The event issue 157 19 11 2003

100% pure

19/11/03

in arts and entertainment . Mise. Drugs Feature • Louis de Bernieres Interviewed • DVD Extras Examined • Razorlight Interviewed

Investigates

CONTENTS: 19.11.03 IS ...

Concrete Editor-in-Chief Jim Whalley

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Listings Editor RichSimm

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take a look at the portrayal of the naughty stuff on the big screen .

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DVD EXTRAS For any of you still without DVD players, we have taken a look at what they offer m order to he lp decide if one really should b e top of your christmas list. If you already own one , don't bother.

TV Editors Tim Barker & Kate Bryant

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TV DOC UM ENTARY

Contributors (in order of appearance):

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FILM/DVD Th e Mother, Love A ctually, Futuram a: Season Four, Living in Hope .

ARTS Drama Preview: The Screens; Favourite Books: Trainspotting and Porno ; The atre Revie w : Volp one; Orchestra Pre VIe w : UEA Sy mphony Orchestra.

MUSIC

The Event takes a look at the documentary styles of Loms Theroux and h1s pale imrrutatton.

Kylie Mmogue, johnny Cash, Korn. Turbo Negro.

DRUGS Si:>ECIAL

TV

r •~-,ry array of 'ht many mf!L ne• s of drugs on tl e n, 1 ·J c ntc rl'lm TIP< worl.:i ~ 11 r the r tenuo s. oth~~ lrs .., s11; ·• !1 r1ore J ...tr CY..l 1sc ~or a t:tstc'<cSS JOke·.

G1mn.e GuTJ.ne G1 ww. Talcs /!'on' Fa. C', Cottage

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CREATIVE WRITING Short stories and poe try from the stude nt body .

As p art of Concre te's special drugs investigation, we

07

CINEFILE Buffalo '66

DRUGS ON FILM

Music Editors Ma tt Sargeson & Sarah Edwardes

Ben Pataslmik • Matt Str atton • Rob C aste ll • Paul Wade • Dan C handler • Dan Mac1 a1T1ara • Adam O'Brien • Toby Brunt • ~c.ll'/ Curnpbell • Mo Pamplin • Stan Goodspeca • Isabel Dyson • Sear~ Newport • DciVld Hutchmson • Rob Lavine • Amy Hewitt • Suzanne Rickenback • Tim Tonkin • Suzanne Rodger • Lauren Tav erner Brown • David Potter

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The author of Captain Correlli's Mandolin chats to little old us about the army , old publisher's proverbs and hi s work-in-progress.

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INCITE & BLAGGERY Still we insist o n stating the obvious, it's just ove r there - look ...

LOUIS DE BERNIERES

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Film Editor Philip Sainty Assistant Film Editor Dean Bowman

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The Event talks to Razorlight - a bright new rock 'n' roll hope and Raveonette super-subs.

Event Editor Nathan Dixon Arts Editor Katharine Clemow

RAZOR SHARP

LISTINGS Llstcd events or

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The Evenl 1s published fortnigh1ly by Concre1e· Pos1 : PO Box 410, Norwich , NR4 7TB Tel: 0 1603 250558 Fax: 0 1603 506822 E-mail : su .concrete@uea .ac.uk Printed by: Archant Newspapers, St Andrew's Business Park, Norwich

Sorry to everybody for the ootragous spalling mistooks in the last issue. A special thanks to Rich Simm who has got the listings section looking good.

They're actually useful now too , which is a bonus. Literature Condensed will be back next issue, don't worry.

Special thanks also to Jon Cook and Ian McEwan for being fab . Hope the writeup does justice. I'm sure you're both avid readers!

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Three copies of the numbered, limited edition, Coral CD sleeve art work prints have been won by Matt Sparkes for his antipodean Carol singer and Be th Settle and Lizzie Brien for their magnificent depiction of our very own floppy-fringed Oxbridge boff Edward Mooney (Advertising Manager) out singing German carols to a piece of coral in a corral - for some reason. There are still two to give away, so get scribbling. A:re you scared or something? They're free!

Winning artwork is pictured to the left.

Next Issue

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Next fortnight will see: -. ..·,q'l•..t V.

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19.11.03

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Ian McEwan: Interviewed Doris Lessing: Interviewed Cooper Temple Clause : Interviewed

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._. ._.. .. _ lnCI WIN WIN WlN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

lt's ... B/aggery Corner!

We at Concrete and The Event are gorg'eous p ople, almost to a fault. Full of goodly charitability, we ha e a bursting bag full of crap to chuck forcefully in your face.

Just answer the relevant questions or .perform a random task and drop us a line at su.concrete@uea.ac.uk and these amazing pressies could be yours to squash, kiss or cuddle, you free stuff fancying freak!

Concrete Towers (office 1.32 in Union House) and demonstrate a complete ignorance of any of the scenes as Jim (Concrete ed. and big fan) describes them for you rather too enthusiastically and in great detail. Please, it'll save us all the

op of the cheapo's grotty

'shoping' list this i ue are two fabulous Futurama DVD box sets. A wonderful prize for all your Bender fans.

More satirical and more funny than it's jaundiced older brother, The Simpsons, Futurama

never managed to attract the audience it deserved, until now! We are going to increase the fan base by two. For free, so strongly do we feel the missionary zeal.

