional festive destination, Goa in India is a truly amazing experience. Christmas traditions are still upheld - tinsel, presents, celebrations, circuses, Christmas songs - but instead of hiding under a duvet in the grey slush of England you’ll be donning your swimwear and heading out to celebrate the holiday on the beach. 5. London Lastly, it’s our own capital city, which hosts a wide range of Christmas events such as ice skating at Hyde Park, Christmas comedy shows, the West End lights, the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree. And, of course, don’t forget a visit to Hamleys.
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The real idiot abroad
Losing the hotel room key, catching the wrong train, offending the locals with crude pronunciation of their language, we’ve all had our Karl Pilkington moments when travelling. Rachel Taylor shares her own Australian ordeal “Don’t go in the sea!” That was the final piece of advice from the trip organiser, his voice matching the menacing glint in his eye of experience, as fifty people gathered their luggage and made for one of the five campervans that would be our home for the next five days. We were heading to Fraser Island and after a stop off at a food store, followed by an hour long ferry ride, we finally reached our long awaited destination. My group were certainly mismatched: three chemists from Norway, three Scots who loved quoting Braveheart, a diehard Chelsea fan from Notting Hill, my sister and I. Maybe not the ideal group compared to the other flash packers who resembled the cast of ‘Shipwrecked,’ but what we lacked in bohemian style, we made up for in character. One of the many things I learnt from this trip is that the Scots can drink, and they did, from 7am back round to 6am, with a one hour detox inbetween. They introduced me to “the fear”: a term for
that awful feeling when you wake up the next morning from a heavy night and your memories slowly filter through, facing you with fragmented flash backs which make you want to crawl back under the duvet. “The fear” was too easy to come by, especially after all our food got eaten by dingoes after only the second day, and all we were left with was hummus (which apparently they didn’t like) and cheap boxes of wine called ‘goon.’ The beauty of Fraser Island cannot be disputed, however, the lack of conveniences means your level of hygiene rapidly decreases and by the third day you really s t a r t to kick. “Don’t go in the sea,” changes from a direct order to a friendly piece of advice. Therefore, when thirty or so people clamber towards shore for a quick wash, you follow, but not before scanning the horizon
for any Jaws-esque dorsal fins. Everything was going swimmingly until an indescribable pain shot through my right leg. As I looked down, a jelly fish smiled back up, clinging stubbornly to my knee cap. I was transported back to the crazy old Australian with the menacing glint in his eye, and an expression that now read “I told you so.” I waited three seconds before acting out the cliché motion of feeling my arms and legs - paralysis didn’t seem an immediate problem, which instantly ruled out the deadly Box jellyfish which was a highlighted danger in our introductory briefing. When I think of Fraser Island I remember the beauty and the constant fear of dingoes that are famously rumoured to have “eaten a baby.” When Tyrone, the diehard Chelsea fan from Notting Hill, looks back at Fraser Island, he remembers ticking something off from his “things to do before I die” list: pissing on a girl who got stung by a jellyfish. Me? I’m just happy to have lived for others to hear this tale. And no - urine does not ease the pain.
A quintessential Christmas in Bavaria Cameron Tucker Travel Writer
Silent Night, Black Forest Christmas trees and gingerbread: these are just some of the things that Germany has contributed to the global phenomenon that happens once every yearChristmas! Every year millions of tourists spend Christmas abroad, either escaping to warmer climes or embracing the wintry chill of the northern hemisphere. For a truly, cozy Christmas, the region of Bavaria is one of the best choices. With an area of over 27,000 square miles and a population of nearly 13 million people, Bavaria also provides some of the best Christmas events and landscape that Europe has to offer. The city of Nuremberg is located bang in the middle of
Bavaria and is home to the world famous Christkindlesmarkt – translated as ‘Christmas Market’. The event has taken place since at least 1628 and attracted over 2 million visitors last year, lining the streets of the city are thousands of brightly coloured stalls selling the very best of German Christmas merchandise. Of the many gifts you can buy, the most popular are usually decorations and food-related items (including Christbaumgeback, which is white dough molded into shapes and baked for tree decorations). Like Nuremberg, the city of Munich proudly showcases its holiday spirit with an annual Christmas Market, located in Marienplatz, the gorgeous city centre. While customers purchase gifts and accessories at the Kripperlmarkt and Rindermarkt, seasonal tunes ring
out from the town hall balcony. Munich also possesses some of Germany’s most stunning attractions, from the Englischer Garten to the Hirschgarten (the largest beer garden in the world). When visiting be sure not to miss the Palace Neuschwanstein and the New Year’s Day fireworks at the Olympic Stadium. No Christmas trip to Bavaria is complete without a detour to the internationally renowned city of Salzburg, Austria. Lying snug in the middle of a quintessential Alpine setting, just two hours south of Munich, Salzburg is quite possibly one of the most stunning places in the whole of Europe. While winter temperatures can plummet below 0°c, there is an array of enjoyable festive activities to participate in. For many people, skiing is top of the list of things to do
in the Bavarian Alps at this time of year. If you are looking for something less physically demanding you can always relax at the Felsentherme Bad Gastein, or Alpentherme Gastein: two of Salzburg’s famed sauna and spa retreats. Like other regions of Bavaria, Salzburg is filled with Christmas markets over the holiday period, and numerous festivities take place, including the ‘Silvester Fireworks’, and Perchtenläuf (a pagan tradition). The city itself is a site to behold, with the magnificent Hohensalzburger Fortress towering over the city, and the birthplace of Mozart and the Salzburger Dom nestled in amongst the labyrinthine streets. A day can be easily spent strolling around and taking in the city made famous by the award-winning musical, The Sound of Music.
Essential Bavaria Population: 1.3 million Location: State of Germany located in the south-east of the country. Famous for: Companies such as BMW, Audi, Adidas, Puma, Siemens Interesting Fact: If Bavaria were its own country its people would have the 7th highest GDP per capita in the world. Getting there: Munich Airport is the 2nd largest in Germany with 35 airlines operating between the city and London.
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Can the EU survive its “winter of discontent?” Chris King discusses the prospects for the survival of the European Union amidst the resignations of Silvio Berlusconi and George Papandreau, and compares the events in Europe to the tumult of the Arab Spring earlier this year “Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam,” chanted protestors during the Arab Spring, the series of revolts, uprisings and revolutions which swept away a plethora of despotic, unrepresentative regimes across the Middle East and Africa. Translated into English, it means: “The people want to bring down the regime.” In the moderate, slightly repressed British political climate, popular, direct action often achieves little, and is generally viewed with suspicion. Mass demonstrations, rallies, marches and violence always provoke
fear, intrigue and, usually, a conservative response.
“The Arab Spring was, in effect, a transition of power from entrenched, unrepresentative leaders to the empowered majority. The Eurozone is different; there is far too much at stake for the countries involved” However, the globalised world means that no longer can we cling to protectionism and
our former dominance of the high seas; we are wired into the international financial system, and shackled to a continent which appears no more stable than its Middle Eastern counterparts. The European Union was intended to bring the nations of western Europe, and then, the entire continent, together in economic and political unity. Now it appears to be tearing apart at the seams. Regimes have also fallen here, too. Whilst the announcement that Silvio Berlusconi would be replaced required no rally in Piazza San Pietro, Greece has
been plagued by riots, public disorder and the sort of violent protest the western media is all too-quick to dismiss as “designed for less civilised climes.” The survival of the EU has increasingly come to rest, not on the ascent and mutual economic performance of its members, but the generosity of the Federal Republic of Germany, and relations between chancellor Angela Merkel and British prime minister David Cameron remaining at the very least, cooperate and amicable. The big question must
therefore be: will the Eurozone and EU countries go the same way as those most affected by the Arab Spring? In short, unlikely. The Arab Spring was, in effect, a transition of power from entrenched, undemocratic, unrepresentative leaders to the empowered majority, occupying city squares and protesting with alacrity, having lost their fear of reprisals. The Eurozone is different: there is far too much at stake for the countries involved, there are too many institutions, and vested interests always win out in the big political game our
leaders never cease playing.
“The European Union was intended to bring the nations of Western Europe, and then, the entire continent, together in economic and political unity. Now it appears to be tearing apart at the seams” That isn’t to underplay the crisis, however. Recent evidence demonstrated the extent of Italy’s plight, which has often gone unnoticed alongside the
Shakespearean tragedy that is the “Greek syndrome.” With an interest rate of 7.4% on the huge loan accepted by the Italians, and growth in the country too diminuitive to generate sufficient revenue in order to pay this back, Britain, France and Germany cannot afford to turn their backs on their “southern brothers.” Italy’s precarious state, exacerbated by the announcement of Berlusconi’s depature, thought to be scheduled for the end of his term in 2013, and the announcement of former European Union Commissioner Mario Monti as his replacement,
will be of greatest concern for the French, who stand to lose the most from an Italian collapse. Italy’s rate of foreign debt to GDP stands at 163%, not as precipitous as the United Kingdom’s 436%. However, Italy’s lack of strong leadership and fears of debt escalation mean she is a far more pressing concern. So what about Greece? Her rate of interest stands at an unimaginable 34%, but on her own Greece is not a huge issue for the Eurozone. A Greek tragedy would only jeopardise the survival of the single currency
and the Union itself in the sense of “contagion” - that should the Greeks default on their loan, bigger economies such as Italy could be next. As mentioned earlier, this would bring France in, and one of the key pillars of the existing order would be drastically weakened. The interdependence of the crisis is perhaps its most grevious aspect. Spain depends on Portugal, as France does on Italy and Greece depends on German generosity. Never has the phrase “we are all in this together” seemed more apt. With austerity
the order of the day in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and far from generous cuts occurring in the United Kingdom, perhaps this is simply a moment that will pass, and the established order will emerge stronger than before. To summarise, therefore, it would be pertinent to say that the EU will weather this particular storm, but the dream of endless growth, a supranational organisation and a Europe without borders may have been soured by bailouts, fiscal mismanagement, and mutual near-collapse.
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
FEATURES
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Alcohol: more harmful than heroin? Samantha Rogers reveals some painful home truths about alcohol, for some time a key component of life at university A large part of university life is the social side, or at least it is here at the University of East Anglia with over 150 active societies and clubs and two different student nights in the LCR every single week. It can be assumed then, that there are a lot of people who spend their time at university consuming alcohol on a fairly regular basis. But does everyone know just how harmful alcohol actually is for us? In recent years, studies have been undertaken to try and prove that drinking alcohol is worse for us than other drugs. In 2009, Chris Hawkey wrote an article in the Guardian suggesting that alcohol is worse than smoking cigarettes and in 2010, Professor David Nutt told the BBC that alcohol “could be more harmful than heroin or crack.” What is it, then, that is so harmful about alcohol? According to health experts,
there are both short term and long term health issues that arise when an individual drinks. The short term effects are ones that many readers have probably experienced for themselves such as exaggerated moods, a feeling of invulnerability and sometimes a slight feeling of dizziness. The more we drink often causes different effects such as slurred speech, blacking out, nausea and headaches. These effects occur due to the dehydration that occurs as soon as the alcohol reaches the bloodstream but certain effects will not make themselves known until the next morning’s “hangover.” The long term effects include liver damage and failure, strokes and even cancer. In 2009, the BBC reported that “for other conditions, like cancer, the risk starts at zero and goes up proportionately with the amount of alcohol consumed.” However, the biggest concern regarding
long term consumption revolves around an alcohol dependency. Alcohol, like many other drugs, can cause an addiction that is extremely difficult to overcome. This can lead to problems caused by the behavioural changes experienced when under the influence of alcohol. While many people would like to think that alcohol only affects themselves, they are wrong. Alcohol can lead to violent and aggressive behaviour Other issues include driving under the influence of alcohol. Due to the current laws many believe that it is acceptable to have a pint or two before getting into a car, but the effect of alcohol is instanteous and while one may feel perfectly capable of driving, their reaction time will be considerably slower than that of a sober driver. But what about the guideline daily allowances? The word “daily” does not mean that one can drink their recommended allowance every single day. According to the BBC’s Michelle Roberts: “The advice now warns against regularly drinking over the daily limit and says drinkers
should also ‘take a break for 48 hours after a heavy session to let your body recover.” However, this is definitely not common knowledge. A survey taken by the BBC in 2007 showed that 69% of Britain’s population were aware of the guidelines but only 40% of these knew what they entailed. The health experts also state that it is not advisable to drink over the daily allowance just because you didn’t reach it previously. With all of these harmful and socially unacceptable side effects to alcohol, would you still drink it regularly? “Binge” drinking is a common occurrence throughout the country, especially centred around students, who get better rates in pubs and clubs on special allocated “student nights,” and a fair few students may have picked their universities based on the night life. And why not? We’re only young once, right? While this may well be the case, the amount of young adults that have died due to alcohol poisoning is increasing each year. It was confirmed only a few weeks back that Amy Winehouse did eventually die
due to over-drinking just as many of the students across the country do today. Should the government enforce tougher restrictions on alcohol? Or should the government assure young adults know the consequences of consistently over-indulging? How many students who currently attend university throughout the country would still do so if drinking was banned? How many students are here to have some fun and meet new people compared to how many are here to actually learn? Would changing the legal age of drinking discourage people from applying to university, or is the social life just an added bonus? If you want any more information on the harmful effects of alcohol, the following websites are particularly helpful: • http://ow.ly/1AD5RS (Talk to Frank) • http://ow.ly/1AkqNx (BBC Radio 1) • www.alcoholconcern.org.uk (Alcohol Concern)
Could you edit Features? Concrete is looking for a new Features Editor for the seven issues of 2012. As a section, Features requires an Editor with a broad knowledge of a variety of topics. Features can involve any topic, from student drinking habits, to political debate, to world events and even hidden hideaways in Norwich. Interested applicants should send a covering email and a 400 word application on why they would be good for the job to concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk. Applications must be in by 8 December, and the new editor will be chosen after Christmas.
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features p12-14
international p16
lifestyle p17-20
sport p21-24
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Volunteers needed for global projects Claire Murray reports on a new and unique opportunity on behalf on the Volunteers Service Overseas 18 to 22-year-olds across Britain are being challenged to take up their most exciting and rewarding challenge to date, as international development charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) announces its national campaign to recruit 250 young people for the exciting three-month global volunteering programme, Global Xchange (GX), Youth Action in 2012. As early as January next year, 110 GX volunteers will depart from across the UK to far-flung destinations including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Sierra Leone. A further 140 volunteer places are available for April 2012. Funded by VSO, the British Council, plus local partners around the world, GX brings together a group of young volunteers from the UK with volunteers of a similar age from a partner country in the developing world. The UK
volunteers work on communitybased projects and live locally, making a real contribution to the host community and helping to tackle poverty in some of the world’s poorest countries. During the trips, volunteers will have the opportunity to experience another culture as few people ever do, learn new skills and really help make a difference to their host’s country.
Projects planned for 2012 could involve anything from working to strengthen health facilities in Bangladesh or assisting at Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) centres in Mozambique. It’s also part of the UK Government’s pilot International Citizen Service (ICS) scheme, which is funded by the Department for International
Development. The scheme encourages young people from all backgrounds to apply. Means testing is used so that financial contributions only amount to however much each volunteer can afford. Matt Reynolds, VSO’s head of youth operations said: “We’re urging 18-22 year-olds who have a real interest in making a difference to the lives of others to apply now for what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. We’re looking for committed individuals with energy and enthusiasm who will help us deliver these really valuable projects to help reduce poverty in some of the world’s poorest countries. “Global Xchange gives young volunteers a unique chance to broaden their horizons, develop personally, as well as learning new and important skills which will hopefully be highly valued by future employers. On returning,
volunteers will carry out an ‘action project’ in their own community to spread the word about development issues and their own positive volunteering experiences overseas - to hopefully inspire others.” International development secretary Andrew Mitchell said of the International Citizen Service: “By making this contribution, these volunteers will show what a difference one person can make in the world. I’m sure they will return from their experience full of enthusiasm for helping others, and with an understanding and appreciation of the results development can bring.” To apply or get more information on volunteering through VSO and the British Council’s Global Xchange please visit www.globalxchange.org.uk, email enquiry@globalxchange. org.uk or call VSO on 020 8780 7500. For more information about ICS visit dfid.gov.uk/ICS.
Shared action for a shared planet Facing up to Taboos Benjamin Brown reports on the Oxford Shared Planet conference Over the weekend of the 12th November, UEA students travelled to Oxford for Shared Planet, a conference hosted by People & Planet for global student action. Fired up after UEA’s Nearly Naked Protest telling ViceChancellor Edward Acton to ‘buy right’ and ensure all university products are sweatshop free, they met up with over three hundred student activists from across the country to share ideas on a wide range of social justice and environmental issues.
Speakers at the conference came from as far afield as Kenya and Canada. The session opened with a talk from Firoze Manji, a former programmes director for Amnesty International Africa, before indigenous members of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation shared their experiences of how the Canadian tar sands, used for oil extraction, have violated 19,000 of their treaty rights and polluted the waters of their ancestral homeland. The weekend was an
Chris King
inspirational one for participants, with practical workshops on poverty and climate change, and how to confront these issues within their universities. It was encouraging to see successes in campaigns at other universities around the country, especially acting on labour rights abuses in sweatshops through signing up to the Worker Rights Consortium. With Sheffield, Loughborough and the NUS already signed up, pressure will be growing on UEA to prove its ethical credentials. Another growing campaign is to stop the expansion of the Canadian Tar Sands, which has been described as ‘the most environmentally destructive project on earth,’ and emits 23% more CO2 than conventional oil. With a crucial EU vote coming up on the importance of tar sands oil, this is set to become a major focus point. The challenges confronted at Shared Planet were daunting and global in their proportions, but did nothing to deter the enthusiasm of participants who left the conference brimming with new ideas for action.
Enviornment Officer William Lacey reflects on exactly what’s needed to get people talking about sustainability and ethical issues The Union is launching a new discussion group on campus. It’ll meet every Tuesday at 2PM in Union house 1.28, and will be discussing how to be sustainable and ethical on a personal level with regard to bodies like the Students Union and the University. For some, it may be rare to just come out and talk about sustainability and ethics. When do you ever get the chance to talk about these things? When it comes to social conversation, it’s rare to hear family and friends bring up the topic of sustainability. To be honest, we don’t remember the last time we spoke about being ‘green’, or buying fair-trade to anyone close to us. It’s as though many who care feel it’s unacceptable to bring it up with others in a casual, social setting unless they're totally sure the other person is equally enthusiastic about these issues. We try our best to make those on-the-spot decisions to turn
off lights, whack the washing machine on eco-time and divide my waste, but it never feels natural to discuss and debate the relative merits of all this effort and concern; nothing like how we cover relationships, buses and coursework; nothing like nights out, fitness and study tactics. It’s as though everyone’s efforts to be sustainable or ethical are their own private, closely guarded responsibility, like dental hygiene. Why should this be? After all, a regard for sustainability and ethical buying is a noble conviction. We aren’t all climatologists or moral philosophers, but we can appreciate the horrible implications of climate change and labour exploitation in the developing world. They’re big issues, so our willingness to challenge it is representative of courage, not silliness. We hope to see you at 2pm on Tuesday 22nd. Remember – room 1.28 (ask at reception).
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
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features p12-14
turf p15
lifestyle p17-20
sport p21-24
INTERNATIONAL
Join the KAOS Romanian Christmas shoebox appeal Robert Norris International Writer Last year, UEA KAOS (Kids Action OverSeas) sent 47 shoeboxes containing toys, clothing, food and other items to an orphanage in Romania on behalf of RCHF, a charity organisation which provides aid and care to children living in poverty. This year, the Facebook group for Kaos’ shoebox appeal has over 100 people willing to help prepare shoeboxes for Christmas. These will be sent to an orphanage in the city of Dorohoi and to other villages in the poorest parts of Romania. Each shoebox will cost less than £10 to make, so Kaos are hoping that students would get
involved. Electra Gerolymbou, a correspondent for Kaos at UEA said that the shoebox appeal is the “only way these children and their families can have a real Christmas.” Photographs from last year’s appeal show how big an impact the scheme has on the children. “Seeing the faces of the children on photographs from last year after they received their shoeboxes was incredibly touching.”
“The shoebox appeal is the only way these children and their families can have a real Christmas” Each person who provides their contact details on the Facebook group will receive an email containing details on
which gender and age range they should prepare their box for. Kaos have asked that each box contain a little food, such as rice, for use of the children’s families or guardians and a Christmas card for the child to enjoy. Once the shoeboxes are sent over to Romania, the head of RCHF will don a Santa Claus outfit to hand them out to the children along with food supplies for adults, giving everyone a real Christmas experience. RCHF estimates that over four million Romanian families are affected by poverty. The Christmas shoebox appeal seems to be the only way to give these families and children any sort of Christmas, and is a great way of brightening a few lives during the festive period.
The tradition of giving thanks Philippine heroes Kathleen Gustin recollects fond memories of America’s favourite Autumn holiday On the fourth Thursday of November each year, Americans take time out of their hectic lives to gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving. The story of the first Thanksgiving began with the Pilgrims, the famous English immigrants, unsuccessfully attempting to build a permanent community in a new world. Struggling through harsh seasons, their numbers dwindled as their crops failed. In the nick of time, they were saved by a tribe of Native Americans who lived nearby. They taught the Pilgrims
to hunt, fish and grow crops, and when food was plentiful the two groups sat down to a dinner of epic proportions to celebrate the spirit of giving. Not much about Thanksgiving has changed, and today, Americans travel hundreds, even thousands of miles, to reunite with their families and friends for turkey and pumpkin pie. Houses are decorated with wreaths and garlands of autumn leaves. There are cornucopias overflowing with gourds, minipumpkins and ornamental corn, and family refrigerators are
covered with hand-turkeys kids make in school. Everyone sits around the table. Before eating, people say what they’re thankful for that year. Inevitably, someone will say that they’re thankful for stretchy clothing, and then the eating begins. Once the inevitable sleepiness (a result of too much turkey) sets in, everyone adjourns to the family room to digest and watch American Football (as a sweeping generalization) and simply enjoy the fact that, for one of the few times each year, everyone is together again.
Isabelle Carty International Writer In the Philippines, National Heroes’ Day or Araw ng mga bayani as it is known in Tagalog (the language spoken in the Philippines) is a public holiday dedicated to the memory of the nation’s heroes throughout its history. Each year, it is observed on the last Monday of August. The list of people to be remembered on the day includes men and women who range from revolutionary leaders to the composer of the country’s national anthem. Among the heroes celebrated and perhaps one of the most notable members of the list is Dr Jose P Rizal (1861-1896). Dr
Rizal is remembered for writing two highly influential novels and various other literary works that stirred the consciousness of his people. For his incendiary novels and the leadership role he played in the reform movement, he was arrested and later executed in Manila. This was the last straw for Filipinos, who called for a revolution against Spain. The holiday itself marks the beginning of the Philippine revolution (1896-1898) called the "Tagalog War". This was an armed military conflict between the people of the Philippines and the Spanish colonial authorities which resulted in the secession of the Philippine Islands from the Spanish Empire. Initially, National Heroes’ Day was celebrated on 30 November, the birthday of Andres Bonifacio, another national hero and founder of the Katipunan, the anti-colonial secret organization, the discovery of which sparked the revolution. This day was later moved in order to pay tribute to all other known or unsung men and women who sacrificed their lives for Philippine freedom. It is undeniable that the Philippines achieved its identity through the noble deeds made by its national heroes and this holiday is celebrated with great enthusiasm to this day.
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
Stressed? Know the feeling Lifestyle writer Rebecca Hazlewood explains how to combat the inevitable stress of upcoming deadlines We all know the feeling. 30 minutes until deadline time and you’re still frantically formatting references and praying there will be no unwelcome printer hold ups. We have barely settled into the semester and coursework projects rear their ugly heads, cropping up left right and centre. “No worries,” you think naively at the beginning of term when Week 7 seems like a space age away. Before you know it, the weeks have slipped by and an avalanche of deadlines crash down around you. You are left tearing out your hair and mourning your disrupted social life. You struggle through and survive the hair-raising race to the submission box, but let’s face it: a string of sleepless nights and a diet derived solely of vending machine snacks definitely doesn’t leave you feeling dapper. With a new set of coursework deadlines fast approaching, it won’t be long before the havoc
starts afresh. So what can be done to handle the pressure and cut the stress levels which only hinder your coursework progress? For starters, get your priorities sorted. You’re more likely to make it to the LCR if you cut out the distractions. Checking your Facebook after every three sentences you read or write is going to mean you’re sat in the library about 10 times longer than needed. Eliminate procrastination which causes
CliveCares
lost time and greater stress! Next up, think back to your GCSE bitesize days: set yourself manageable targets and goals over short time frames with a well deserved reward every couple of hours, keeping you motivated and your brain on track. Work towards a coffee break with friends or a gym workout, something that’s going to let you forget your work for an hour or so. If stress is making it really hard to focus, then don’t panic.
Put on some great music, make a cup of tea and have a break. Music with a strong beat is scientifically proven to aid concentration and alert thinking as your brainwaves resonate in sync with the beat. Try running a bath and putting on a bit of classical music before bed to help you feel calm and relaxed. So there you go. Friends, exercise, music and a little less Facebook, and you’ll be on track for a stress-free lead up to Christmas. Rianne Ison
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101 tips For students By students Lifestyle writers Helena Murphy and Rianne Ison share their words of wisdom with Concrete:
22.
Try and work out what you want to do after university and use your holidays to find relevant work experience placements.
23.
Only use a basket when you go food shopping, that way you’ll know how much food you can carry home.
24. Helping turn life’s lemons into lemonade
Try planning a communal meal once a week. It potentially cuts down on food bills and it’s always nice to have a meal with friends.
If you have a burning issue then Clive Ashcroft is the man for the job. Contact him at: clivecaresconcrete@gmail.com
It’s a boy-girl thing Dear Clive, I am a lad in a mixed group. We’re all best friends, however recently I have developed feelings for one of the girls. I believe that she may feel the same but is worried about losing our friendship. I don’t know whether to tell her how I feel and risk the awkwardness, or to just wait and see if these feelings go or something happens naturally. Help me Clive! Dear reader, There are lots of friendships that may mature into a relationship. You seem to enjoy each other’s company and feelings have grown. I can only suggest that you wait until something happens. Nature will take its course, although talking may help. I’m sure your friends will be very happy for you both. Good luck and take care!
Dollar dilemma
Dear Clive, I am a third year student at the university. I use my loan to pay my rent and bills which leaves me with no money to live on. My parents haven’t got the money to support me so I have a local job, however my hours have been cut and I am struggling. I am unsure of how to get by financially. What advice do you have? Dear reader, Sorry to hear about your financial situation. It’s not easy raising extra cash in today’s climate. My only advice would be to find another part-time job to make up your lost hours. There are some jobs advertised in shop windows around the city. Also, leading up to Christmas some big stores may need more staff. I wish you every success, good luck and take care.
25.
Get your friends to change your Facebook and Twitter passwords when a deadline is looming. That way there are no distractions!
26.
Save your pennies up over the year and you will have a nice lump sum to spend at the end.
27.
Use ABE Books or eBay to purchase and sell your course books. They are good quality second hand books.
If you have a tip that you would like to share with the rest of campus tweet us at: @Concrete_LifeS #101tips
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
LIFESTYLE
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Food writers’ challenge: eating for a fiver Lemon, prawn and pea risotto and cinammon apple crumble with ice cream, by Hasina Allen A delicious and classy meal for two for only £4.99. The lemon, prawn and pea risotto is easy to make and full of flavour. Take advantage of the plain flour that has been quietly waiting in your cupboard for the next pancake or birthday and make a tasty apple crumble that is perfect for cuddling up on cold, dark nights. Make the crumble while you are stirring the stock into the risotto and put it in the oven while you are eating the main and it’ll be perfectly cooked by the time you finish your meal! Ingredients: Frozen prawns 1 medium onion 150g arborio rice 3 apples
£2.50 £0.13 £1.50 £0.86
Cupboard ingredients: Olive or vegetable oil, vegetable stock, salt, pepper, lemon juice, butter, flour, sugar.
Hasina Allen
Lemon, prawn and pea risotto 1. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil while you finely chop one medium onion. 2. Once the oil is heated cook the onion until soft. 3. In a plastic measuring jug make up 1 litre of vegetable stock. 4. Add a the risotto rice, about 150g, and cook until clear. You can add two tablespoons of cider vinegar or a dash of wine and cook until it has evaporated 5. When the rice is clear pour
Hasina Allen in enough stock to cover and stir occasionally until it is all absorbed. Repeat for about 18 minutes, waiting for the rice to absorb the stock each time before adding more. 6. When the rice has absorbed the majority of the stock add half of the packet of frozen prawns and peas if you have any in the freezer. Cook for 3-5 minutes. 7. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, and serve with whatever cheese you have in the fridge.
Apple Crumble 1. Peel and chop 3 apples into squares. Place the chopped apples in a saucepan then pour over just enough water to cover them. 2. Put on the lid and leave the apples to cook over a medium heat until the apples are soft. This should take about 10 minutes. 3. While the apples are cooking make your crumble. Mix 150g of plain flour with 90g of sugar (preferably brown) in a large bowl then rub in 100g of
cubed unsalted butter at room temperature a little at a time until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. 4. Drain the apples and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Then place in an oven-proof dish and sprinkle your crumble mixture on top. 5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown and crispy on the top. 6. Serve with ice cream, custard or by itself for the perfect end to any meal.
Salmon and chilli vodka spaghetti, garlic dough balls and espresso granita with chocolate cream, by Jessica Ball Posh seeming, very cheap, two course meal for just £4.98. Make the granita first then pre-make the garlic dough so you can get on with the pasta sauce and serve everything hot together. Granita is a gorgeously refreshing dessert with rich chocolate cream. If you don’t have vodka and a good strong coffee in your cupboard, then you really aren’t a proper student! Ingredients: Value smoked salmon 1 large onion Passata Pizza base mix 200ml single cream Spaghetti Salad bag Garlic clove Red chillies Fresh parsley Chocolate
Jessica Ball
Pasta £0.98 £0.20 £0.25 £0.43 £0.68 £0.25 £0.50 £0.22 £0.45 £0.68 £0.34
Cupboard ingredients: 4 tbsp. vodka, coffee, sugar, butter, salt and pepper.
1. Set spaghetti to cook in salted water 2. Mince the onion and begin to cook on a low heat with a little butter. 3. When the onions are almost soft add one very finely chopped red chilli and 2tbsp vodka. Cook for two minutes then add the prechopped salmon pieces and the rest of the vodka. 4. When most of the vodka has burned off take pan from the heat and add 150ml of the cream, 100ml passata, stir together and return to the heat.
Jessica Ball 5. Season with salt & pepper. 6. Drain the spaghetti and toss together with the sauce, serve with chopped parsley and salad leaves.
Dough balls 1. Make pizza dough as per packet instruction. 2. Split dough into even ping pong sized balls. 3. Place in lightly greased baking tray, leaving room between them for rising. 4. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden 5. While the balls are baking finely
mince the garlic and combine with butter, salt and finely chopped parsley. 6. Remove the balls from the oven and smear the garlic paste over each of the balls. 7. Return to oven for five minutes, remove and serve with more of the garlic paste for dipping.
Espresso Granita 1. Make up 500ml of strong coffee, either real coffee or instant is fine. 2. Add 150g of caster sugar and stir until is completely dissolved. 3. Pour coffee into freeze-proof dish and place in the freezer
4. Freeze for 2 hours. Gently scrape the frozen edges into the centre and break into smaller crystals with a fork. Freeze for a further 30 minutes and repeat 2-3 times, until crunchy and icy. 5. Melt half the bar of chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl making sure that it doesn’t burn. 6. Whip the remaining cream until stiff then combine with the slightly cooled chocolate. 7. Spoon the granita into glasses, mugs or bowls, top with a dollop of chocolate cream and grate the remainder of the chocolate on top.
LIFESTYLE
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
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Always time for afternoon tea Lifestyle writer Susanna Wood celebrates British tea culture and reports on where to go in Norwich to find a decent cup of tea God bless the humble cuppa. For most of us, a cup of tea is the one thing that will get us out of bed on a cold November morning. As the second largest consumer of the tea in the world, Brits are known worldwide for their predilection for tea, whether it’s a dainty cup with cucumber sandwiches or a strong, twosugar job downed on the way to work. Tea has been a popular beverage in Britain since the 1660s, but our current fetish for all things vintage and retro has meant that dignified tea drinking has experienced resurgence. You should never have to settle for the bog-standard teabagin-a-polystyrene-cup rubbish in Norwich; the city boasts a plethora of pleasant places to sit and sip in style. The Bicycle Shop on St Benedict’s Street has a nice range of teas and for £1.20 you get a generous teapot. Another hotspot is the Tea House, hidden away in a back alley in the historic Elm Hill part of the city. It’s tiny, but on sunny days the courtyard is perfect for a midmorning cup of char. For wintery campus days the Sainsbury Centre does wonderful scones and jam alongside a reasonably
priced pot, and in the summer, the Plantation Gardens offers tea and cake from just £2.50 in a beautiful outdoor setting. If you’re looking for something a little more upmarket, try Biddy’s Tea Room, which
serves a full cream tea at the student-friendly price of £6.75. For a really special occasion, the Assembly House prides itself on its elegant afternoon tea, with cakes, sandwiches and even champagne with your cuppa.
Mastering microwaves
For the more frugal tealovers among us, there are many ways to experiment with tea drinking in the comfort of your own home. Check out the vast array of teas sold at Wilkinson’s Tea and Coffee Merchants, also
the best place to bulk-buy high quality traditional tea at a low price if you’re truly addicted to the stuff. Tea isn’t just a drink; it’s a way of life. So embrace it, and pop that kettle on.
Rianne Ison
Alfie Venner Woodcock looks at the real joys of communal cooking in halls Is your student residence kitchen curtailing creative cookery? Are your four hobs, one grill and two microwaves getting you down? With the clocks going back and winter just around the corner, now is the time to get together
with your fellow halls residents, put your aprons on and begin your first year food revolution. Now I’m not saying this is an easy fight. Our enemies stand in ranks against us: the obnoxious grill that you only have to look
at for it to burst into flames; the back right hob dial that was broken in freshers’ week and is yet to be fixed, leading to the temptation of calling Dominos for the hundredth time this semester. But with the right spirit anything is possible, even with said limitations. In my first year in Orwell Close we did curries for 18 people, fish and chips for 14 (with only one brief fire alarm break) and multiple potluck dinners. If you think that not having an oven would stop the Americans from having a turkey on Thanksgiving, then ask ABC and they’ll tell you different. A couple of entertaining cab rides, several hours in a friendly second year’s oven and lots of
insulating tin foil and tea towels later we were tucking into a colossal avian feast. Have confidence; with a few choice recipes you can make food that is both cheaper and
tastier than eating out. But most importantly, halls are about the people, not the shared bathrooms, and communal cooking against the odds is the perfect way to make the most of them.