All you have to do is come to

trouble.

Take a look at what you could win, just here ... isn't she lovely?

And good too, check page 14 ...

up for all you smelly tramps is the Lynx body deodorant compo! New research has highlighted that boys are spending more and more time ooming themselves, taking up more and more bathroom space and generally caring about their appearance and under-arm odour a little more. Can only be a good thing. In order to assisst this and help you celebrate the hoped-for results of good grooming, the marvellous chaps at Lynx (which offers 24 hour protection) are giving away a Twister Bedsheet, pictured above. The package includes: The Official Twister Duvet Cover, 2 Twister Pillow Cases and 1 Soft Double dice to help you decide where to put your body parts.

Question: "How long does Lynx last?"

InCite -Fancy:panted punks and ~artod+up

you ashionconscious t y p e s please 1 e a v e

m u s i c alone? You cannot move any more for legions of drones in pre-ripped jeans, exorbitantly expensive faux-retro !-shirts and a penchant for claiming to have reinventedlkilledlembodied the spirit of punk rock, or victims in ragged jeans that hang gracelessly from their arses, studded belts and a mesh cap at the requisite north-north-west angle. What the hell is going on here? Since when was what you looked like more important than what you listened to?

No matter what music you're into it is irrefutable that gigs have become a glorified parade to show off whatever -obscure hardcore band t-shirt you've got, how many piercings you've got or even who's got the biggest hair side-swipe. Music has become a truly marketable commodity, with merchandising stalls at gigs hosting all manner of accessories instead of actual CDs, and the kids just lap it up.

Where has the honesty gone? I'm not saying that image and music should be forever divorced - look at the importance of appearance way back in '77 when Strummer started shouting - but that the balance of importance has been tragically altered, and the only winners are the clothing companies who ruthlessly and shrewdly exploit the bank balances of whoever actually pays for their stuff. I don't know about you, but when I was 10 I didn't wear ÂŁ70 skate shoes and a pair of cut-offs worth ÂŁ50.

There is no one clear culprit in this case, since there are so many factors and complicit parties. From the mass music media who relentlessly push big American bands just so

that they can sell more copies, to the record labels who plunge a small fortune into making a 'cool' video for MTV to the kids themselves who mindlessly swallow everything they are fed. And what happens to bands that don't have their own clothing label, or that don't play whatever bullshit trend of music is 'in' this week? They struggle and live on a meagre pittance, having to put their bodies on the line and just to scrape together enough money for the petrol for their next gig. Bands like Five Knuckle have to live on ÂŁ2 per member, per day- you try living in a Transit Van for a month in those conditions.

And why is this? Because of the bullshit that is fed to impressionable and eager people who want a piece of something cool, and who base themselves on surface appearances. These mindless, shallow, faceless zombies who cluster around each other, trying desperately to align themselves with a kind of music that has been selected by a man in a suit as this month's most popular form of rebellion.

What has happened to the real, honest music? Where are the bands who mean what they say without reverting to tired cliches or meaningless, pretentious and calculated gestures? They're everywhere. They're playing in the grotty back room of a rundown pub, they're the first support act on a four-band bill, they're the best band you've never heard and they're not going to be around forever. Take a chance and buy a CD you've never heard of, go to a gig early and actually pay attention, refuse to accept the shite that you are told to like. Go out and find as much music as possible, never be satisfied - raid your mates' collections, raid your parents' collections even- just stretch yourseli and challenge your own preconceptions. I promise there's a world out there you've never even considered, and it's waiting for you to fall in love with it.

Ben Patashnik

Pizzas 2 for 1 Mon, Tue, Wed 5-8 with NUS

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THE

EVENT

04 eature ..................................................................... .

azor

harp ment and road.ies . Which is, by a ll accounts , a very rare occurrence. My first question, "How d.id you feel to be taking over as headliners tonight? " is met with some delight by the Razorlight front man, as he was able to give what he called the "Johnny Borrell m aster class in tabloid journalism ". Basically, a bunch of meaningless adjectives followed by a minimalist description of an event. As it happens, he was "at first excited, because I thought yeah, wow, and then it was not d.isappointment, but the realisation set in that they were giving refunds for the tickets, so the hall would be pretty much empty. Then suspicious, because I thought they [The Raveonettes ] pulled it because they d.idn't sell enough tickets." An idea which, for the record, wasn't shared by Dalemo. "And then hungry" , Borrell continues, as after all the day 's fiasco, they were kept waiting on th e Raveonettes ' chances of playing. As it happens, it's not the only altercation they 've had with their touring partners, yet the other issue has been predominantly a lcohol. Well, that of Car! Dalemo stealing it from them. "They screame d a t me. It's fucking rude", Dale mo comments, upset as he only has Carling to drink, preferring Grolsch any day. He is certainly a man known for stupid drunken behavio ur , such as pissing up Whitehall during Mayday.

azorlight, I'm sure you've heard of them.

Hotly tipped as Britain's brightest new rock ' n'roll hop e .

In days when the term is b a nded about more often than not , the y may actually live up to the title . After re cog-路 nition from the NME, Q, X -ray, The Fly and the broadshee t p re ss, it's almost as if you can he ar Mercury records slapping themse lves on the back, and no longer sweating about the apparent 拢1 million they gave over for Razorlight to sign on the dotted line. Their music is a unique ble nd of 70 's New York newwave , ta king in the influences of Television a nd Patti Smith, on top of d.istinct Englishness in the lyrical genius of Johnny Borre ll, the Razorlight frontman.