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
LIFESTYLE
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How to beat the “freshman fifteen” Lifestyle Editor Rianne Ison explores some alternative ways to exercise free of charge and avoid putting on or spending pounds “Freshman fifteen” may sound like a slightly enigmatic term to the ears of English students, but to those in America the phrase has become an everyday, colloquial part of speech. It refers to the weight gained during the first year of study at university which on average, in America, happens to be an astounding 15 pounds. After the loan comes in and
you have moved away from home, the temptation for fast food solutions can become agonising. Slowly but surely students end up eating what they want when they want. This includes the odd 3am burger from the infamous van outside the LCR. However, you can take comfort in the statement “eat everything in moderation” when you throw exercise into the mix.
Here at UEA there are many enjoyable and easy ways to fight off the dreaded “freshman fifteen.” The Sportspark is one of UEA’s finest selling points and you can get yourself off-peak swimming or a gym session for only £1.60. However, there are plenty of other alternatives, which will not break the bank or even cause you to break into a sweat. One of the first things you will
notice about Norwich is the sheer amount of bikes on the roads. Norwich is famous for being cycle friendly and if you get yourself a cheap bike, you can cycle to campus and back in no time at all, a much cheaper alternative to an annual bus pass. If cycling does not take your fancy, UEA’s scenic lake can become an ideal location for free exercise. Grab your trainers and
head on down to the lake for a relaxing, leisurely stroll, which will help you on your way to the recommended 10,000 steps a day. Or you can go for a jog and take in the picturesque views. If you enjoy sports, but have not had the chance to get involved with any sports teams, there are an abundance of other opportunities. On Wednesday afternoons the Ziggurat challenge is held, where academic schools compete against one another in numerous sports, including badminton, table tennis, footballs, and swimming. Ziggurat is an extremely enjoyable way of exercising, and the great part is that you don’t even have to be that good. It’s just a laugh with your friends. If the thought of running, cycling or diving into a swimming pool makes you feel physically sick, never fear, there’s still plenty to choose from. Dancing in high heels on a Saturday night (that includes you too boys), or the quick sprint to your lecture when your alarm fails to go off all burn calories. And of course there is the notorious challenge of catching a UEA rabbit. Running after those speedy bunnies is possibly the best exercise there is on campus. Don’t believe us? Give it a try.
please search UEA Salsa Society on facebook to join their group
and find out all the information. “La revolucion salsera de
UEA ha comenzado.” (The salsa revolution at UEA has begun).
Society Spotlight: Salsa Hannah Thomson Lifestyle Writer If you’ve never tried salsa or Latin American dancing before, this is your chance: salsa has arrived at UEA. Salsa classes for beginners are every Tuesday from 5.20pm until 6.30pm, and every Saturday for those wishing to improve from 2pm until 5pm in the Hive. There is also a practice session, free for members, on Fridays from 5.30pm until 7.30pm in Constable Terrace common room A. You can stay as long as you like and get help from the salsa experts. A new, professional and incredibly energetic teacher runs classes at a cheap price for students. There is a membership fee of £3 and lessons are £2.50 each time. This beats any salsa
lessons in the city, which can range from £5 to £7. There is no pressure to attend every session and you can join at any point throughout the semester. You don’t need to come along with a dancing partner, as there are plenty of male and female members there. After warming up, salsa mimics speed dating as you move onto another partner every couple of minutes, so there is no chance of getting bored. Salsa is a fun way to meet new people and get some exercise. With Cuban Revolution now open you can practise your salsa skills for real. They also have a happy hour every day from 5pm until 7pm, where all cocktails are buy one get one free. If this isn’t quite enough, on Mondays, 6pm7pm, in the Blue Bar there are even Argentine Tango classes. For further information
SPORT
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Editors’ Column
The resignation of Martin Johnson as manager of England’s rugby union team highlights a key issue across a number of sports: some retired players are being rushed into management far too early. When Johnson was first appointed, he was hailed as a breath of fresh air, with pundits, fans, and players all believing he would bring the same lion-hearted approach to management that saw him dominate the rugby field for well over a decade. Instead, he was wildly out of his depth and unable to motivate his players, manage the expectations of English fans and media, and deal with what could best be described as recent tumultuous events in the RFU. The disappointing World Cup campaign was the final straw, and there are clear parallels with other individuals in other sports. Another such strong leader, this time on the football field, is Paul Ince, who was thrust into the managerial spotlight at Blackburn Rovers after only brief experience in management at a lower level. In the Premier League, Ince’s shortcomings were found out, and while he only had the job for 177 days, it was clear that he was too inexperienced for the job at hand. It is easy to think that because someone is a good leader on the field, they will be a good leader off of it. However, this is not always the case. Johnson must now hope that his failure does not damage any future managerial career, or his standing as one of England’s greatest rugby players of all time. Chris Teale
travel p10-11
features p12-14
turf p15
international p16
lifestyle p17-20
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So You Think You Know Boxing? Of all the sports clubs associated with UEA, few can deny that the boxing club is one of the most professionally organised. Norfolk is a hotspot of boxing talent. With the likes of John Thaxton, Sam Sexton, and the Walsh brothers all originating from the area, this should come as no surprise. The society is trained by exboxer Tom McAllister twice a week on campus and there is also the possibility for members to work in his gym in the centre of Norwich. A hallmark of UEA sports clubs is a desire to improve, and boxing is no different. This academic year, the society plans to replace all of its old equipment and purchasing its own ring for use on campus. President Vangelis Nicolaides points out that it is not all about bouts
and fights, instead stressing that much of the club’s activity revolves around fitness and socialising. Next semester will see the return of “Fight Night” to campus. In the past, the boxing society has decked out the LCR just like Madison Square Garden or Wembley Arena, hiring everything from a ring to a master of ceremonies. Nicolaides plans to make this year’s event bigger than ever with newcomers and old hands within the society going head to head in front of a paying audience, with key rivalries being settled. This is already shaping up to be one of the standout events of next semester and one that should not be missed by anybody interested in boxing.
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
BUCS stats
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BUCS results Wednesday 16th November 2011
Current BUCS Index Position 57. Royal Holloway 485 pts 58.Southampton Solent 456 59. London Metropolitan 434.5
60. UEA 433
Badminton UEA Women’s I Aston I Football Loughborough II UEA Men’s I
7 1 3 0
UEA Women’s I Nottingham Trent II
6 1
Hockey Nottingham II UEA Men’s I
8 2
UEA Form Guide - Top 10
Nottingham III UEA Women’s I
2 3
Women’s Hockey (WWWWW) Men’s Football I (LWDWW) Men’s Football II (WLWW) Men’s Lacrosse (LWWW) Men’s Rugby I (LWWLW) Women’s Netball I (WWLLL) Men’s Fencing (WLW) Women’s Football (WLLW) Women’s Badminton (WLLW) Women’s Netball II (WLLLW)
Netball UEA Women’s I Birmingham II
49 45
Oxford Brookes II UEA Women’s II
28 40
Rugby Bedford I UEA Men’s I
30 14
Anglia Ruskin I UEA Men’s II
13 21
61. Hertfordshire 423 62. Worcester 404 63. Edinburgh Napier 379.5
Kris Nelson
Lacrosse fight bravely against Trent onslaught Chris King Editor
UEA Women’s Lacrosse Nottingham Trent I
8 12
UEA Women’s Lacrosse put up a strong fight against Nottingham Trent at Colney Lane, and were unlucky to come away with a narrow 12-8 defeat. Trent ruthlessly bossed the first quarter, with Hannah Jefferson scoring the first of many goals to put the visitors ahead before Emily Haas levelled proceedings. In a pattern that would characterise the match, Nottingham broke with consummate ease, dominating the sparsely-defended midfield and moving 3-1 ahead on the break, Jefferson netting once again. UEA pressured their opponents well, making some strong bursts through the middle - Arione McQueenie unlucky not to score from one - with Chloe Golod reducing the arrears to 5-2 at the end of the first quarter. Goalkeeper Amy Powers made some excellent saves to
deny the rampant Trent forwards, as UEA began to reassert themselves onto proceedings. Trent’s pace remained a thorn in the side of the UEA midfield, and the hosts suffered for their slow start. Golod, the home side’s standout performer of the day, made it 5-3 after superb hold-up play from Haas. After Jefferson restored the visitors’ two goal advantage, Golod made it 6-4 before Haas’ excellent individual strike closed the second quarter at 6-5. The third quarter saw UEA’s rearguard remain strong, despite two strikes from Jefferson cancelling out efforts from Golod to make it 8-7. From here, the floodgates opened and Nottingham Trent’s early dominance reappeared, despite last-ditch interceptions from Becky Hardy and further impressive stops from Powers. Golod scored a late consolation for UEA, before she and Jefferson were briefly dismissed following an on-pitch incident. The hosts could count themselves slightly unlucky to have fallen to defeat, particularly in view of their dominance in both
the second and third quarters. Early jitters, an inability to cope with Trent’s high passes and an open midfield ensured that the visitors profited in the first and fourth quarters, but such a strong, resolute performance will give hope to the team with half the season still to go. Team captain Jess Quick said Laura Smith
after the game: “Nottingham Trent are second in the league, so they are a very good team, and we put up a pretty good fight. A number of them have been playing for years, whereas we have a lot of freshers. I’m generally happy with how we played, that’s the kind of lacrosse I want to see.”
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
SPORT
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Canary Corner Three Lions savour friendly wins by Sam Tomkinson The Canaries faced an uphill battle against an Arsenal side finally coming into their own at Carrow Road. They could have been easily blown away, particularly by the blisteringly in-form Robin van Persie. The hosts’ resolute defence, particularly Russell Martin, made sure that the Gunners were only able to come away from Norfolk with a 2-1 victory. It was Norwich who scored first, entirely against the run of play. Arsenal had peppered the home goal, and were only prevented from taking the lead through Martin’s incredible goal-line clearance from a Theo Walcott effort. Steve Morison was able to capitalise on some lapse defending by Per Mertesacker. Morison calmly slotted the ball past Szczesny into the back of the net after 16 minutes. Arsenal continued to dominate the game, and eventually broke through in the 26th minute when Walcott glided past Marc Tierney, sending the ball across the six-yard-box, setting up van Persie for an easy tap in for Van Persie.
The Dutch hitman scored his and Arsenal’s second on the hour mark to seal the points, impeccably chipping over the oncoming ‘keeper when sent through on goal. Despite the result, City can take some heart from their performance. They could have easily capitulated, but Paul Lambert’s men showed, like they did against Blackburn, that they are made of sterner stuff.
“Norwich now find themselves sat in 11th place after 12 games and are performing above expectations this season, with survival a very realistic possibility” The Canaries now find themselves sat in 11th after 12 games and are performing above expectations this season, with survival a very realistic possibility. Their next opponents are fellow promoted side Queens Park Rangers, which should make for another fantastic fixture for the Carrow Road faithful.
Tom Shaw Sports Correspondent Two 1-0 wins are unlikely to have England fans booking tickets for the final of Euro 2012, but have given them new-found optimism ahead of the draw for Poland and Ukraine. An excellent defensive display against Spain, the World and European champions, saw England grind their way to a victory via Frank Lampard’s second half header, whilst England’s domination in the win over Sweden was not reflected by the one goal difference in the
scoreline. The winner in the Sweden match was England’s 2000th goal, yet was scored by the unfortunate defender Daniel Majstorovic after the ball was deflected into the net from Gareth Barry’s header. The highly anticipated contest against Spain saw a resilient England side stand firm against a Spanish team lacking the finesse and guile that football fans have become accustomed to seeing for the last few years. England’s defence held firm with Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka the standout
performers, whilst in midfield, Scott Parker once again drew the plaudits with a battling display he has become associated with. A win seemed likely against Sweden, a nation England had not beaten since 1968, and the team duly obliged with a satisfactory performance against a disappointing Swedish side. England had many chances to add to their narrow lead and came close through efforts from Phil Jones, Jack Rodwell and Bobby Zamora, yet failed to add to England’s lead. Jones was the shining light for England in a contest that otherwise lacked any sort of real dynamism. Other youngsters such as Kyle Walker and Rodwell, who were making their full debuts, showed glimpses of the future for the England team. The matches have left Fabio Capello with new names to consider to be in contention for a squad place at Euro 2012, and with the possibility of England facing Spain, Portugal and France in the group stage, the players will need to be well organised come the time they are competing alongside Europe’s finest.
Men’s Football II make progress in BUCS Cup Laura Smith
UEA Men’s Football II
Bedford II
2 1
Kris Nelson Sports Correspondent A late strike deep into extra time booked the UEA Men’s Football II side a berth in the last 32 of the national BUCS Midlands
Conference Cup, overcoming both a resilient Bedford outfit and freezing conditions at Colney Lane. In reality, UEA should have made far easier work of the tie than they did, controlling for long periods without being able to transfer possession into goals. This dominance did eventually pay off, with the impressive Oliver Dingli latching onto a
cross to fire home the winner from point blank range. Despite UEA hitting the post within the first five minutes, it was Bedford who started brighter, controlling possession and probing the UEA defence with clever passing moves. This authority was finally broken down by the home side after a quarter of an hour. UEA created good opportunities for both
their strikers with the ball at their feet on separate occasions within the penalty area, though neither could convert. Inevitably, UEA’s class did finally come to fruition after a fortuitous strike from the edge of the penalty area took a considerable deflection and put the ball completely out of reach of the visiting goalkeeper, handing the hosts a foothold in the tie just before the interval. This lead was more than deserved and on another, more prolific day UEA could have already sealed their place in the final 32. Unfortunately, the second half was controlled from start to finish by Bedford. The visitors improved considerably and began to dominate possession and chances, first having a goal ruled out for offside after a prolonged spell of possession and then going close with a number of good opportunities. Despite hitting the post again,
UEA were unable to match the visitors for long periods and Bedford’s football eventually brought about a goal when a good passing move presented their striker with the simplest of tap-ins after a prolonged spell of play out wide. Fortunately, UEA were able to rally after this set back and finished strongly as the game petered out into extra time. With the game seemingly set for penalties and the football becoming fractured with bad tackles due to tired legs, credit must be handed to Dingli for his continued work upfront. His effort was finally realised in the 108th minute when he smashed home the winner that sealed UEA’s progression into the next round. UEA now face an away trip to Worcester IV in the next round, and will be looking to continue the momentum in their next league match against Anglia Ruskin.
SPORT
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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 22nd November 2011 - Issue 261
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surprises INTERVIEW: Darren Huckerby No in Euro 2012
Sport editors Chris Teale and Matt Scrafton meet the Norwich City legend and “international soccer superstar” The former Norwich City striker had a long and fruitful career after beginning as a trainee with Lincoln City. In all, he had a 16-year career in the top two divisions of English football, and also a spell in the US with Major League Soccer outfit San Jose Earthquakes. After retiring in 2009 at the age of 33, Huckerby is now back in Norwich to promote his new book, Hucks: Through Adversity to Great Heights, and spoke openly about his career in football, his plans for the future, and even a legendary interview he gave on American television just after moving to San Jose. Huckerby spoke first about his playing career as a whole, and picked out the highlights of his time in football, which included, unsurprisingly, the two pieces of silverware he won. On his career highlights, he said: “I suppose winning the league [First Division] twice: once with Norwich [in the 2003-04 season] and once with Manchester City [in 2001-02]. You can go through a career without winning much sometimes, so it’s always nice to win something.” In terms of regrets, the 35-year-old does not seem to have any from a career that saw successful spells at Manchester City and Coventry City, interspersed with less successful times spent at Leeds United and Newcastle United. However, he was certain that
he did not have any regrets from his playing days, stating: “There were times when I left different clubs when I possibly didn’t want to, but that often happens in football, so no real regrets, to be honest. I had a 16-year career, and I feel incredibly lucky.” Having returned to one of his former homes, Carrow Road in Norwich, Huckerby then spoke briefly about his time in East Anglia, in which he experienced both promotion and relegation in two consecutive seasons. Huckerby said: “Yes, [I have] very fond memories of my time here. It’s the place where I was the happiest and the most settled, and probably the place where I enjoyed my football the most.” He was also keen to speak about his former side’s start to the Premier League season after achieving back-to-back promotions under manager Paul Lambert, and while he is clearly enthused by the start made by his former employers, he also urged caution. On the start made by the Canaries this season, Huckerby added: “It’s been a great start, but it’s also a very ruthless league. If a couple of teams win on any given weekend, we’re going to be one point off the bottom, and that shows how difficult this league is. You think you’re doing well, and then it comes back and bites you. It’s just like Blackpool last season, people thought they
For the full interview with Darren Huckerby, go to www.concrete-online.co.uk
were going to finish in the top 10, they went on a poor streak for 20 games and ended up relegated. But, it’s a long way to go.” In terms of his future, the striker who was capped once by England B under Glenn Hoddle in 1998 against Chile, and spoke of his desire to enter management after his application to the previously vacant position at former club Lincoln City was rejected in October. However, it is clearly something that Huckerby is keen to follow, saying: “Yes, it’s something I would like to get into. Lincoln was a one-off case, but it’s a place I know, I know
Issy Mitchell
the surroundings and I know the people there, so it would have been an ideal start-up job. It wasn’t to be, however, so that’s life.” Huckerby spent the final seasons of his career in the United States with the re-formed San Jose Earthquakes, and after an interview with KRON-TV in the San Francisco area that became a YouTube sensation, he was a great success in the Bay Area, and he spoke with great enthusiasm about his time in California. He added: “My first season there was good, I had no injury problems, I won the [MLS] Newcomer of the Year and won Player of the Year for my team [San Jose Earthquakes] and was top goalscorer in four or five months, so that was great. The year after, I was starting to have some problems with my hip and it wasn’t as good, to be honest. But the actual living there and being there was pretty good.” From this interview, it is clear that Darren Huckerby is very proud of all he achieved in his playing career, and holds a great deal of affection for Norwich City in particular. He is rightly regarded as a Carrow Road legend by many fans. Judging by the queues forming around Waterstone’s in readiness for the signing of his autobiography, his popularity in Norwich has endured since his departure in 2008.
play-offs Billy Sexton Sports Correspondent Ireland, Portugal, Croatia and the Czech Republic all booked their places in the finals of the 2012 European Championships, which will take place in Poland and Ukraine Carrying a four-goal advantage into their second leg against Estonia, Ireland had virtually secured their place in the finals, and a 1-1 draw in Dublin saw Giovanni Trapattoni’s men win 5-1 on aggregate. Robbie Keane, Ireland’s captain and record goal scorer, described Ireland’s qualification as “surreal but fantastic.” It will be the first time since the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea that Ireland have qualified for a major international tournament, and their first European Championships in 24 years. Croatia secured qualification in a similar way, a three-goal lead from their first leg against Turkey being enough to see them through. The Czech Republic defeated Montenegro in both legs, and Portugal saw off Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2 in Lisbon after a goalless draw in the first leg. The Portuguese had a twogoal cushion within 25 minutes and capitalised on a Senad Lulic sending off, adding another four. Despite initial disappointment at having to qualify through the play-offs, the 2004 finalists will be hoping to cause an upset in the finals.
“It will be the first time since the 2002 World Cup that Ireland have qualified for a major international tournament” The draw for the summer championships takes place on 2 December and every team will be hoping to avoid the notorious “group of death.” With the possibility of facing opposition from Spain, Germany and Portugal in the group stages alone, Ireland will be hoping to steer clear of any stiff opposition in the preliminary rounds and reaching the knockout stages.
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concretesport
issue261 22november2011
www.concrete-online.co.uk twitter.com/concretesport
ueasport
>> So You Think You Know Boxing? | p21 >> Lacrosse match report | p21 >> Football match report | p22
Inside concretesport this fortnight:
• Kris Nelson sees Men’s Football II battle to a cup win, while Tom Shaw analyses England’s recent friendly performances • Chris King watches Women’s Lacrosse fall to a defeat, and Billy Sexton reviews the second round of the Euro 2012 play-offs
Johnson given boot by RFU after World Cup disappointment Matt Scrafton Sport Editor
Concrete Sport talk to Darren Huckerby turn to page 23
Martin Johnson has resigned from his position as manager of the England national side after an unsuccesful World Cup. Johnson, who captained England to World Cup triumph back in 2003, was at the helm for just over three years. He presided over last month’s tournament which saw France knock England out in the quarterfinals, after a miserable campaign blighted by several off-field controversies. Johnson, who had no previous managerial experience upon taking the England job, won 21 out his 38 games in charge and won this year’s Six Nations. However, Johnson has been criticised for his handling of the scandals that broke out during England’s time in New Zealand. He defended Mike Tindall after the ex-captain made the headlines for all the wrong reasons after visiting a “dwarfthrowing” themed night at a local bar, after England’s opening group game in which they narrowly beat Argentina. Ex-England player Jeremy Guscott said: “Johnson didn’t have the CV to do the job but the RFU backed him and he backed himself and unfortunately and regrettably he came up short”. The ex-Leicester lock resigned from his position a day before a review into England’s tournament was set to begin, which suggests he wanted to leave before he was sacked. A wide range of names have been speculated to replace Johnson, although Northampton coach Jim Mallinder seems to be the front runner for the position, while current Italian coach Nick Mallett was quick to rule himself out of the running after early speculation linking him to the job.
VENUE
Concrete’s fortnightly culture pullout
music | interview scroobius pip | p. 4 wired | review assassin’s creed revelations | p. 10 fashion | talk body hair of all shapes and sizes | pp. 12 - 13
Photo by Jay Lawrence
issue 261 | 22/11/2011
03 IE
www.concrete-online.co.uk
VENUE CONTENTS
ssue 261 | 22.11.2011 ditor-in-Chief | Chris King | concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk
V
enue Editor | Alex Throssell | concrete.event.uea.ac.uk How about a little name drop to get things going? Along with the lovely Hasina Allen I interviewed the effortlessly cool, enduringly beardy and equanimously awesome hip-hop troubador Scroobius Pip a fortnight ago, how’s that? Writing up the transcript took me three hours and resulted in a 4,000 word behemoth that was never all going to fit in the paper, no matter how many sections I ruthlessly cut to satisfy my own ego. So lets bring my shameless self-promotion to an end by saying that not only can you read a snippet of the interview in the music section, but that the script is available to read in full on the Concrete webiste for any of you that way inclined. Surprisingly, Pip’s impressive beard isn’t the only utterance of body hair this issue, in fact, a great deal of Venue has been proliferated with the phenomenon. Be that Hannah Britt’s enlightening polemic on, in her own words, “the lady garden”, Matt Tidby’s discussion of an altogether different furry creature, or Andy Parson’s complete lack of head hair and/or talent (sorry Victoria, I just don’t agree with your review). So whether you’re a fan of body hair, as my editorial team seem to be, or not, I hope there’s something you’ll enjoy.
Music | Editors | Alex Ross & Jordan Bright Music Contributors> Alex Throssell, Hasina Allen, Joe Dobraszczyk.
Alex
Wired | Editor | Josh Mott Wired Contributors> Andrew Leighfield, Philip Jones, Richard Joslin Robert Austin, Joe Fitzsimmons. Fashion | Editors | Hannah Britt & Milly Sampson Fashion Contributors> Hannah Britt, Becky Evans. Arts | Editor | Emma Webb Arts Contributors> Victoria Cann, Kieran McMahon, Hasina Allen, Emma Webb, Julia Sanderson.
Film | Editors | James Burrough & Anna Eastick Film Contributors> Jack Rice, Chris King, Patrick Bingham, Harry Deniston, Kerr Cameron, Robert Austin, Joseph Austin, Sam Langan, James Britton, Tim Bates. TV | Editor | Matt Tidby TV Contributors> James Sykes, Matt Tidby. Compeitions & Listings | Editor | Sam Tomkinson.
Photo by Laura Smith
Creative Writing | Editor | Ella Chappell Creative Writing Contributors> Matt Mulcahy, Ella Chappell, Marco Bell, Chen Shun Xuan, Michael Drummond, Sarah-Joy Wickes.
MUSIC
22.11.2011
concrete.music@uea.ac.uk
Interview Alex Throssell & Hasina Allen
talk to
Scroobius Pip
How did the Travis collaboration come about? It’s all a weird kind of circle of events. Danny Lohner, who’d produced the track [Introdiction], got the drums off Travis, but it was always pending his approval. We finished the track, sent it to him, didn’t hear anything, kept hassling him, and didn’t hear anything and it was all starting to get a bit panicky. We hadn’t announced to anyone that Travis was on it, I think I put the video up and hadn’t even been able to tell anyone that Travis was on it, and literally, it was coming up to the Monday the record was going to the manufacturer and I still hadn’t put Travis’s name on the sleeve cause we didn’t have clearance. I mean we were still going to release it, we’d just claim someone else had drummed or something, but then on the Sunday night I got home from an 11 hour studio shift and went on Twitter, and Travis had tweeted “Check out the video for this song I’ve done with Scroobius Pip, it’s amazing” and it was a real sigh of relief. We had clearance which meant we could put his name on there and it was all good. It was literally up to the last minute though, if he had tweeted a day later it would have been even more awkward cause we’d have had to say, “well it’s coming out, but your name isn’t on it.” How long did it take for the beard to grow back? Erm I don’t know, cause it’s when it’s constantly on your face it’s hard to know how long it was. It was a weird one; I cut it off and I shaved my hair in the video and I went home to tidy it up, cause I’ve cut my own hair and stuff for years ever since I was a little punk rock teenager thinking I wanted a Mohawk, and I went to tidy it and just thought nah, its alright *laughs* it was fine from the video. So yeah, I’m keeping it around at this length, I’m trimming it every month or so.
So, has the tour been going good? Yeah, it’s been going down really well. It’s mainly my most recent solo record stuff, but people who have seen me before will generally have seen me with dan. We weren’t sure how people would react; if they’d know the songs or
if they’d be a bit annoyed that I’m not playing the le sac vs. pip stuff, but dan’s not here so I can’t really do that. So yeah, it’s all been going down really well, they all seem to know all the songs and seem to enjoying it. I think the more it’s gone on the more relaxed we’ve got.
Your passion for spoken word is obvious, but is there any truth in your live skit, which derides UK hip-hop? It’s a little bit of panto. I get a lot of stick for that from UK heads who are like “nah this guys really good” and “have you heard Klashnekoff?” and I’m like “yes, everyone’s heard of Klashnekoff, he’s been around for years and has never done anything”… *laughs* not really, that was just a joke. But I like that sort of thing cause its throwing down the gauntlet, I love being proved wrong. A lot of people assume that because there’s quite a few opinions on things in my songs that I’m going to have all the answers, but I’m a thirty year old guy who’s lives in Essex, I’m not going to have all the answers, so I love
04
being proved wrong. So, if some UK hip-hop comes along and makes me think “oh right, I’m wrong actually, it’s amazing,” then great, if not I’ll keep slagging it off *laughs* The album title itself [Distraction Pieces] suggests the tracks are simply fleeting ideas, but the content itself goes deeper than that. It’s a weird one, cause it was really written as a side thing. Originally I was going to write it with some other people, and them Liam Howlett [The Prodigy] hit me up asking if I wanted some beats and I said “yeah I’m working on this project.” I had a specific sound I wanted for this, so I said to Liam “I don’t want a Prodigy beat, that’s not what I’m looking for” and having a distraction piece like this can be the most amazing thing. You get so bogged down trying to write what you’re writing, if you can switch off and write something else for a bit, in a different style that’s not in a specific template then it can be great for going back to the original project. So that was what it was going to be; I was working on bits aside from the things I was working on at the time, and Liam was going to be doing that and Danny Lohner was working on tons of stuff when he did Introdiction and it was that idea of a distraction piece. I find the busier you are the better; I wanted to just make it, bang, then hopefully be fired into other things. An old English teacher of mine said a similar thing; that if you are starting one short story, start another three at the same time. Yeah, exactly, and that’s the good thing about having the loose term of a writer. I can be writing something that’s quite poetic, then I can drift off to write just real hip-hop all about the rhyme and the flow, and then I’ve be working on a novel as everyone in the world has been *laughs* But it’s great to have the variations of style so you can still be being creative but just jumping from one thing to another. You really feel that moving through the album; that you start freeing up new ideas and perhaps become more daring. Yeah, yeah, and that’s what’s always enjoyable. I think there is a frivolity about this record which I only kind of found out because I thought of it as, not like a throwaway, but that it was a side project with not as much attention, so my aim was to please myself with the record, rather than think of anything commercial, and yeah Ithink it benefitted from that...
This is just a small sample of the interview, if you are interested in reading the full article, go to www.concrete-online.co.uk.
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22.10.2011
MUSIC
concrete.music@uea.ac.uk
Interview
Joe Dobraszczyk
Flogging Molly to discuss and the Occupy movement
sat down with
new record, folk-punk
their
For people who might not have heard of you before, just explain what Flogging Molly are all about? Dennis: We’re a 7 piece band from L.A, our singer’s from Ireland, we formed in 1997, got about 5 records out and we try and combine the folk influence with mandolin, banjo, violin and accordion thrown in to mix it up. Your new album Speed Of Darkness seeks to address some of the issues of inequality in our society, and how it’s affecting the working class especially. Do you have any messages that you’d like to put out to the occupy protesters on the streets at the moment? Dennis: Uh, yeah, just thank you very much for doing this. I live in New York so I’ve been down to Zuccotti Park a number of times and well, it’s pretty cold now. The record came out before the occupy thing started but it’s all connected, my hats off to everyone who’s involved in it and I’m behind the movement 100%. Did you really set out to put your neck on the line with this record; do you think it’s more political? Dennis: No, not that the record is that necessarily, I just think that it addresses some of the results of the economic downturn. I mean Dave, our singer, he actually moved to Detroit recently with his wife, and they moved there just before the economy collapsed while he was writing at the time, and Detroit was one of the hardest hit cities in the US, you felt that desperation was there, so to have the occupy movements happening all over the world is something really great. It’s a once in a lifetime thing for me so far, I’ve never experienced anything like it. It definitely seems of a completely different nature from the protests we’ve had before, like the anti-globalisation protests in Seattle in 1999, do you think the movement is evolving into something more mature? Dennis: Yeah, those were pretty violent. There was definitely an element of vandalism and violence there. There was some violence at the beginning of this too, that’s kind of how it got on the map, when the media picked it up. I think you know the anti-war movement against the invasion of Iraq there was that huge opposition, but this seems to be different in the sense that it’s more sustained, it’s going on day after day and it’s spreading globally whereas that seemed massive just for one day or two days and then, well, it didn’t stop anything
Your singer Dave is from Ireland originally and it seems fair to say that your music is very much a cultural crossover of American Punk combined with Irish traditional music that has a lot of its roots in themes of immigrant struggle. Do you think the American Dream is still a reality for immigrants new to the USA now? Do you think it still offers that sense of hope that has always seemed so pervasive in American culture? Dennis: Now I don’t want to get too pessimistic, but I think the American dream is over. Capitalism, I don’t see it as continuing the way it has for the last 30 years. I think this will be the first generation where our kids will not do as well as their parents did. Where, in the last 30 years, you had the opposite. But there’s potential I mean for an immigrant to come over, get an education. A lot of foreign people are becoming doctors and engineers
and attorneys, they have a different mindset than a lot of American kids, you know? They’re coming from a way less privileged place so it’s their ticket out of poverty, so I mean that’s still there in that sense. But with manufacturing jobs and making things in our country, society, it’s changing. There’s huge shifts, and we’re just starting to see the beginning of white collar jobs being outsourced, as more and more people get educated and go back to their own country, and as the middle class keeps rising in China and India, I think that we’ll start seeing more of our skilled jobs being outsourced. How do you see Folk-Punk progressing as a genre? Do you think the success of the Celtic influence has limited the possibilities concerning how it’s perceived by a wider audience?
Dennis: Well, it’s unlimited right? Because you look at it and the whole world’s got their own different version of folk music, so you can draw on all that. If you write a great song, a great song’s a great song. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Eastern European style song, or an Italian riff with it or an Irish riff. A great song’s a great song. I don’t like to think of music in genres. I know that folk music, like the success of Mumford and Sons in the US, is pushed in the mainstream again but it’s never gone you know? It’s never in style but it’s always there because everyday people will always be attracted to it. So I don’t think it’ll ever be in style, so to speak, like how dubstep is in style right now but one day it’ll go away.