Tonight, Razorlight are in town to promote their second release, Rip it Up , lauded b y daytim e rad.io 's Jo Whiley, givin g a them a good deal of national coverage . A thing the band found hard to digest , believing that their manager h as her locked up somewhere , kidnapped. Some people will do anything for a bit more exposure e h?

Arriving at Norwich's premier music aud.itorium, the Waterfront , Th e Event finds itself in plenty of time to interview Razorlight , despite the rush hour traffic. Yet when we sneak in, they h av e only just started their soundcheck.

Why? Because the Raveonettes' drummer decided to fall ill. And go to Wes t Norwich hospital. Thus meaning a noshow for the Raveonettes. And, for the record , it wasn 't due to poor ticket sales, not in the slightest.

So , with the inte rview postponed to after their se t, Th e Event , undeterred , buys a pint, sits b a ck and e njoys the soundche ck, which is peppere d with sound problems for the p e rfectionist Borrell. We ll, not problems as such, just co nfirmation that the sound there is

utterly terrible. People eventually drift in, but the gig ha d indee d faile d to attract much of a crowd, and of those that d.id turn up , some are m ore than happy to take a refund, le aving the Waterfront seeming quieter than the u nion bar at closing time. A small crowd d id end up gathe ring , maybe hoping to m ake the best of it. Onstage stroll Nic Armstrong , a bene volent dictatorship of

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Razorlight might actually live up to the title of brightest new rock 'n' roll hope"

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a band, signed to Ind.ian records , and ve ry good. Visually and music ally re m inisce nt of The Small Faces , they certainly look the part. After their set , onstage walks the softly spoken Sharin Foo to make he r apologies. She provides some bland rhetoric and confirms the unpronounceable illness of their befallen drummer.

The day is saved though, and undeniably so , through the work of Razorlight. In order to fill the gap left behind them, a nd to show how good they really can be, Razorlight pull out a fifteen-song set. Which by their standards is huge . Kicking off with current single Rip it Up , they set the mark for a fre netic fa st p ace d set includ.ing Golden Touch , the ch aotic Brigh t Lights, and the absolutely brilliant new-wave (and new to the punters) Leave Me Alone , and first single, Rock 'n ' Roll Lies. They even take requests. Well one request. And that is mine . A song called Don't Go Ba ck To Dalston to be precise. And it was brilliant. Not forgetting, finishing , as eve r with the amplifying in th e City.

W e ll, Th e Event finally ge ts its chan ce to have a chat with all four members of the band (Borrell, bass playe r Car! Dale m o, drummer Christian Panc orvo-Smith, and guitarist Bjorn Agren), and in the end, their manage-

ow, down to some important matters.

First of all , there's that Libertine s thing .

Borrell was reported to be a former member of the group, but as Johnny puts it, being in a band for a wee k doesn' t really add up to being a ' member'. Then, there is the bitchy comme nt that gets thrown up now and again, that Razorlight are merely manufactured: in fact , they are Busted for ind.ie kids. "Yeah, to tell th e truth, we were made in a factory in Pola nd ", enthuses guitarist Agren. "Yeah, an old Hi-Tek pop factory" , Dalemo agrees.

"But my mole got a bit fucked, and they gave us wills of our own", counte r s Agren , showing how lightly they take meaningless criticism. Here , their manager chips in his favourite Internetbased rumour. "The best thing I saw

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was posted on the Libertines site.

Someone you [Car!] met in Nottingham, who said seeing Razor light was like seeing Oasis for the first time. When they tried to talk to one of the b and afterwards, they turned to their manager and said 'Get this boring person away

" To tell the truth, we were made in a factory in Poland. " from me!"'. They all agree with Carl that he "would never say tha t about anyone". The band also find it quite funny how the press has managed to brand Bjorn, Car! and Christian as simply session musicians . And on top of that , there is the slight error made by someone that there are three Swed.ish people in the band and not two (Car! Dale mo a nd Bjorn Agren - not difficult to work out really) . Plus of course , the cons tant reminder that Razorlight are "fashionable" wh en in fact they can't dress to save their lives. Christian normally looks daft, Carl's clothes neve r fit , and Johnny himself comments on his choice of footwear (boxing boots): "Yeah, no one e lse I know wears 'em, they can't be that fashionable ."

Quizzed on their musical backgrounds, they all have a lot of experience . Johnny grew up playing in bands since he was 13. Christian wa s the drummer in old ind.ie band Stony Sleep alongside his brother, who n ow fronts Serafin. C ar! used to play guitar in a band called Spiral Stairs in his native Sweden, and Bjorn, well, he won't tell anything. So to pretty much finish the interview, a random question ends with a very unexpected answer. What 's the best gig you've ever been to? "MC Hammer", Borrel! beams. Sorry, was that "MC Hammer"? "Yeah , at Wembley. It was before the backlash, so he was just going for it. He was just a bsolutely giving the Hammer tim e , silly trousers include d . Snap were supporting too , y 'know, I've Got The Power.

It was quite exciting" .

Yes. Quite.

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Bore us, Mr â&#x20AC;˘ de ¡a ernieres?