MUSIC
concrete.music@uea.ac.uk
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Photo by Greg Mann
22.11.2011
Flogging Molly UEA LCR 06.11.11
Before Flogging Molly hit the stage tonight in a packed LCR, the air is already teeming with drunken anticipation, pints clutched close to chest, as anyone who’s seen this 7 piece folkpunk outfit before know what sort of mayhem to expect. And what a beautiful mayhem it is. As they hit the stage blasting straight through Swagger, the floor erupts into waves of leaping, crowd surfing mentalists, perfectly formed in chaotic ensemble, as the besieged photographers beyond the barricades have to be whisked away by security. The band walk straight into a Pogues cover, paying homage to their genre-fusing spiritual forebears, but from
then on stamp out a massive Flogging Molly sized boot to the face. Frontman Dave King’s unique style comes across every part like a stockbroker having spent twenty years in a soul destroying deskjob, then, finally, deciding to cut loose, only to release all the repressed emotion in a neverending burst of insanity, whipping up a storm as he goes. In the midst of this he somehow manages to hold down a melodic composure, which unshackles this eclectic band around him, allowing them to freestyle their very own musical hurricane; the accordion rolls, violin sweeps and the banjo bursts and blasts to devastating effect. The band spin out riff soaked
belters like Devil’s Dancefloor and Drunken Lullabies, rebel yell anthems in What’s Left Of The Flag, and of course, a fair few songs from their surprisingly underwhelming new album Speed Of Darkness. Not ones to just coast into middle age, having been at it for the last 14 years, Flogging Molly attack these tunes with a joie de vivre that has defined their career. As such tracks like Don’t Shut ‘Em Down take on a vibrant bounce, otherwise found lacking in the recording. It’s not all full speed ahead for the band though, with their banter they take the time to charm and entertain, bringing the crowd and the band together as one, in the manner
of true performers. Make no mistake, Flogging Molly are genuine heavyweights, racking up gold records, touring incessantly and making main-stage festival appearances the world across. Throughout it all though, they still manage to carry warmth of character: as if they were playing a Friday night down your local. True to their reputation as a band of the people, Dave King is outside afterwards signing tickets for the assembled cacophony of grinning drunken madmen; ambling, rambling and howling tunes into the wind after a night of folk-punk mastery. Joe Dobraszczyk
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22.10.2011
MUSIC
concrete.music@uea.ac.uk
Scroobious Pip The Waterfront 06.11.11 Shark backpack, bottle of rosé and a live band in tow, Scroobius Pip landed at the Waterfront for the first time as a solo artist on Sunday 6th November. The grittier feel of Pip’s recently released solo album was reflected on stage. Scroobius delivered the tracks off Distraction Pieces with dexterity and an infectious passion that had the crowd in the palm of his hands. Opening act B Dolan provided more than enough incentive to get to the venue early and didn’t disappoint. B Dolan, who supported dan le sac and Scroobius Pip during their 2010 tour, swaggered onto stage with a comically large noose around his neck and “rapper’s glasses” (with one lens missing) obscuring one eye, launched into a hard hitting set tackling among other
things the failings of modern American rap, the American economy, religion and the circumstances surrounding Marvin Gaye’s death. A ‘dance-off’ with an audience member during an LL Cool J track gave the audience more than a few laughs, as both B Dolan and the “volunteer” whipped out some classic moves. Scroobius Pip strolled onto stage donning a lizard mask and the aforementioned shark backpack and bottle of Echo Falls, for a ‘warm-up DJ set’ (publicity for his new club night WEARELIZARDS) before launching into the opening track from the Distraction Pieces, Introdiction. Somehow Scroobius managed to build and build throughout the set. We were treated to every track from Distraction Pieces, as well as a few
old surprises during the well-paced set. B Dolan returned to the stage to join Pip for Soldier Boy (Kill ‘Em) and B Dolan’s One Breath Left, followed by a toned down jazz number, during which the audience assisted in creating the melody. After a few more fast paced tracks that demonstrated Pip’s intelligent lyrics and flawless delivery, came perhaps the most unexpected move of the evening; a reworked version of an early work, 1000 words, the story of Scroobius Pip’s journey into spoken word, performed from an armchair. After downing the last of the Echo Falls, the night ended with what has become a 2011 tour tradition for Scroobius Pip. At the end of every sold out gig Pip launches himself at the crowd and crowd surfs to the merchandise
booth. Even though the Waterfront hadn’t sold out, Scroobius felt that, as it was the biggest venue on the tour outside of London, we still deserved to balance his body on the palms of our hands. The surging crowd carried the well-deserving lyricist from the stage to the merchandise booth by the exit, where every single audience member with the patience to wait had the opportunity to buy goods (including the iconic trucker caps he is rarely seen without) from the man himself. Scroobius Pip at the Waterfront brightened up a dreary November Sunday night and you should be looking forward to the next time Norwich gets to witness this artist live whatever direction his next album takes. Hasina Allen
WIRED
22.11.2011
concrete.wired@uea.ac.uk
Review: Assasins Creed Revelations The fourth instalment of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise hit the shelves on the 15th November, and marks the concluding chapter for the game’s Italian protagonist Ezio Auditore. Set in 16th-century Constantinople, Ezio arrives in the city in search of keys to help him unlock the secrets of the Assassin order, but soon discovers that his enemies are one step ahead. Ubisoft have added in some interesting new gameplay features, taking and improving on what worked in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Two new items have been added to Ezio’s arsenal, the hookblade, (a kind of grappling hook that aids in freerunning) and bombs. Bombs can be crafted to give different effects, such as releasing smoke or giving off loud noises, and add a new level of tactical thinking when players find themselves needing to slip past a group of guards. Another new gameplay feature are the Assassin dens. Once these hideouts have been wrested from enemy control, the player must defend them against any resurging threat. Because dens can be contested and lost at any time, the power struggle over the city is ever changing, and players have to stay on their toes if they want to keep the upper hand.
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Revelations is not just about Ezio. Players will also learn a lot more about the background of the game’s modern day protagonist, Desmond Miles, as he tries to repair his shattered mind following the events of Brotherhood. These new Desmond memories take the form of platforming sections, which may be a bit hit-and-miss with longstanding Assassin’s Creed fans. Ubisoft have also built on Brotherhood’s multiplayer, introducing new maps, characters and game modes. For instance a zombies type game which involves one corrupted player trying to corrupt the other contestants until only one survivor remains. The story of Revelation’s multiplayer sees you, the player, as an employee of Abestergo Industries: the game’s antagonists. As players advance in level and complete challenges online, they unlock more information about Abstergo’s background, giving an insight into Assassin-Templar struggle from both sides. Revelations is primarily a game aimed at established fans. While the gameplay is easy enough to pick up on, new players may find a lot of the plot going over their head. For fans of the series however, Revelations has built on the already sturdy foundations laid by Brotherhood. Andrew Leighfield
Review: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary If it wasn’t for the release of Halo: Combat Evolved in November 2001, the chances of the Xbox surviving its first few years would have been unlikely. A lack of quality games evaded Microsoft’s path at first, and a host of new games such as the original Deus Ex were still in production. Microsoft desperately needed something to get its first console up and running, and this is where Halo made its grand debut. The rise of the Xbox is partly, if not heavily due to Combat Evolved, with the game coming as part of a bundle with the then, chunky console. Combat Evolved and its makers, Bungie, helped shape modern first person shooters, and without its influence, best selling games such as Call of Duty wouldn’t be half as popular. Ten years later, to commemorate the game which kick-started the Xbox and revolutionised FPS shooters, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was released to thank Halo’s millions of fans and introduce a new generation of gamers to the Halo Universe before the heavily anticipated Halo 4 (set for a Christmas 2012 release). Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is the story of a super-soldier, Spartan 117, The Master Chief, and his personal AI, Cortana. Earth’s last defence, the planet Reach, is
destroyed and glassed by the Covenant, a brooding mix of alien species drawn together for the purpose of “The Great Journey”. After crash landing on a ring world, Halo, a deadly super weapon capable of destroying all sentient life in the galaxy, Master Chief must stop the Covenant from firing the weapon in
order to save the galaxy. What does Anniversary offer differently from the original? At first sight, many have argued the game is being used just to milk the series and generate income. However, until you’ve played this stunning remake, you won’t understand the vast differences in the games.
Anniversary offers HD and 3D graphics, as well as a new Firefight map and six new online multiplayer maps which are essentially added on to the Halo: Reach multiplayer, and of course a remastered mix of the original music composed by Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori. The biggest improvement can be found in the change of graphics frm the original 2001 release to the 2011 remake Gone are the dimly lit maps, and cartoon-like Covenant characters, which have been updated with state of the art graphics and deadly looking enemies. The biggest relief for millions of hardcore Halo fans is that it plays exactly the same as the original, so you feel a decade younger when playing it. Anniversary also offers a new addition to the game through terminals. The terminals, scattered across the course of the game, are insights into the origins of Halo, and possess resonant connections for the upcoming Halo 4. Whilst 343 Industries, the team responsible for Halo 4 and beyond have made a good start with this amazing remake, hopefully the best is yet to come. If you haven’t played Halo, and you own a Xbox 360, you need this game on your Christmas list. Robert Austin
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22.11.2011
Retro Column: Jade Cocoon
Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Five years after the last game, and 25 years after the series debut, Zelda is back, and bigger and more ambitious than ever. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the game the Wii, and motion control itself, has been waiting for. It is the game that should have been here five years ago for Nintendo to show gamers that motion controls can be taken seriously and used properly in games other than casual shovelware. Instead, the game comes out as a last hurrah for the Wii, which is in its dying throes and soon to be replaced by the next generation WiiU. Gameplay is the most important thing, and the most important thing about Skyward Sword’s gameplay is that it uses WiiMotion+, which allows for 1:1 tracking. This means Link will do exactly what you do with the WiiMote, whether it’s a vertical slice or just casually moving his arm around. The motion control on Twilight Princess felt clumsy and blunted, but in Skyward Sword it feels natural and intuitive. The combat, as a result, is amazing. Waving the WiiMote around randomly will not work; you’ll find that death will come swiftly should you try it. Each fight requires the use of your brain to win, and every new enemy brings a new puzzle. This is probably the best motion-controlled gaming will be for a very long time, since the WiiU is not played with a WiiMote. Skyward Sword has many great puzzles and amazing boss fights (the six-armed
Buddha and the fabulous Ghirahim spring to mind), and some of the most memorable locations in Zelda history, such as the pirate ship dungeon. One of the central mechanics of the game is being able to revert time back thousands of years in localised areas; turning deserts into lush green forests in real time as you move. Visually, the game is beautiful; the aesthetic style is that of the French impressionist Monet. This style is clever, as it does a lot to help hide the Wii’s appalling lack of HD and anti-aliasing. In terms of audio, it is fully orchestral this time, and has some very memorable melodies. Overall, Skyward Sword is a brilliant game that definitely deviates from the standard Zelda formula enough to mark it as its own game rather than an Ocarina of Time clone, which Twilight Princess was criticised for. It is not without its negatives, though. The overworld is empty; you feel like you’re backtracking too much; the game holds your hand for too long; and the inability to skip text is very frustrating. However, these do not substantially lessen the quality of the overall experience. The amazing characters and gorgeous real time cut scenes make you forget about the minor niggles. Skyward Sword is a worthy addition to the Zelda franchise, perhaps the best Zelda yet, and a strong contender for game of the year.
Richard Joslin
London Philharmonic Orchestra Release Video Game Soundtrack Compilation Behind every great game is a great soundtrack, and for anyone who has looked for a compilation of the best, they need look no further. Released on the 8 November, The Greatest Video Game Music is exactly what one would expect it to be: soundtracks taken from the biggest titles spanning the last three decades, all expertly performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Each of the 22 tracks will be instantly recognisable to gamers and cover a wide variety of games, including tunes taken from Super Mario, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, Metal Gear Solid and Grand Theft Auto. The track that will perhaps surprise listeners most by its inclusion is the theme
WIRED
concrete.wired@uea.ac.uk
from the poultry-slinging mobile phone game Angry Birds. While this may sound an odd choice for an orchestral adaptation, the London Philharmonic plays the score beautifully, giving the track a delightfully cheery tone. Another surprise success is the classic Tetris theme, which has come a long way since its release in 1984 and is still one of the catchiest tunes to be heard in a video game. For fans that have an appreciation for the music behind their favourite games, this album is definitely worth a listen. Those who do will realise exactly how the London Philharmonic has earned its reputation as a world renowned orchestra. Andrew Leighfield
Jade Cocoon was released in 1998 and quickly faded into obscurity. It is a mix of traditional Asian style RPG and something akin to Pokemon. The plot follows the story of the young protagonist, Levant, who lives in a world covered in dense forests. These forests are inhabited by violent monsters that attack the surrounding small villages. Levant’s village comes under attack by the Onibubu (the locusts of the apocalypse). This sends most of the villagers into a sleeping sickness from which they cannot wake. It is Levant’s destiny to become the cocoon master, the only person able to capture and purify the monsters, so that he may travel into the dangerous forests to find a cure for the sleeping sickness. With the help of his wife Mahbu, (voiced by Michelle Ruff), Levant can use his minions to fight. He is capable of merging two minions together to create unique and more powerful creatures, or he can spin the cocoons that he uses to capture them and earn money by selling the rare silk. Jade Cocoon uses a basic turn-based battle system which is effective, though not entirely intuitive enough to develop advanced battle strategies. The game is short and at times stiflingly linear, however, don’t let this stop you from playing it. What makes it truly outstanding is the storyline. You gain a powerful insight into a world of
constant paranoia and a deep-seated guilt that the monsters are the physical expression of the forest’s anger towards the “beast of knowledge” (humans) which is as much a comment on real world deforestation as it is a distinctive plot device. The depth of the story is almost unparalleled, even today. It comments on arranged marriage, the importance of a spiritual connection with nature and what must be sacrificed in the pursuit of knowledge. With characters that traverse stunning narrative arcs, the player eventually realises that, in the world of Jade Cocoon, no-one is how they first appear; each of the characters metaphorically and sometimes literally, undergo a metamorphosis. Phillip Jones
Preview: Mario Kart 7 It’s fair to say that the 3DS hasn’t quite achieved what Nintendo hoped it would. After the competition killing behemoth that was the DS, its successor has failed to catch the public’s interest and failed even more spectacularly to impress the critics. Some blame the 3D gimmick failing to offer anything substantial in terms of gameplay, whilst others point out it is because there aren’t actually any good games available Nintendo now seeks to solve this problem with the latest version of one of its most popular franchises, Mario Kart 7. Judging from the trailers, it’s essentially the same Mario Kart we all know, with the usual bundle of new courses, characters and weapons. One much hyped new feature is the addition of flying and underwater karts, where at certain points in the race players can take to the skies or dive underwater. This new mechanic may prove to be a positive addition to the now tired Mario Kart formula of closed, three lap courses, adding the possibility of multi-layered, open ended races where players
can pick from a variety of routes to take to the finish line depending on their style of play, hopefully Nintendo will utilise this to its full potential. A long time fan request has been granted in the form of customisable karts, will this add anything in terms of gameplay? We shall see. There are also features that make use of the 3DS’ capabilities, such as Streetpass and Spotpass, but it seems confusing why anyone would want gyroscope controls on a hand held racing game as all it could possibly achieve is forcing you to play the game sideways. T h i s Christmas is going to be make or break time for the 3DS and Nintendo seem to be hoping that a new high profile Mario game can stop it going the way of the virtual boy. With Mario Kart 7 released on 2 December it seems we’ll soon find out whether the little plumber can rescue the 3DS as effectively as he does Princess Peach, or whether it really is game over for Nintendo’s new hand held. Joe Fitzsimmons
FASHION
22.11.2011
concrete.fashion@uea.ac.uk
not you, it’s your beard Becky Evans on the perils of facial hair.
Photographer: Chloe Hashemi / Model: Joe Moore
It’s
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Muff:
Hannah Britt
Muff. nobody likes talking about muff. And don;t even mention pubes. Pubes are even worse. however, for something so taboo, us girs seem to pay an awful lot of attention to the inside of our knickers. During a recent drunken night, it was discovered by my delighted housemate that one of our mutual friends has, how shall we say it delicately, a “full” bush. Her Isaac Newtonlike discovery was terrible news. The following morning I woke up to the standard “Where did you go?!” and “Wow was your night?” However there was also “OMG Emily has a massive bush!” With this in mind, I went on a little mission, asking my male friends heri opinions on the matetr at hand. According to my friend Freddie, he would prefer a girl to have a hairy face than a hairy vagina. Is my research unscientific? Probably. However is it informative? Very much so.
Enter the masculine man. He’s dressed to impress, he’s single, he’s ready to mingle. The ladies swoon. The men drool. It has nothing to do with his ripped body or glistening smile. It’s his bristling beard. The bum fluff bearers hang their head in shame as he saunters past. What is the male obsession with the perfect beard? The answer: testosterone, testosterone, testosterone. Plenty of men that I have stumbled across in my very short lifetime are still, unfortunately, in the “nearly beard” stage. The “nearly beard” is a very real problem for youths of today; it consists of the ongoing struggle to acquire the perfect style of facial hair. Many a man in his prime of puberty has been hit with the relationship breaking line, “It’s not you, it’s your beard”. Although this may extreme, no woman enjoys looking at barely-there spatters of hair dotted with vibrant ginger. Let’s be honest girls: it’s not sexy. Understandably, the concept of an unattractive furry face leaves the male sex questioning their masculinity. Should they take the risk of exercising their right as manly men to grow some outstanding fuzz? Or, will they enter the dangerously uncool “lazy grease growth” phase? It leaves so much to chance. No man stumbles across a homeless person curled up on a bench, clutching a bottle of whisky, and remarks,
“Phwoar, look at the beard on that guy!” There is a very obvious line between what is okay and what is not with regards to beard etiquette. However, taking this important factor into account with regards to certain celebrity’s facial hair choices, it does leave society rather confused, and thus regrettably we enter the “mid-life crisis beard” phase. Exhibit A: Brad Pitt. Whatever happened to his clean shaven and, let’s be perfectly honest, ravishing facial exterior? We watched in horror as Brad passed from clean cut to you-need-to-cleanyourself-up. maybe it was the weight of age resting heavily on his shoulders that sparked off the moronic trend, or maybe it was Angelina’s influence [although we pray it was not]. Or maybe, just maybe, Brad had watched Pirates of the Caribbean one too many times and convinced himself the Johnny Depp goatee could suit him. Let us remind, Mr Pitt, that the only person that can sport two plaits of hair hanging from his face and still keep the ladies flocking is Captain Jack Sparrow and him alone. Yet with all this mad, media inspired beard propaganda, as well as the allimportant “Movember” month that has come around once more, ladies we still ask ourselves the same question: at the end of the judgement, abuse and mocking, is the beard rash really worth it?
tackles fashion’s final taboo...
These extreme reactions underline just how much is at stake down there. But what is a girl to do? Well ladies, fear not, as there are many wild and wonderful things which can be done to makeover your minge... The latests crazo to sweep the nation’s vaginas, well thos ein Essex anyway, is the vajazzle. This involves sticking lots of little gems around your bits. You can get the Playboy logo if you like. Or the word “idiot”. According to some muppet on Channel 4’s The Joy of Teen Sex, getting vajazzled makes her feel sexy. Each to their own I suppose... If you are not feeling particularly bling, you could just get a wax.