Rob Castell talks to Louis de Bernieres about Mandolins, his. new .

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uld

give him a

call?" the recep tionist at the Nelson Hotel calmly enquires as though we are not referring to the brilliant and critically acclaimed author, Mr. Louis de Bernieres. 'A call?

Me, a lowly fresher at the local university, just give Louis de Bernieres a call?'

Alright. I do so. The voice that greets me is a gentle one, our conversation brief and informative, 'Come up to my room: 204'. Having initially gone to the wrong floor in my excitement and nervousness I step out of the lift to see a rather short and altogether ordinary looking figure peering around the side of room 204, who calmly welcomes me in. Done. I am in Louis de Bernieres' hotel room and we are going to have a chat. For a man who originally wanted to be a cowboy, Louis de Bernieres has achieved a great deal more than being able to steer cattle and look good in Wrangler jeans, although he did end up doing just that in Colombia for a year as a young man. In fact, he had quite a variety of possible career paths before deciding to become a Writer. In what he refers to as his 'hero-worshipping stage', the author was originally going to follow his father's footsteps and join the army. Alas, pacifism reared it's boring head and, having realised the army and he were 'totally incompatible', de Bernieres decided that perhaps the pen was mightier than the ... urn ... gun after all. He has since written a magic realist trilogy of books set in a fictitious Latin American country, two of which eamt him the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and has also ~tten the famous and best-selling novel Captain Coreili's Mandolin, which has achieved worldwide critical praise. I ask him about his experience in Colombia and how it inspired his trilogy, which consists of The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman.

'Some of the characters, mainly minor characters and the landscape are Colombian, but the country isn't actually named. I did that on purpose, so I could use the politics and the history from any country I liked ... which is irritating to Latin Americans but for outsiders it seemed to work quite well.'

The novels are funny, shocking, violent, political and extraordinarily vivid as de Bernieres paints these worlds with magical jaguars and other such legendary tales, while at the same time appealing to very real feelings of tragedy, heroism and injustice. For any fans of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the trilogy is reminiscent of One Hundred Years of Solitude and de Bernieres himself is clearly a Marquez fan. 'Marquez is the first Latin American writer that I got really crazy about ... and he's by no means the only one.' These influences obviously

helped as the novels were a tremendous success. De Bernieres describes the experience of writing magic realism as 'very liberating', in that while being 'politically realist ... [they involved having] plots in which anything whatsoever could happen'. At this point I'm poised and ready to enquire as to what it was that made de Bernieres move on from this immensely enjoyable and readable style, but my answer is given without prompting, 'after having written three of the magic realist books I got bored a rather embarrassing musical slip-up different parts of the world. He finds it with it'. Captain Corelli's Mandolin is of on the part of the director: 'the sound- harder to identify the really extraorditrack was extremely good ... but there nary aspects of England and English course the novel that really propelled was almost no mandolin in it!' He was life, as he's so familiar with it, 'it takes a Louis de Bernieres to fame and has clearly not overly thrilled by the film's certain effort of the imagination to see since been made into a film by John interpretation of the novel although did what is your own and to see what's Madden. De Bernieres feels it was the detail given to the characters and the always see the book as being made into entertaining or interesting about it.I'm a film. location of Corelll that made it perhaps Interestingly enough, de only just learning to do that.' He has just Bernieres intentionally didn't sell the finished a book set in Turkey in the more accessible, being set in the beaurights to Hollywood and instead wanted early 20th century where he does, 'my tiful Greek island of Cephallonia. He it to go to a smaller European studio, 'in usual thirig of taking the people from a actually informs me of an old publishing proverb concerni~g location, 'If you order for it to come out as a proper small community and showing what want a book to fail, set it in Latin European art film ... [but] they unfortu- happens to them as a result of the big America'. As well as avoiding this nately tried to make a Hollywood hit out power games' . Despite the fact he problem, Correlli deals with real events of it.' He certainly isn't shy about voic- declares he has a 'usual thing', there's as opposed to creating events and ideas ing his opinions of film directors, which no doubt his style is ever evolving, of that might be harder to sympathise will obviously be of comfort to anyone his latest book he tells me 'the style is with. He elaborates on the sympathetic who's seen a great book distorted considerably more simple, less elabonature of the characters in Corelli and it beyond belief for the box office: rate'. Perhaps that is what makes a is clear he fell in love with the charac'There's a certain arrogance that film great author, the ability to embrace ters himself, 'If you fall in love a bit with directors have, they take your good many different ways of writing. His the characters it makes the book that ideas out and put their own stupid ones unique voice shines boldly throughout much easier to read and to love'. He in.' all of his novels to date and will sees the experience of writing characLouis de Bernieres hasn't as yet set undoubtedly continue to do so, but de ters as a sort of 'ventriloquism', as he any of his major works in England, or Bernieres wants to explore as well. puts it, 'I seem to have the ability to even anywhere near. He has several 'You can't get stuck in one style .. . not summon up different voices, which is short stories and a play set in London because you're boring your readers but very handy.' One of the things about and his next novel promises to be part- because you begin to bore yourself.'

Corelli that leaves it in the mind long ly set in England, however the novels Well, that's true Mr. de Bernieres, and after the last page is the characters are that have made him famous are in quite you're certainly not boring us. so richly andrr----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~ believably portrayed.