Simple right? Wrong. If you decide to get your bits waxed, you then have to decide which kind of wax you would prefer. You can get a Brazilian, a landing strip, a Hollywood, a Dollywood (the profile of Dolly Parton’s face.) Ok, so I made that last one up... You could even get your boyfriend’s name waxed into your minge if you like. Admittedly this idea would probably work getter if your boyfriend has a short name. Imagine the delight of the Eds and the Als of the world as they take their girlfriend’s knickers off to find their name, perhaps in a pretty swirly font. It is a little like those personalised headbands we had as chldren. The makeover needn’t stop there though; you cen even get plastic surgery to
make you a virgin again. Well, not really, no amount of surgery will take back that night you spent with boy whose name you cannot remeber after one too many doubles at Lola’s. There are also surgical optinios to make your vagine more aesthetically pleasing, as aesthetically pleasing as a vagina can be. It is shocking how much of a necessity the upkeep of down there has become. I by no means leave myself out of this equation. I may dress a little like a hippy, but I was not born in the seventies. One can certainly lay the blame with Page 3 and the porn industry . It can be said that grooming down there is an example of sexism in fashion. It must be so easy for boys. We don’t expect them to wax themselves down there. Again, unless you’re from Essex, in which case they may have a pejazzle too.
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To
22.11.2011
concrete.fashion@uea.ac.uk
FASHION
and ‘fro
Hasina Allen
talks you through the resurgence of the afro.
Any list of iconic hair would be incomplete without the afro. The moustache is a look that can only really be pulled off by men, whereas the hair halo created by an afro is a gender neutral look that can be worked by anyone. The cloud of hair rising from the head is one of the most instantly recognizable style options for Afro-Caribbean hair. With its roots as a political statement in the late ‘60s and early 70s, it has since
continued to be a popular style option for kinky or curly hair and spawned a huge variety of colourful wigs that make it a truly all-embracing look. Erykah Badu, the Jackson 5, The Supremes and Jimi Hendrix are just a few of the defining afros of our time and all provide style tips for working the afro. Diana Ross taught us that for effortless afro-glam massive earrings are a must: there is no such thing as too-
big gold hoops when an afro is involved. With all their love of clashing bright colours and prints, the Jackson 5 prove that dressing every morning is easy when all anyone looks at is your hair. Present day afro inspiration comes from the likes of singing sensation Esperanza Spalding who’s perfectly shaped ‘fro paired with a neutral and pastel palette somehow exudes effortless class. As a friend recently had to point out to
a stranger, having curly/afro hair does not make one an exotic form of tropical mammal [a sentiment this reporter 100% shares]. However, feeling a magnetic pull towards an afro within touching reach is a completely natural response to gravity defying hair that looks as soft as candy floss. There’s just something about a well-groomed, well-accessorized afro that is irresistible.
ARTS
22.11.2011
concrete.arts@uea.ac.uk
Andy Parsons - The Playhouse The lights dimmed, the music blared, and a wave of energy rippled across the Playhouse auditorium. Enter Mr Andy Parsons. Ever the robustly funny comedian with a head so shiny you could check your hair in it, Parsons is an even more dynamic presence in the flesh. He instantly fired the atmosphere, bounding onto the stage and bellowing out a jovial “Hello Norwich!” to the packed auditorium. There was no initial awkwardness or slow warm-up for this comedic veteran, as he immediately honed in on the gaping irony of the two empty seats smack in the middle of the front row. Striking up a good rapport from the start, Parsons continued to playfully banter with his audience throughout the show, heralding his status as one of the dons of stand-up performance. Mostly recognisable from the hit BBC series Mock the Week, where he brings sharpeyed irony and rugged humour to the panel, Parsons is also a prolific solo performer. Prefiguring the release of his second DVD Gruntled, this latest gig definitely reaffirms his capability as a one-man act. Showcasing his full comedic range from political satire to personal anecdote, Parsons carries his audience from appreciative giggling to outright hysterics. One woman even managed to squeak with laughter (which, if
you consider inhuman noises to be the height of appreciation, speaks for itself!) Parsons’ talent for picking up on and referring back to such specific points in his gigs is what makes him such a comfortable, adaptable performer. He oozed naturalness throughout the night, taking all audience input in his stride and at times proving himself a deft improviser. His talent shone through most in his ability to tease those watching and drop in the odd Norwich-related joke, whilst continuing to have his audience in stitches (steering clear of the usual normal-for-Norfolk puns seemed to help in this case. Strange that. The material remained highly topical throughout, so it is perhaps worth brushing up on current affairs before seeing the performance. Parsons glided through a diverse range of subjects, from the coalition and Sarah Palin, to underpants and Peppa Pig. Sharply funny in his treatment of each and never shying away from poking fun at himself, his only limitation was a tendency towards a ranting style of humour. It came across well though; not as a display of ill-tempered angst, but as a proof of keen-sighted intelligence and passionate engagement with today’s world.
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Sainsbury Centre For Visual Arts
As well as the world class permanent collections housed in the stunning Sainsbury Centre forVisual Arts, the temporary exhibitions which call the museum home for four to six months at a time are always fascinating, and free for all UEA and NUCA staff and students. Showing until the 4th December, The Face of the Artist exhibition puts portraits of artists by esteemed photographer John Hedgecoe alongside their work. Also on display is Griff Rhys Jones’ Ghanaian ‘fantasy coffin’. Crafted for the BBC series Hidden Treasures of Africa, the coffin offers a unique insight into the beliefs of the Ga people who make up around 8% of Ghana’s population. The temporary exhibitions opening in the New Year provide an equally noteworthy treat. Opening on the 4th February 2012, following popular displays in Sydney and Manila, Kingdom of Characters brings the characters we know and love from Japanese television, games and comics to life - including a life-size Pikachu.
Victoria Cann
Jeffrey Eugenides - Literary Festival
Jeffrey Eugenides is a big deal. Last month a billboard in Times Square displayed an enormous windswept portrait of him, advertising his “swoon-worthy” new novel The Marriage Plot. His last novel Middlesex won the Pulitzer Prize; America’s biggest prize, and his worldwide sales figures are in the millions. It was a privilege, then, for UEA to host him in a sold-out LT1 to read and discuss his work. Eugenides graduated from Stanford
University with a degree in creative writing and as such, he stands as a living, breathing admonishment to those that claim creative writing degrees are writer-factories which stifle original voices. Eugenides’ three books are noted for their distinctive themes, perspectives and styles, indeed it would be hard to pin them as even being by the same writer were his name not on the front. He is undoubtedly one of the most original voices in American literature.
Generously eschewing the usual “new material only” policy, Eugenides read from all three of his books; the famous opening of The Virgin Suicides, the beginning of Middlesex and a sizeable, and quite funny, chunk of the early parts of The Marriage Plot. This is one of the chief attractions of the Literary Festival, the rare opportunity to hear a writer read in his or her own voice, Eugenides did not disappoint and the majority of the hour was spent listening to him reading. A brief discussion on his writing processes and his Greek-American heritage yielded a few talking points. He was born into an affluent family in Detroit and has taken in California, Berlin and Chicago, all of which he cites as having influenced his literary direction. He also mentioned a propensity for literary false-starts and cul-de-sacs, which explains the nine year absences between novels, and spoke of omnivorous and obsessive intellectual tendencies, which explain the starkly divergent characters of his books. A few slightly intrusive questions aside, the event saw a hugely successful and respected writer at the peak of his powers, demonstrating exactly why he is so popular, effortlessly captivating an audience for 40 minutes, and he could easily have gone on longer.
Alongside these exhibitions, the Sainsbury Centre hosts a variety of events throughout the month. As well as the academic talks and arts and crafts workshops on offer, the centre offers other ways to get engaged with their collections. A programme of films inspired by the SCVA collection are being screened at Cinema City, while the monthly Late Shift opens the gallery to interactive exploration after hours. With plans to open a new contemporary gallery and a bar, in addition to the abundance already on offer, a visit to the Sainsbury Centre will always be worthwhile and rewarding.
Kieran McMahon
Hasina Allen
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ARTS
concrete.arts@uea.ac.uk
Rambert Dance Company - Theatre Royal
Rambert Dance Company returns to Norwich on tour every year, and how fortunate we are that they do. Effortlessly combining classic ballet sentiments with striking contemporary dance, Rambert bless the nation this year with the Seven For A Secret… tour, exploring the joy of childhood, the rawness of humanity and the spirit of the soul. They also bring with them an orchestra of the highest standard, directed by Paul Hoskins, who works closely with the dancers to create total coordination between music and movement. Gracing the stage of Norwich Theatre Royal three times in just two days, Rambert are in high demand as they whistle-stop their way around the UK. They exhibited three pieces of their extensive repertoire on tour this year, the first of which was Seven For A Secret, Never To Be Told which concentrated on the exuberance and playfulness of youth, complete with onstage tea parties, teddy bears and pillow fights. Set against gorgeous, gentle greenery and accompanied with entrancing dreamlike music, the dancing was both animalistic and elegant, with unexpected humour. Every dancer and every step was unfailingly energetic, and the transformation of the dancers into joyful children was enchantingly lovely. The second, much shorter piece was entitled RainForest, although it bore little resemblance in the conventional sense
to a rainforest of any kind. Silver heliumfilled balloons hovered over the stage, and bobbed along at the dancers’ feet against a bare black background. Movement was mechanical and slow, yet extremely precise. The dancers were dressed to appear nude and the tone descended into something almost like science fiction; the accompanying orchestral music was sharp, staccato and squeaking at the very top of many instruments’ range. This was completely overturned with the final third of the evening, A Linha Curva. Inspired by the choreographer’s time spent in Sao Paolo, A Linha Curva was bursting with samba-motivated movement, a clear celebration of the body with great leaps, perfect synchronicity and light-hearted athleticism. The simple costumes were colourful and complemented by excellent exploitation of stage lighting that brought the whole performance to rainbow-coloured life. Three masterpieces it seemed, from an amazing company, that truly showed off the grace and stamina of all employed there, particularly those members that featured in all three pieces. Displaying such a range of style and tone, this year’s visit from Rambert was a joy to watch, and almost certainly, a joy to dance. Emma Webb
This Week In Arts History ... 1865
The original cover of the 1865 ‘suppressed’ edition of Carroll’s classic.
November 26th marks 146 years since the first publication of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s book, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Despite its resoundingly English roots, due to an artistic dispute between Carroll and illustrator John Tenniel, Alice was released first in America, then in England a month later. Queen Victoria (unaware, it would seem, of the rumour that the neurotically violent Queen of Hearts was modelled on her) and a young Oscar Wilde are said to have been early fans of the book. Since 1865, Alice has never been out of print, has been translated in 97 languages (prize for anyone who can name them all) and has spawned numerous television, film and theatre adaptations. Even if you haven’t read the book, Alice’s descent into the wickedly weird world of Wonderland has been absorbed into universal consciousness so completely that you probably know the story anyway. In 1951 it received the Disney treatment, bringing Carroll’s eccentric characters into full technicolour glory for a whole new generation, then in 2010 was stamped
with the Depp/Burton seal of kookiness, performing a similar feat through the use of 3D. Both films proved popular with children and adults alike, proving that Alice’s adventures still resonate with modern audiences. So just what it is about the little girl and her pipe-smoking, teadrinking, head-chopping acquaintances that keep audiences, notoriously fickle as we are, so continuously engaged? Alice, for all her Victorian politeness and social graces, is a pleasingly modern heroine. Eager and curious, she questions everything and tries everything, traits not always encouraged in “grown-up” society. Alice represents the inner-child that resides inside even the most cynical of adults. Wonderland itself, a magical, mystical realm where nothing is as it seems, also presents an alluring concept; a product of Alice’s own imagination, it represents the power of the mind to transport us away from monotony and the potential in all of us to create our own Wonderland. Like Oz, Narnia and Hogwarts, Wonderland exists within the boundaries
of our own world, meaning its existence is not completely implausible. After all, anyone can fall down a rabbit hole. Julia Sanderson
CREATIVE WRITING
22.10.2011
concrete.fashion@uea.ac.uk
The Deal by Matthew Mulcahy
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She looked into his eyes expectantly. He smiled narrowly, like he was trying to show he was concerned, but he wasn’t. Every so often he would glance over at the young man behind the counter, a devilish gleam in his eye. The man behind the counter always avoided his gaze, as if he was scared. She wondered why. She did not know his name and he had not offered it. He knew her name, though. He hadn’t needed to ask to know her name. Hello, Karen, he had said as soon as she sat down opposite him. Just like that – Hello, Karen, he had said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. She was not surprised. After a few minutes it seemed completely natural that he would know her name without asking. He knew everything without asking. He knew when and where she was born, he knew where she lived, he knew where she worked, he knew her bra size, her trouser length and her shoe size, he knew her husband’s name and her son’s name and he knew all about Vera’s accident. She had not thought about Vera for a very long time. But he thought about Vera. He knew all about her accident. He had listed these facts right after saying her name. It was not to impress her; it was not like that. She thought about it for a long time afterwards and knew it was not like that. He was not trying to impress her or scare her like the young man behind the counter. He was
just trying to tell her. To tell her, without saying it, that he could help. She liked his voice. He spoke smoothly, evenly, intelligently. He was sibilant, like a snake. She hated his voice. He has cancer. Excuse me? Your husband, he said, as if talking to a child not old enough to understand yet. What about him? He sighed gently and smiled reassuringly. Your husband has cancer. Oh, she said. Yes. One of my favourites, he nodded. What? He sighed again. Disease. Particularly nasty and wonderfully shrewd. Blast it with radiation and it just pops up somewhere else. Wonderful. She did not know what to say. He looked at her, expectantly raising his eyebrows. So, she said quietly. You can help him. That was not a question. What? There was no inflection on the last syllable. You were not asking a question, but stating a fact. I have faith. I trust you. No you don’t. You do not even trust in my abilities. You are hopeful, Karen; you have hope. Do not confuse hope with faith. That is a rookie mistake. Faith is stronger, and
ultimately it is equally unimportant. Unimportant? Of course. You don’t seem convinced. You’re not a retard. What? My apologies, was that politically incorrect? I meant to say, you’re not a spaz. That’s not politically correct either. I know. He smiled broadly. Why are you saying these things? She was not scared anymore. Only idiots have faith. He looked at her, contemplating. You don’t look like a downie. Stop it! He glanced round to see if anyone had heard, but she knew it was just a show. Clever girl. He was staring into her bloodshot eyes. She did not answer. Yes you are, by the way. Excuse me? You are still scared. She made a noise, a kind of concerned moan. You can lie to yourself, he hissed softly. But not to me. Please tell me you can help, she blurted out. She did not want to let him talk. He spoke too much. Perhaps, he said. What do you think? After a while, she said I think it was a mistake coming here. Standing up, she moved to walk past him.
He touched her hand, stopped her from leaving. He was strong and so cold. One condition. What? This isn’t free. There is one condition. She was scared. Please, have a seat. I don’t – she stopped. I don’t want to. He will die in thirteen days, nine hours and six minutes. Please, she said. Have a seat, he said cordially. She sat down. What is the condition? She wondered if was okay to let him inside her for her husband’s sake. Don’t flatter yourself. Excu – You ask so many questions. You don’t drink. Or smoke. Or use. You have no excuse for acting as if you don’t know what’s happening. You haven’t answered my question. How surprising. You actually remembered. You haven’t answered my question. Is your tape on a loop? No. Good. I’m not going to answer your question. Not today. Why? I wish this agreement to be mutually beneficial. So? Again with the questions.
UEA Alumni Special Interview: Luke Wright
it over and they weren’t so welcoming. I kinda felt like we needed somewhere to go where we could do our own style of poetry. When we first started out we used to borrow as much from lyricism as from comedy and all sorts of things in our poetry. We needed our own place and Aisle16 was that place. We started our own thing.
Concrete’s creative writing Editor, Ella Chappell, spoke to performance poet Luke Wright who is currently touring the UK with his poetry gig “The Cynical Ballads.”
Where would you say you find your inspiration? Everywhere really. Reading newspapers, I could write a poem about that. Or you know, I see something and a good line pops into my head. And you can go from there. As I would say to all writers, I don’t go to a mountaintop and wait until inspiration hits or anything like that. It just sort of comes.
writers at UEA? Read as much stuff as possible. Get a notebook and write lots of stuff. You’ll be quite prolific when you first start, and that’s great because you haven’t started editing yet. Just write everything down. And I think if you’re gonna be good at what you do, you need to start doing research and reading around your subject. Don’t assume you know it all. That was my problem, I think early on I kinda thought ‘Oh, I don’t wanna read anything that isn’t Martin Newell, or stuff I know.’ And it wasn’t until I left uni that I started reading further afield and it’s improved my writing so much. So, try new things. You read something that’s totally different to you and you think ‘right, I’m gonna write like that for a bit,’ and I think that can help you into moving forward to helping you find your own voice. And of course you have to work at it. You can’t just sit there and wait for it all to come to you. You’ve gotta work really really hard. You’ve gotta write 100 shit poems before you can write a good one.
or anything like that. I was so into what I was doing. And that’s a nice feeling. I don’t have any rituals as such. Given the lifestyle I’ve got which involves travelling around a lot, I have to be able to write anywhere. I write for Saturday Live on Radio 4 and I’ve got a ritual around that. I always get to my hotel about three on Friday afternoon and I get given my subject and I write for about three hours and then go have dinner. And that’s the closest I get to a ritual! Otherwise there’s no sort of pattern or schedule. I just have to be able to take out my computer and go!
So, you’re an alumni of UEA. What would you say your fondest memories of UEA are? Good question. I remember in our first year whilst I was living in halls, Suffolk, I remember it being warm on Valentine ’s Day and us sitting out on the roofs of the Ziggurats. That’s a really fond memory. And about a week later it started snowing really heavily. And we had a massive snowball fight; Norfolk Terrace versus Suffolk Terrace. And I remember Creative Writing Society. We used to organise some trips to Great Yarmouth and just, get pissed! Sounds fun! I read that Aisle16 grew out of disillusionment with the current poetry scene. Could you describe what the ideology of Aisle16 was? There was a night in Norwich run by this guy called Jason who was really great and really welcoming and then some other people took
Yeah, I heard you had a project where you got inspiration from service stations! Yeah, the idea behind that was...if you take the archetypal view of inspiration, someone would say a beautiful landscape would be inspiring. But the opposite of that would be a service station as the most inspiring of places. Of course that’s not true but you could find something to write about anywhere. And the point is that there is beauty everywhere, some kind of poetry. So we spent a week touring round these service stations and that was fun. Well, I say that now but I think at the time it was quite hellish. What advice do you have for budding
Do you have any weird writing rituals? No I don’t...but when I feel myself getting into that mode of writing I do find it very comfortable now. I’m writing a long poem at the moment and last night I was sort of picking away at some of it whilst the news was on in the background, I was making myself dinner and I realised that I was totally undistracted by the news, or by the cooker,
Sounds hectic! Yeah, it is. But in a nice way, like I kinda live two lives. I live my life out on the road and I live my life at home which is really nice. I wish I was at home more but it’s a good life I would say. Are you still involved in Latitude festival? Yeah, I program the poetry. Who was your favourite performance poet at this year’s Latitude? Oo, I don’t know. I always really love Tim Turnbull, he’s always excellent. I’m a big fan of Caroline Bird as well. And John Osborne. They’re my favourites. Luke performed his “Cynical Ballads” at Norwich Arts Centre on the 16th November and will be performing at the Quay Theatre in Suffolk on the 26th November.
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Just answer me. You do not need to know the condition. You need only be aware that I may take anything I choose from you, at a time and place that is convenient. Convenient for you. Yes. Who else? Why should I say yes? Have faith. She looked at him evenly. You said faith was for idiots. You said I wasn’t an idiot. He cocked his head to one side, curious. I’ve been wrong before... The doctor said it was a miracle. She cried and her husband cried. Her son thought she was sad and cried too, for a while. He was in her kitchen twenty-five days later. Six hundred and sixteen hours to be precise, he said. She had just fed her son and then went downstairs for a drink. She fancied some milk. He was leaning on the counter, holding the bottle out for her to take. After a while she asked why he was there. To quench your thirst, he said, shaking the bottle. She remained silent and he put the bottle on the counter. Am I to assume you have forgotten our arrangement? No. But why are you here? Convenience. He smiled. She shook with indignation and struggled to
keep her voice low. How is this convenient? I want something in this house, he said. If you wanted to buy a coat, the best place to go would be somewhere that sells coats. Nothing here is for sale. She was scared. Yes it is. The price was one cancer-free husband. She looked away. He thinks about other women, you know. What? Why else do you think he closes his eyes? Stop, she moaned. Please. He shrugged. Okay. Who are you? You know who I am. You’ve known your whole life. Think about it. Why are you so afraid of the dark? What are you called? I have so many names. She thought about it for a moment and nodded shyly. Now, what do you want? I want your son. Her eyes welled up instantly. What? You heard exactly what I said. No, she blubbered. Why? Do you remember your husband’s secondary school motto? She blubbered some more. Give me the boy and I’ll give you the man, he said. That seems appropriate. He won’t be the same, of course. He’s my son! You can’t, you can’t!
“
Poetry Corner
“
Eternal Slumbers - Chen Shun Xuan The flame-red sunset clouds, Dressed up our honeymoon room. The tender firmament-shaped grass, Made a soft wedding bed for us. The mica screen, Which hung down, From the junction of sky and earth, Isolated our chamber, From the inauspicious existence, In this mortal life. Share one pillow to relieve, In eternal slumbers from tonight. Unnecessary to dedicate, Anxieties and sighs, To the fading blossoms, And bursting ones in the yard.
”
CREATIVE WRITING
concrete.fashion@uea.ac.uk
“
Only
You made the deal. No! If you do not lower your voice, your husband will wake up. If he does, I will kill him. Then I will kill you. Then I will take your son anyway. She held back tears, breathing heavily. I’m curious, he said. Will you be able to pretend that you don’t know where he went? Stop. Why? Take me, she cried. Please. Anything. Take me instead. He gestured upstairs. He’d be an awful single parent. Please. No. You made the deal. Live with it. I would like your son now, please. If you don’t mind. NO! she yelled. Her tears flooded forth. She was shouting. YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM! You can’t, you can’t. He smiled. The police had no clue as to the child’s whereabouts. There was no sign of forced entry, and no fingerprints or foreign material of any kind. The child’s mother was crumpled against the refrigerator, her blood spattered on the far wall. The child’s father had been torn apart at the foot of the stairs, bloodied footprints leading to the nursery. A half-empty glass of milk rested on the window sill.
a
Document1 - Sarah-Joy Wickes for the last time I have told you:
just save me a parking space under your arm,
your name.
This week - Michael Drummond
What are you studying? History
What’s your favourite word?
Such a difficult question. I go through phases of overusing various words. I seem to use “somewhat” a lot at the moment for some reason.
How do you defeat writer’s block?
I don’t suffer from writer’s block too much. When I do I just take a break from the piece I’m working on and come back to it the next day. That usually works. Also the break of a day means that it’s easier to see what can be improved about what you’ve already written.
What inspires you?
Often I’ll just think of a phrase or a line of poetry and I’ll have to write it down. It can be prompted by absolutely anything; ideas or words that take my fancy. I write a lot about human behaviour so I guess that provides me with ideas to some extent.
J.R.R. Tolkien is my favourite, but up therewith him are Douglas Adams, Sylvia Plath, and Sergei Lukyanenko. I also love reading the news (especially BBC news online).
To Kindle or not to Kindle?
”
I can see the attraction of the Kindle, it’s a very convenient way of taking reading material with you wherever you go. But you can’t thumb the pages of the kindle or feel the weight of the paper. I’d rather have a hefty paperback any day.
Do you prefer handwriting or typing? Handwriting. For everything but extended works of prose I write by hand. My handwriting’s terrible, but the advantage of writing by hand is that I can make notes and scribbles all over my latest piece so that when I come back to it I know what needs changing.
I do not need a platoon of umbrellas for light drizzle.
and tell me
Q&A with UEA writers.
Who are your favourite writers?
Tear - Marco Bell
Tears parachute down a face of white A lady of figure that is so slight She waits to hear the footsteps come She waits to see what could have been done Her feet are lose, weightless, free They go first to the depths of blue sea He raises a hand to grasp where she stood But catches only a tear, salty as should The raging tide takes its prisoner away The man jumps too, for his love is too great.
SPOTLIGHT
”
What’s the weirdest thing that’s inspired you? Probably the Cold War.
FILM The Future
Director: Miranda July Country: USA Starring: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater Originally conceived as a short performance piece, The Future is the second feature film from director, actress and visual artist Miranda July. Returning after a seven year break from film, during which she released several anthologies of short stories, The Future
22.11.2011
cements July’s status as a strikingly individual voice within American independent cinema. A pessimistic companion to its predecessor, 2005’s life-affirming Me, You and Everyone We Know, July again puts herself centre stage, as children’s dance teacher Sophie. Together with her boyfriend Jason (Hamish Linklater), she decides to adopt an injured cat, Paw Paw, who may have as little as six months left to live. This impulsive commitment reminds the
concrete.film@uea.ac.uk
couple that they are both approaching 40, yet remain childless and dissatisfied with their careers. With only a few weeks remaining until Paw Paw is available for collection, they view this as potentially the last period of freedom they’ll ever have. Along the way, Jason spontaneously signs up for a volunteer scheme, going doorto-door selling trees. Through this he meets an elderly man who offers pearls of wisdom,
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writes lewd poems about his wife and is later reimagined as the voice of the moon. Sophie falls into a passionate affair that threatens her relationship and the secure, unchanging way of life she and Jason are accustomed to. As the voice of Paw Paw, who narrates intermittently and facelessly from his cage at the veterinary hospital, July is insightful yet mawkish. Combined with the indie couple, all curly hair and doe eyes, these scratchy feline intonations are a touch cloying, but never offputtingly so. The dialogue is a carefully selected mix of thoughtful and eccentric, though The Future focuses more on uncomfortable silences and knowing glances than profundities. July thrives on the banality, white noise and existential anxiety of Sophie and Jason, extracting bleak humour from their mundane contemplations. Rather than follow her critically acclaimed debut with a film that provides similar levels of offbeat escapism, Miranda July has created an intimate collection of portraits. As bold and visually arresting as anything you’ll see this year, The Future showcases July’s knack for refreshingly contemporary character study. This is a confrontational but ultimately rewarding film, of particular interest to anybody with a fleeting interest in talking cats, time travel, or YouTube dance routines. Jack Rice
Wuthering Heights
The Rum Diary
Bruce Robinson’s The Rum Diary has received a mixed reaction from critics and fans alike. A big-screen adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s 1998 novel, it could be argued that no adaptation would ever match its literary predecessor. Johnny Depp stars as Paul Kemp, a journalist who travels to late 1950s Puerto Rico to write for a beleaguered local newspaper, the San Juan Star, only to discover the temptations, idiosyncracies and corruptions that plague this seemingly idyllic paradise. Depp excels in the role, and his comic timing is particularly evident. Furthermore, The Rum Diary succeeds in staying faithful to
Thompson’s style of prose, and both its filming and soundtrack are particularly zeitgeist. As Kemp is consumed by rum and an obsessive desire to tell the truth, in a city where one is a way of life and the other a heinous sin, the audience is taken on a journey into the deep recesses of a life with little reward, beside a brief romantic cinch with the stunningly beautiful Chenault (Amber Heard). Naturally, as a Hollywood adaptation, there are unnecessarily positive moments, and the script has clearly been glamourised for the mainstream audience. Despite this, its charm is pervasive, and there are few dull moments. Chris King
Wuthering Heights, the modern adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel, superbly defines arthouse cinema: visually arresting, meticulous planning, and directed for a particular audience. While the film brilliantly revives Brontë’s detailed descriptions of nature, imbibing the cruelty and deep passion of the characters, it fails to deliver a coherent narrative that does not have to be scrupulously picked apart by the viewer. In all its tedium, the film is a violent display of the passion and cruelty of Heathcliff and Catherine, doomed by fate to never join in their love. The biggest distraction to the
seemingly beautiful camera work is the lack of any soundtrack, save the last five minutes of the film, when Mumford and Sons provides the only sense of joy: a signal that the monotony has finished. If you enjoy high art with minimal content, then this film is definitely for you. Word of warning, there are intense scenes depicting graphic animal violence. Should you be stuck between this and another film, choose the other film.
Patrick Bingham
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Immortals
“Witness hell,” says King Hyperion to Theseus, before slitting his mother’s throat and setting off an incurably dull train of events that result in virtually nothing. Indeed, the viewer is submitted to witnessing the hell of a pathetic story, terribly wooden acting and a handful of miserable fight scenes that make up Immortals’ two hours. Both Mickey Rourke and John Hurt take their careers back a couple of paces in what must be one of the most abysmal films to grease our screens this year. The shockingly clumsy plot tramples over at least three Greek myths in its attempt to find a direction, but the emphasis remains on the numerous shoddily choreographed fight scenes that will leave even the most bloodthirsty individual disappointed. The producers of 300 aim for another desensitising smash, but miss the mark horribly with the bizarre cast, jarring script and unexplainable story, all displayed in stunningly pointless 3D. Where 300 succeeded with simplicity in its design and plot, Immortals aims far too high, and thus falls a lot further. Mickey Rourke pokes out eyes for no apparent reason in his search for the plastic-looking Hyperion Bow, upsetting numerous vacuous characters along the way, and by the end you are left only with the hollow feeling of wasted life. Re-watch 300 instead. Harry Denniston
The
rise and fall of
Nicolas Cage
There is a moment in Neil LaBute’s horrifically misguided remake of The Wicker Man in which Nicolas Cage punches a woman in the face while dressed in a bear suit. Just when it seemed his career could sink no lower, this spectacularly ludicrous action cemented the public opinion of Cage as an appallingly bad actor. His most recent film, Trespass, directed by talent vacuum Joel Schumacher, has been predictably slated by critics and it’s likely that the upcoming Justice will fare the same. It’s become a simple fact of life, accepted by just about everybody: Nicolas Cage is a terrible actor. And yet... rewind to the 1996 Academy Awards, when Cage deservedly won the best actor Oscar for his outstanding performance in Leaving Las Vegas. In fact, leading up to 1996, Cage was one of the most interesting and talented young actors around. He’d been put on the map by the Coen Brothers with Raising Arizona, still one of the highlights of their hugely successful career. He’d been in the daring oddity Rumble
FILM
concrete.film@uea.ac.uk
Breaking Dawn - Part 1
The Awakening
It’s refreshing that during the period we seem to be in currently, we can see a slow burning psychological thriller that’s in opposition to the explicit torture porn that seems to have become the norm for the genre. If nothing else, the film wins points for its staging. It’s a period piece, set in a windswept boarding school in 1921 with the spectre of the first world war as something we’re reminded of throughout the film. Rebecca Hall does a fantastic job as the sceptical, troubled writer who dominates proceedings. She is never off the screen for long, and her slow descent into paranoia, and finally realisation, is nicely nuanced. The rest of the cast play their roles perfectly too. Isaac Wright does a fantastic job as Tom, the left behind child, as does Dominic West as the troubled teacher, with a stern Imelda Staunton as the matron. The film looks beautiful, and the scarier moments are dealt with well, the framing of the shots adding to the growing eeriness. Although some moments descend into horror cliché, and the ambiguous ending could have been more satisfying, overall The Awakening is a refreshing addition to an overcrowded genre, more in line with Don’t Look Now than Hostel. Kerr Cameron
You might love it, or you may despise it, but for millions of ecstatic teenagers and adults alike, the Twilight saga has become a secret indulgence of pure delight. Breaking Dawn - Part 1, the fourth film in the popular franchise follows the life of Bella Swan (Kirsten Stewart) as she ties the knot with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). However, their idea of a perfect marriage is forgotten quicker than any Nicolas Cage movie in the past three years. Bella battles pregnancy, demon babies, looming death and an impending attack by werewolves. Bella though has Jacob (Taylor Lautner) sniffing around her garbage and worn underwear, waiting to protect Bella alongside the Cullen’s. The series still hasn’t produced an onscreen smile from its main characters, and it’s no different in this instalment, however the vampire induced humour plays to its strengths throughout. Talking werewolves and the use of questionable music make you question how seriously producers took this film with the impact of serious moments, such as Bella’s constant nightmares, coming across as laughable and spoofy. Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is a major improvement on the series titles, delivering what we expected and a little bit more, with many already anticipating the sequel. Robert Austin
Fish and David Lynch’s Palme d’Or winning Wild At Heart. Even amongst the intolerable sludge of his recent output are indicators to just how good Cage can be. His intense, neurotic performance in the criminally underrated Adaptation was among the best ever committed to screen, and he brought the same unhinged quality to Matchstick Men, and 2009’s Bad Lieutenant. It is fitting that the latter was directed by Werner Herzog, as Cage’s performance had echoes of the insanely brilliant, or brilliantly insane Klaus Kinski. All of this begs the question: what happened to Nicolas Cage? After winning an Oscar did he just decide to agree to anything that was thrown his way? Or did he just decide that the money he was being offered was a fair price for squandering his talent. There is a sketch on YouTube in which Cage’s agent becomes more and more exasperated at his client’s inability turn down any of the increasingly ridiculous roles being offered to him. It’s undeniably funny, but you can’t help but suspect that it’s worryingly close to the truth. It seems that what Cage really needs is someone who knows when to hold him back, and when to let him rip. The Herzog and Kinski comparison is actually a very good one. Herzog knew exactly how to harness Kinski’s volatile nature to get stunning performances. At his best, and with the right guidance, Cage can give these types of performances. He can play a character so totally that we accept that character, no matter how improbable they are. In between these roles though, we’ll just have to put up with the bear suit.
Ranter’s Corner
Joseph Murphy
Sam Langan gives his opinion on the recent wave of mumblecorefilms. To readers unaware of mumblecore, I will explain briefly: it’s a genre of film that first started around 2002 which sees angst-ridden twenty-somethings contemplating life, relationships and love. It’s also incredibly annoying, dull and self-indulgent. The release of The Future this month is yet another extension of this utterly myopic genre. I think the reason why I see mumblecore as so putrid is mainly due to how uncinematic it is. Films associated with it are fairly low budget, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but story, or lack of it, is often thrown to the wayside whilst you watch any number of facile city dwellers being pretentious and (yawn) naturalistic. It’s like watching Hollyoaks, except not, because no matter how ridiculous it is, stuff actually happens in Hollyoaks. To my bemusement however, the genre is slowly migrating to the mainstream. 2010 saw Cyrus starring Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly and Greenberg starring Ben Stiller enter multiplexes.Despite the introduction of more recognisable faces the formula stays the same and we’re treated with 90 minutes of tiresome neuroticism. Hopefully mumblecore will catch some pandemic and die out, an ink stain on the page of film genre.