This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the fil'rnrnakers were determined to translate such colourful personalities onto the big screen.

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f u 1 1 y accommodating when I begin the questions about his initial reactions and eventual responses to the film version of Coreili. Questions which I'm sure he's had to answer countless times, although to his credit hopefully a great many of them from frustrated fans such as myself who were left asking, 'What did they do to your wonderful book?!!' His first comment highlights

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its inception (the first American d r ug-orie nted m ovie was called Th e Opium Den and was filmed 1894) films have been depicting drug use. Only recently, however, have they shown drugs in a realistic way. Drugs were originally used as dramatic devices for morality plays. In fact , realism and accuracy were shunned as the moralists felt realistic drug use would lead easily influenced youths into 'evil' ways. But from the sixties onwards certain films have been denounced as glamorising drug abuse and of being pro-drug. In many cases this is true but other movies that have really tried to show the counter culture life s.tyle of addicts have been unfairly labelled pro-drug because of their moral ambiguity.

Apart from the ending, Easy Rider broke almost all the clich e 's of drugs cinema at the time.

Drugs were a thin g of myth and legend in cine m a all through the twenties , thirties , forties an d fifties as a seductive c orrupter of the innocen t, read y to lure the n aive into the life of a drugs fiend , and finally to their death.

The exploitation films of these decades mainly d ealt with the concept of the drugs menace and hysteria surroundin g addiction . The public's macabre

THE

EVENT 19.11.03

addicts was used to titillate, scare and ensnare the attention of movie-going pubic in much the same way as freak shows had don e in the previous century an d horror films would do for the latter half of twenty century .

One of the forerunners of the drugs exp loitation genre was Human Wreckage made in association with a number of anti-drug organisations in America. The film was nothing more than reactionist .melodrama masquerading as a morally enriching tale.

Human Wreckage was just the beginning. Drug hysteria in American cinema of the twenties and thirties, with the start ¡of exploitation cinema, established the use of addicts and drugs as synonymous with villainy and became increasingly popular. A whole string of films such as Marihuana -Weed With Roots In Hell and The Pace Th at Kills warned the public of reefer madness and other evils of drug abuse. They flooded cinemas across the States; only the onset of the Second World War saw drug addicts lose their place as the villains of cinema in favour of Nazis. It wasn't until the fifties that drugs made a return to cinema.

All through the fi fties and into the sixties the trend in exploitation cinema continued a n d it wasn't until the late sixties, with m ovies such as the Oscar winning Easy Rider, that the depiction of drugs began to ch an ge. Easy Rider was received as a counter-culture masterpiece. Two b ikers from L.A (Peter Fon da and De nnis Hopper) make a good score and hide the money, and pre tty much e ve rything they've ever dreamed of, in sid e on e of the gas tanks on their way to Mardi Gras. While travelling to New Orle ans they meet all kinds of strange ch aracters including a d e p ressed lawyer Oack Nicholson) who finds things clearer after a little marijuana. Apart from the ending, Easy Rider broke almost all the cliche's of drugs cinema at the time and sparked a change in the representation of drugs within film.

It was the development of youth and counter culture which caused further change in cinema's depiction of drugs . Larger studios began to release movies with the theme of drugs, such as The President Analyst by Paramount; Head produced by C olumbia and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls- the seminal Russ Meyer film - produce.:l. by MGM. All through cinema of the sixties and seventies, narcotics were seen as a

sign of rebellion and the rejection of society's hypocrisies.

This meant movies lurched from drug hysteria to the promotion of drugs as a creative and youthful side of th e movie industry which clashed with the mature, moral establishment. A small number of films were released in the seventies that managed to show the true ups and downs of drug use such as the Andy Warhol production, Trash, directed by Paul Morrisey, which depicts life in New York's East Village.

received by critics, have been said to glamorise drug use. Much like Easy Rider, however , the stories h ave unfortunate endings for characters and don't just portray drugs in a positive light.

Trainspotting, for example, defiantly shows the desperation that affects addicts. A far better example of this is the The Basketball Diaries from the midnineties and Requiem For a Dream from 2000. Both films show the level to which addicts will sink to support their habit and what affect it can have on their

The British films Trainspotting and Hu:man Traffic, though both well received by critics, have been said to glamorise drug use.

Trash realistically presents the life of heroin addict Joe Dallesandro, and all the squalor of his existence. Trash comes across as more of a documentary than a film and it is clear that a lot of these events are drawn from experience. In doing so , it managed to avoid dehumanising the characters.

hrough the seventies drugs moved rapidly into mainstream films and away from the original sensationalist roots .

Progression towards the mainstream over the last thirty years has led to the acceptance of narcotics in cinema, which in turn has lead to sloppy portrayal of drugs tha t seems to condone and glamorise the use of illegal substances. The British films Trainspotting and Human Traffic, though both well

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lives. It allows empathy towards the characters, and their situation, without condoning drugs use .