FILM
22.11.2011
The Popcorn Chart Top 5 Hollywood Remakes
20 S
concrete.film@uea.ac.uk
Awards the films
eason
Hollywood
say you should
be watching
The Departed (2006)
When you think of things associated with Martin Scorsese, China is probably not the first place to come to mind. But, that’s exactly where the inspiration for his 2006 Oscar-winning crime thriller The Departed came from. Replacing the Chinese Triads with a Boston Mafia family, Scorsese kept pretty much every other element of the 2002 Cantonese film Internal Affairs intact, the plot still largely revolving around the parallel lives of an undercover police agent and a criminal mole in the state police. The addition of a romantic element in Scorsese’s film may seem unnecessary, but the 2006 Best Picture Academy Award should be enough to prove its quality.
Victor Victoria (1982)
Apologies to any musical fans out there, but for sheer drama, this is easily the best film of Julie Andrew’s career. Her performance as a woman playing a man playing a woman reads like a bad episode of Family Guy, but in practice it allows a perfect insight into the desperate, ever-changing nature of night club singing, as the lows of the struggling soprano “Victoria Grant” are perfectly counteracted by the sudden stardom of “Count Victor Grazinski”. It was great in the 30s, when the Germans made the original, it was great in the 80s when this version was made, and it’s still great today.
The Ring (2002)
Be honest: you knew a horror movie would make it onto this list somewhere. Terror is probably the easiest reaction to translate across cultures on the silver screen, and in 2002 Gore Verbinski showed us exactly what that meant: you don’t have to be Japanese to be freaked out by a little girl crawling out of a television. Not the first American remake
of that uniquely Japanese brand of horror, The Ring manages to stand out through its complete faith in the original, and there are dozens of clips on YouTube overlaying the original version with the remake, showing that even the timings of certain scenes are identical. Nothing translates better than the words “You will die in seven days”.
Insomnia (2002)
The idea of Al Pacino as a grizzled homicide detective with a dark past, trying to solve a gruesome murder, is so classic, you wouldn’t think Christopher Nolan would need inspiration to get it done. But, replacing the snowy wastes of Norway with the snowy wastes of Alaska proved an easy fit, and Pacino carries the role as if it had always been his. With great support from Hilary Swank, and Robin Williams, of all people, turning into a sophisticated serial killer to make your skin crawl, this film really does deserve to stand alongside Memento and the Batman films, as one of Nolan’s best.
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
This film arguably did more for the Western film genre than anything else when it was released in 1960. John Wayne may have played a couple of Westerns in the 50s, but it was The Magnificent Seven that laid the Spaghetti Western template for decades to come. It’s hard to believe that the original film wasn’t about cowboys at all. Most critics will today acknowledge that The Seven Samurai, the film’s inspiration, is the superior work, if only because it’s hard to improve on what has been several times voted the greatest movie of all time. But, at a shade over two hours to Samurai’s three and a half, it’s definitely an easier watch, and still stands as a timeless action classic. Tim Bates
As any true cinephile will tell you, we are currently entering awards season, the period from November-February when studios release the films designed to win the approval and votes of the major awards shows: the Golden Globes, the Baftas, the Writer’s Guild Awards (never attended by anybody notable) and, most importantly, the Academy Awards. Although the actual accuracy of these awards can be questioned (Shakespeare in Love taking home Best Picture leaps to mind), the speculation over who will be nominated is a truly seminal feature of the cinematic year, the inevitable snubs provoking more debate and blog posts than any film could achieve on its own merit. Given the often self-congratulatory nature of these ceremonies, The Artist and its director Michel Hazanavicius stand out as the frontrunners for the Best Picture and Director categories. A black and white silent film charting the end of the silent era in 1920s Hollywood, it lost out at Cannes earlier this year to The Tree of Life, yet many are predicting a reversal of that decision this time around. Further competition comes in the shape of The Descendants, Alexander Payne’s first film since 2004’s magnificent Sideways and featuring Academy favourite George Clooney; Moneyball, a true-life baseball drama starring Brad Pitt and written by Aaron “Social Network” Sorkin, and J. Edgar, the latest from perennial nominee Clint Eastwood, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the infamous founder of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. In acting terms, expect familiar faces such as Pitt, Clooney and The Tree of Life’s Sean Penn to make an appearance, and with any justice a long belated nomination for
Gary Oldman for the absolutely electrifying Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. For Best Actress, the most nominated woman in Academy Awards history, Meryl Streep, would appear to have this year sewn up, her voter friendly role in Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady already garnering impressive acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic: no mean feat considering the cynicism with which British critics treat iconic figures being portrayed by anyone other than Helen Mirren. Far more difficult to call are the supporting categories. Recent years have included a number of wild card roles that 10 years ago would have been dismissed as far too commercial, most memorably in 2008 when Heath Ledger posthumously swept the board for his unforgettable Joker. Brad Pitt’s role in The Tree Of Life could be a contender, but Viggo Mortensen is long overdue recognition, and his third collaboration with David Cronenberg in A Dangerous Method has potential written all over it. Finally, black comedy 50/50, an autobiographical account of a young man coping with cancer, has a massive ace up its sleeve in the shape of Angelica Huston, her deeply moving portrayal of the protagonist’s mother meaning the impossible: a film starring Seth Rogen could be marketed as “award winning”. Whatever the results come February, they will almost certainly be lambasted, disregarded, or, God forbid, respected by the cinematic community. Awards may be an excuse for Hollywood to pat itself on the back at the end of another year, but for better or worse, they’re part of the furniture, and things wouldn’t feel quite right without them. James Britton
Competition Cinema City are offering one lucky person the opportunity to win a copy of Miranda July’s debut feature Me and You and Everyone We Know on DVD and a copy of her amazing new book It Chooses You. To be in with a chance of winning, just answer this question:
What name do Sophie and Jason give to their pet cat in Miranda July’s latest film, The Future?
Email your answers to concrete.film@uea.ac.uk
21
22.11.2011
TELEVISION
www.concrete-online.co.uk
Better Than
a
Family Guy?
VENUE TAKES A LOOK AT THE DECLINE OF A GREAT ANIMATION AND THE RISE OF A FERAL ALTERNATIVE
Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane recently told the press that he felt the show had long since passed its best, and should have
ended three years ago. For die-hard fans of the show, this must be rather dispiriting; it’s rather self-defeating to expound upon the brilliance of a show when its creator has named it a lame duck. However, a series has recently returned to BBC3 that is just as good, which stars an overly-aggressive lesbian pigeon, an idiotic cat, a ‘chavette’ dog and an urbane fox with a nervous disposition and a Costa Coffee Club Card. Mongrels is the BBC’s attempt to return puppetry to the mainstream of adult comedy, recalling the success of Spitting Image. It follows the misadventures of a rag-tag bunch of animals in their yard behind an East End pub. Every episode features a brilliantly choreographed song and dance number, and there are regularly surreal, often self-deprecating, celebrity cameos. Just like Family Guy, the show combines a caustically aggressive wit with a healthy dose of farce and delivers its gags at top speed, often with the aid of witty ‘cutaways’. Furthermore, it also revels in the contemporary; if you cut Mongrels, it bleeds British popular culture. Most importantly, its far easier for British audiences to enjoy references to David
Mitchell and Graham Norton than the often baffling American alternatives. Moreover, unlike the Family Guy of 2011, Mongrels is endearing in its harshness and characters, as well as being consistently energetic in its delivery. The pace doesn’t let up and the laughs come thick and fast from across the array of bizarre creatures, particularly antihero Nelson, the metrosexual fox with a habit of exclaiming relevant personality’s names at moments of drama. The show doesn’t feel weighed down by the level of expectation from a Seth McFarlane show, and with the second series now in full swing, it seems to have ironed out any criticisms of overt tastelessness from its first run. But don’t be mistaken; the humour is still regularly near-the-knuckle. One particular joke from the opening episode of Series Two perfectly encapsulates the shows ability to combine wit and silliness. A clique of Nazi Beagles carry out a cyanide-induced suicide pact, to which Nelson responds, “Alan Turing! They’re dead!”. Gloriously tasteless? Yes. Visually farcical? Yes. Hysterically funny? Most definitely. In short, everything that Family Guy was at its peak. Matt Tidby
A CHRISTMAS SUGGESTION Want to buy your distant family members something impersonal and thinly relevant for Christmas? Torchwood: The Complete Boxed Set (Available on BBC DVD and Blu-Ray from 14th November) Q: I kind of breezed in and out of watching Torchwood. A: Well, this box set effectively contains three different programmes, for all tastes. If you like your sci-fi camp, often stupid but regularly great, there’s Series 1 and 2. For dark, brooding and brilliant, see Children of Earth. For overly-American and tonally imbalanced, see Miracle Day. A whole gamut of styles under one show title. Q: Is this one of those box sets that will become redundant when another series comes out? A: Increasingly unlikely, due to the general ratings failure of Miracle Day. This would seem to be the comprehensive record of one of the most bizarre and diverse spin-offs the BBC have ever made. Absolutely perfect for fans. Q: This John Barrowman gets everywhere. A: That’s not a very original observation.
A Battle
of
Wits:
Favouring the underdog is encoded into our British socio-cultural DNA, like Terry Wogan, apathy, and an envy of the Dutch liberal drug culture. We relish the chance to chip away at our very own icons, because between cups of tea and sighing at Word documents, it gives us a chance to feel ten feet tall. Ricky Gervais’s ascent to the pinnacle of British comedy has been packed with laughter, tabloid incident, and knowing looks to camera. Transatlantic success aside, it’s time for Gervais and comedy partner/ Bristolian beanstalk Stephen Merchant to broach the subject of the difficult third album. Partnered with Rev as part of BBC2’s comedy strand, Life’s Too Short, marks a return to the mock-documentary style of The Office, but features the knowing celebrity cameos that made Extras so infamous. It stars Warwick Davis as an exaggerated, egotistical version of himself, desperately trying to scrape together enough credibility and cash to keep up an illusion of success for the cameras. Davis does this brilliantly, but only because he has seen it done before. Life’s Too Short is seemingly a high-budget remix of everything Gervais and Merchant have written, but with less charm and, if possible, an even more pronounced sense of self-awareness. This is a show that knows it’s funny and cajoles you into acknowledging its wit with a nudge and another, slightly more hefty, nudge.
Life’s Too Short (BBC2, Thursday, 9.30pm) vs. Rev (BBC2, Thursday, 9pm) While, one could argue that it is not the role of comedy to be immediately likeable, the quiet success of Rev would suggest that charm can certainly win the day. The brilliant Tom Hollander plays Adam Smallbone, a putupon inner-city priest with a heart of gold, having to cope in a hectic modern world and with a congregation of eccentrics. The show’s wonderfully observed, warm-hearted scripts
and great ensemble cast make every episode a resoundingly pleasant and consistently funny experience. Gervais and Merchant should take notes. Although being side-byside in the schedules, Rev. stands far apart from the supposed ‘cutting edge’ of Life’s Too Short, and is all the better for it. To surmise in the most British way possible, long live the underdog. James Sykes
IT’S ABOUT TIME The BBC have announced their intetion to produce a Doctor Who film. I know, exciting. Q: Well, when can we see it? Who will be Matt Smith’s companion in it? A: Ah now, hold your horses. The film isn’t even written yet- Harry Potter director David Yates has been given the go-ahead to develop the project, and he’ll be working on that for a few years yet. Q: Oh, that’s disappointing. Does this mean Matt Smith will be hanging around until then? Brilliant! A: I see a theme developing. No, I’m afraid the film will have no links whatsover with the current TV show, in cast or crew. It won’t fit into the shows ongoing narrative, either- it’ll be its own project entirely. Q: Well that doesn’t sound so great. Won’t this damage the TV show? A: We should probably give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but many are concerned that this will lead to confusion and damage to the brand identity, particularly in America. Q: I don’t care about America. A: BBC Worldwide would beg to differ. Much effort has been put into selling the TV show over there, and this film seems to be another step on the road to marketing the Doctor on the other side of the pond.
COMPETITIONS
22.11.2011
concrete.competitions@uea.ac.uk
Across
Crossword
22
2. Creator of the first version of the periodic table (6,9)
4. Acclaimed actor from films such as ‘Football Factor’ (5,4) 1
8. County that covers the largest area (5,9) 11. Global brand of fruit-flavoured carbonated soft drinks (5)
2 3
13. Generic term used for the German air force (9)
4
15. The actress who plays Tamzin Bayle in Casualty (5,8) 5
6
16. The capital of Colombia (6)
7
Down
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1. To feel or express sorrow or regret for (6)
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3. Finance Company that has recently bought Northern Rock (6,5)
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4. A member of N Dubz (5) 5. The branch of medicine dealing with skin and its conditions (11)
15
6. A bird species that is renowned for its ability to mimic (6) 7. Prudently saving or sparing (6) 9. Wigan Warriors and England rugby league player (3,7)
16
10. The name of UEA’s radio station (8)
16
12. Tastelessly colourful (6) 14. Wine punch common in Spain and Portugal (7)
Sudoku
1
8
Beginner
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3 1
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1
6
8 9
5 1
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2 5
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Name:
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Telephone number:
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6 8
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The infamous Dappy will be gracing the LCR with his presence on the 9th December. To be in with a chance of winning, bring your completed crossword to the Concrete office by 3pm on Friday 2nd December. You will be contacted by telephone and email if you have won.
5
8
Intermediate
This week we are giving away tickets to see Dappy at UEA’s LCR!
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Competition
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Email address:
23 Tuesday 22nd LCR Club Nights: UV Party (10pm) Price: £3.50 UEA LCR The Last Confession (7:30pm) Price: £9 The Assembly House
22.11.2011
LISTINGS
concrete.listings@uea.co.uk
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011 Wednesday 23rd Waterfront Gigs: Yuck (7:30pm) Price: £9.00 The Waterfront Waterfront Gigs: Atlas&i + Avosetta @ The Waterfront Studio (7:30pm) Price: £6.00 The Waterfront
Thursday 24th
Friday 25th
LCR Gigs: The Darkness SOLD OUT! (7:30pm) Price: £25.00 UEA LCR
Waterfront Club Nights: NON-STOP 90s BACK TO SKOOL SPECIAL (10pm) Price: £3.50 NUS - pay on the door The Waterfront
Waterfront Gigs: Think Floyd (7:30pm)Price: £15.00 / £10.00 NUS The Waterfront
Waterfront Gigs: Dodgy (7pm) Price: £13.00 The Waterfront THE GLAMTASTICS (8pm) Price: FREE ENTRY The Brickmakers
Sunday 27th Cards for Good Causes (9am - 5pm) The Forum
Monday 28th
Tuesday 29th
LCR Gigs: Mariachi El Bronx (7:30pm) Price: £12.00 The Waterfront
Daytime LCR Event: Christmas Market (11am – 3pm) Price: FREE ENTRY UEA LCR Waterfront Gigs: DJ Fresh (7:30pm) Price: £12.50 The Waterfront
Wednesday 30th LCR Gigs: The Vaccines (7:30pm) Price: £15.00 UEA LCR The Art of Flight (Red Bull Film) (7:30pm) Price: Free Thomas Paine Lecture Theatre
LCR Club Nights: Hall Wars (10pm) Price: £2.00 UEA LCR
Friday 2nd Waterfront Gigs: Pout At The Devil + Bad Touch + The Burning Crows (7pm) Price: £5.00 The Waterfront Transformers 3 (7:30pm) Price: £2.80 Lecture Theatre 1 World Record Breaking attempt (12 pm) A Macmillan Cancer Support charity fundraising event The Mall Norwich
Saturday 3rd Waterfront Gigs: The Pistols Xmas Punk Bash presented by Metal Lust @ The Waterfront Studio (7pm)Price: £10.00 The Waterfront LCR Club Nights: The A List (10:30pm) Price: £4.50 UEA LCR
Sunday 4th Waterfront Gigs: Rock Sound Riot Tour Featuring Every Time I Die (7pm) Price: £14.00 The Waterfront A Night with Michael Buble (tribute) (7:30pm) Price: £24.95 per ticket (includes your 2 course meal)
Saturday 26th LCR Gigs: J Cole (7pm)Price: £16.00 UEA LCR Waterfront Club Nights: MELTDOWN + WRAITH (10pm)Price: £3.50 NUS pay at the door The Waterfront LCR Club Nights: The A List (10:30pm) Price: £4.50 UEA LCR
Thursday 1st Waterfront Gigs: Zebrahead (7:30pm) Price: £11.00 The Waterfront Waterfront Gigs: Deers (EP3 Launch show) @ The Waterfront Studio (7:30pm) Price: £5.00 The Waterfront LCR Gigs: The Blanks (9pm) Price: £12 / £9.50 (NUS) UEA LCR
Monday 5th Waterfront Gigs: Fish The Fish Heads Acoustic Tour 2011 (7:30pm) Price: £17.50 The Waterfront
Tuesday 6th LCR Club Nights: Go Commando (10pm) Price: £3.50 UEA LCR