Is it the growth of the recreational use of drugs by people and the acceptance of drugs as part of society just reflected in these films, or do these films encourage acceptance of drug use? Both are true and both sides of the argument can be seen in films. What is clear is that cinema has a long a strange history with drugs, from the hysteria of the early half of the century to the apathetic acceptance in the later half, cinema has shows the changing mood of society in relationship to drugs . If any one conclusion can be made about whether drugs are glamorised in cinema it is that it really just depends on opinions of the people that make the films and the views of the audience watching them.

u e· 01·

Extrapol~ted u don't have to be a film critic to appreciate the special fea~ tures offered by DVD technology; but you have to admit it helps. It takes a higher dedication to cinema - or at least to a particular movie - than many film lovers possess to wade through the abundance of bonuses available on DVD's. Some people don't want to sit through The Godfather trilogy again while Francis Ford Coppola drowns out the dialogue with running commentary. Others can't imagine listening to a 30-minute radio broadcast from the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937.

They don't care if Clarice Starling's shootout in Hannibal can be viewed from various camera angles, then edited together at your whim. Creative details and historical data are for film classes, some believe, not home entertainment.

Just plug in the movie. While you're up, give me that rotary dial telephone and turn down the eight-track player.

And why is that VCR still flashing "12:00"?

Viewing

no. 36 ·

uffalo '66

Buffalo 66, the one by that egomaniac Vincent Gallo?

for example, is a nice guy and a topnotch director but his commentary track for A Beautiful Mind could cure insomnia. The temptation is to abuse the fast-forward button whenever cinematographers or special effects designers narrate their work.

Sometimes the mutual admiration or empty rhetoric among actors gets stale.

But there are gems to be uncovered. The cast of Thi§ Is Spinal Tap stay in character on the associated commentary and, at times, top the movie's hilarity; Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh picks Mike Nichols' brain

The best DVD packages provide crash courses in the art of filmmaking. and the creative instincts working behind the camera.

Okay, that's an exaggeration.

You're not that far behind the times. But movie audiences are getting smarter about the way films are made, their artistic heritage and their vitality beyond the screen. Those bonus features you're missing without a DVD player (or skipping if you have one) are a key reason why.

The best DVD packages provide crash courses in the art of filmmaking and the creative instincts working behind the camera. This is especially true of audio commentary tracks you can choose to hear instead of the soundtrack when the movie is played.

Narrators are recorded while they watch the movie, so their comments coincide with the action on screen.

Certainly some commentaries can be accused of being too technical or dry for mainstream tastes. Ron Howard,

Cinefil.e

about how he made Catch -22; Coppola's passion for Italian-American and family themes in The Godfather trilogy; candid producers revealing who didn't get hired for Speed; Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal joshing their way through a screening of Analyse This; Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich breaking down Citizen Kane . all of these inclusions justify the extra expense of the DVD format.

Behind-the-scenes featurettes are also common bonuses, although many have already been seen on Internet sites and cable TV channels. More ambitious DVD's include featurettes produced exclusively for the set, such as Richard Rush's oddly conceived history of his 1980 cult favourite, The Stunt Man . Some making-of mater' al is exhaustive and some, such as nearly five hours of self-glorifying peeks at Pearl Harbour, is simply exhausting.

Other common bonuses include preview trailers, .storyboard sketches used in plotting camera shots, production notes, photo galleries and poster art. A quick 'scan pf the DVD cover will letyouknowwhat's available. AnyDVD that doesn't at least include the aforementioned features isn't worth owning, except for sentimental value.

From there, the only limitations of DVD extras are the producer's imagination and budget. Some bonuses become fanciful extensions of the movie, such as Wes Anderson's focus on the biographical doodles and character-defining paintings adorning the walls of The Royal Tenenbaums. A great concert documentary such as on The Last Waltz can be embellished with previously deleted footage of the Band jamming with Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Paul Butterfi.eld, among others. The commercialism satirized by Fight Club

comes ~to sharper focus , and Ainelie becomes a film to be reconsidered after first rejection. ilmmakers often use the DVD format to show off what theatergoers missed; the deleted scenes and alternate endings that sometimes change a film's pace or tone. joy Ride, a tidy 2001 thriller, is given three alternative endings on DVD, including a 30-minute third act that was completely produced then scrapped in favour of an entirely different conclusion.

Some extras take viewers deep er into subjects addressed by the movie, delving into a newspaper account and interactive timeline of the OK Corral gunfight in Tombstone or a video tour of Jack the Ripper's crime scenes in From Hell. Cameron Crewe's semi autobiographical Almost Famous is a great excuse to revisit his Rolling Stone inter-

F

Yes indeed. You may have heard bad things about him; ignore them. He has a propensity to speak his mind and do his own thing. He did.write, direct, score and star in this little iridie gem. But do\\'t let that put you off. The film displays a rare naturalistic charm and rather than flaunt some huge ego as might be expected, Galla opens himself up to a deeply emotional performance.

OK, I'm sceptical but tell me more.

On a grey winter day Billy Brown (Galla) is released from prison and travels back to his· hometown of Buffalo, NY. Having arrived, he kidnaps a beautiful young blond tap dancer, Layla (Ricci), to take home to his parents. Billy is terminally insecure and wants the young beauty to pretend to be his wife for his parent's benefit. It is absurd but also believable.

If Ricci fails to comply with Billy's wishes he threatens her with never speaking to her ever again. Yes, Billy Brown is an asshole, but he is vulnerable and endearing too. When we meet his parents it becomes hard not to sympathise with him. His mother (Huston) is a football obsessive who never misses a Buffalo Bills game, and his father (Gazzara) is a washed up old crooner. Neither of them have much time for their son. Layla assumes her role as daughter in law only too well and soon the parents love her. Mission accomplished, story over. Not so; the abducted fin<!s the abductor somehow attractive and over the course of the evening love beckons.

Sounds interesting, but there must be more to it than that?

views with rock 'n' roll legends.

Not all extras are geared for adult tastes. Toy Story: The IDtimate Toy Box contains a feature allowing remote control users to take a 3-D animated flight through the two films' sets. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone did the same for the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with interactive games for Potterphiles to test their knowledge and navigation skills.

Some child's play, such as Dopey's mineshaft maze in the Platinum Edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, is too elementary to keep them entertained for long. But children wishing to sing karaoke-style along with Willy Wonka or study dinosaurs through video encyclopaedias in jurassic Park or Dinotopia can have a ball.

DVD bonus features are so varied in content and quality, and their appeal so depends on the viewer's preference for a certain movie, that suggesting where new DVD users should begin is a futile exercise. First and foremost, pick a movie you want to watch without considering the extras. If you enjoy the show, it's more tempting to learn all about it.

Right you are. The film is, actually, very funny along the way. Laugh and empathise in the long opening scene as Billy goes through all hell to find a toilet, only to get to one and not be able to go due to a nosy neighbour at the urinal. Marvel at the disgusting tripe dinner that Layla has to endure. Be charmed at the films wonderful musical vignettes. First we are treated to Ben Gazzara serenading his wouldbe daughter-in-law with a version of Fools Rush In (actually a dubbed re·c ording of Vincent Galla Sr.). Then there is Layla's surreal but sexy tap dance number at the bowling alley. The best of them all, though, is Billy's assassination trip into a seedy, but super cool, strip bar, to the sound of Yes. Prog rock has never sounded so good. Every shot is a treat, too, courtesy of cinematographer Lance Acord (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation).

If this is so good then what has Gallo been

up to since?

He has released a couple of understated guitar albums on the hip electronica label, Warp.

And critics panned his most recent film [The Brown Bunny] at this years Cannes. Basically, he is a misunderstood genius destined forever to cult status. Admittedly he is not everyone's cup of tea, but all you need to do is open yourself up to the charms of Buffalo '66 and maybe you too will be converted to the unique vision of Vincent Galla.

Dan MacNamara

19.11.03

08 F a

re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-..-~======================~====~======~

TV to squirm to

ouis

Theroux and Daisy Daisy are about to become the new Pop Idol, and I'm not referring to a heinous change of career for either of the two. A short while ago you couldn't turn on the TV without being bombarded with images of vibrantly made-over front rooms , handy DIY tips or Charlie Dimmock's water features .

Before that it was Jamie Oliver's ilk and their oh-so-trendy penchant for cookery.

Over the years we've endured the quiz show fad, the reality show fad, dangerously high levels of Carol Vorderman and let's not forget the man whose name is now synonymous with the word "antique"- David 'Duke' Dickinson. The list is endless, we become fascinated and obsessed by TV trend after TV trend and we love it. Still reeling from Fam e Academy and the like we've decided to

reeling from Fame Academy and the like we've decided to indulge Louis and Daisy and clasp them to our fickle bosom

Still

indulge Louis and Daisy and clasp them to our fickle bosom. Not because of their high quality investigative journalism, or even their delineation of other cultures and ways of life , but because we want to laugh at them and their guests.

Anyone with a camera crew, micro phone , and willingness to emba rrass themselves (or o thers) wins our approval.

De finite ly h aving the higher p rofile of the two , Louis The roux I S a seasone d ve teran of the investi g ation of the macabre and quirky nooks and crannies of civilisation. Looking like a walking Where ¡s Wally picture, amongst what could sometimes seem the most unnerving and

19.11.03

downright frightening of company, Theroux was a wide-eyed and inquisitive presence on screen. During Louis Theroux 's Weird Weekends he managed to give an insight into the world and lives of communities previously uncharted, cults and Nazis being just some of the more taboo areas. With more in common in terms of his focus with Michael Moore than Parklnson, Theroux allowed interviewees the space and time to expose themselves rather than trying to yank the rug from under their fee t. The issues his programmes raised may not have been of international importance, but left viewers feeling they knew just a bit more about human kind (albeit things they sometimes didn't want to know). Little did we imagine he would b e the man to exchange harsh words with Anne Widdecombe over whether or not he could look in her toilet, or find himself at the mercy of a drunken and smitten Christine Hamilton. We can only reason that the lure of the celeb expose interview must have proved too tempting to resist.

The resulting residue of fame that rubbed off on Louis himself revealed that underneath the thick rimmed glasses and the non-threatening facade lay a hard nosed journalist, cunning as the day is long. On top of this, he'd abandoned his original pursuit of foregrounding his guests in favour of a more mocking and satirical tone.

Theroux still made informative and debunking viewing, but only in the same sense that The Osbournes can be seen as a documentary. It can be looke d at seriously, but its far easier to just laugh a t its more outrageous m ome nts . But I di gress, the main issue at h and is that we like d Lows and his b umbling e ncounte rs , h e d idn 't lose popularity with his n ew found fame.

We didn't care a b ou t th e calibre at guest we just wanted either Louis or hi. chosen subject to be thoroughly unhinged and for someone to make a fool of themselves.

â&#x20AC;˘.

Daisy Donovan, star of Daisy Daisy, begins where Louis has left off. Having tried her hand at beauty pageants , spelling bees and other just as random activities , Donovan plays up the comedic aspect of everything she does .

No fumbling around in the middle of nowhere with gun-toting families in the name of good telly for her. In Daisy Daisy, the aim of the game isn't to create a realistic documentary of the lives

' bizarre, everyone around them becomes a figure of fun for them to humour. They are never the odd ones out from our side of the camera. Even when Daisy is delivering her spasmodic version of a gangsta rap we know she poking fun at something other than just her poor performance, we sit in our armchairs and feel smug that we have been let in on a joke no one onscreen is getting.

andl

We want to feel intelligent again, Roll on Art just doesn't cut it quite frankly. of those around her in the situations she dives into, but to point and titter at them and her dalliance in their worlds .

Unlike Louis, Daisy makes at best a thinly veiled attempt to disguise her mockery of the institutions and p eople she meets , she delivers an unadulterated send up of whatever she investigates. hile training to be a diva Daisy braves the stage in a performance of Simply the Best that is met with a less than friendly reception, at which point the camera lingers for an extra few a g onising seconds before cutting to b ackstage reminiscent more of comedies such as The Office than of any documentary. We learn nothing about the inner turmoil of pageant contestants as they strive to achieve unobtainable perfection, instead we follow Daisy's atte mpts to emulate them and their confused reactions to he r . Its at this p oint that it b eco mes important to re alise we actually don 't care ab out this inner-turm oil , unless it's particularly amusing innerturmoil. Both Louis and Daisy embrace their otherness to the communities they mfiltrate, but because we see them as sane and the people they meet as

The revolution is upon us, and we have grown tired of watching untalented youths fall foul of the viper-tongued Simon Cowell. We want to feel intelligent again, and Roll on Art just doesn't cut it quite frankly . As we watch the Jerry Springer style samples of human existence that both Daisy and Louis present to us we already begin to feel at least a few rungs higher on the ladder of respectability. The ability to live a better and more fulfilled life through the television is already an accepted idea embraced by thousands .

After all, why on earth would anyone watch River Cottage Forever with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall if they actually wanted to make a meal? They don't, is the a nswer to that question , but because we watch it being made from the comfort of our own homes and don't even have to do any washing up we can feel better about the beans on toast we're munching away on. We might never want to be a swinger, or teleevangelist or beauty queen, but we can't deny our morbid interest in everything that we are n't and feel even bette r whe n we d iscover g rass not being so green as it seem s on the other side of life Louis and Daisy manage to delve into the deepest darkest and qwrkiest pastimes and reassure us that our armchairs are the best place to be.

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1

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T

What did they put in their paint?

f 'Trainspotting' is considered the best 'drugs film' to come out of the first half of the 90s, then surely 'Requiem for a Dream' is the latter halfs equivalent.

Although there are superficial similarities between the two films in terms of plot and style, the overall tone of 'Requiem for a Dream' is much darker and less forgiving of its characters. While undoubtedly less entertaining than 'Trainspotting' , Aranofsky's ruthlessness and unswerving belief in his own message create an ultimately more affecting work.

Unfortunately, as with many genres, the term 'drugs film' tends to undermine the content of those very films. 'Requiem for a Dream' is very specific and direct in its portrayal of certain addictions, and it is these 'drugs' that Aranofsky is warning against. The fact that it graphically shows the horrors of three different types of addiction (heroin, prescribed pharmaceuticals and television) does not automatically make it 'anti-drugs'.

The intricate cutting used in the film to show the ritualistic procedures of the separate addictions are a clear sign of the director's wish not to throw a blanket of disapproval over drug use and drug culture in general. While some have interpreted it as being an intensely conservative film, in terms of debating drug addiction. it is vital to remember that Sara's addiction to legal drugs and television are shown as being easily comparable to Harry's heroin habit.

Despite the complexity of

Aranofsky's discussion of drug addiction, it is still remarkable that his film never seems in danger of preaching.

The extent to which the whole domestic environment is shown to be as cold and repulsive as possible is truly extraordinary, The intensity of the sharp editing 路 (the film contains over 2000 cuts, compared to the average 6-700) adds to this sense of a kind of 'ultra-real' horror, never really drawing the audience into any form of continuous reality. By the end of the film, all its protagonists are quite horrible to look at and hope and optimism have been systematically eradicated from the film. Yet unlike lesser films of its kind, where the use of such extremities alienates the audience, we are never estranged from its power. This is largely due to Aranofsky's and writer Hubert Selby Jr.'s decision not to try and establish a happy family unit at the start of the film.

While such an opening may have been the obvious starting point for a story of this sort, it would surely have been too far a distance for the characters to travel. The journey from domestic bliss to domestic despair may have a more traditionally satisfying narrative arc, but it wouldn't have been feasible considering the extent of the characters' ruin.

Perhaps understandably, critics have paid a great deal -of attention to the film's technical merits. Indeed, these are many, ranging from expressionistic lighting and razor-sharp editing to exquisite manipulation of sound.

Yet drug addiction is a human condition and a human problem, and thankfully Aranofsky understands that in order to

deal with it properly, the key lies in the acting. What is perhaps most successful about the performances in 'Requiem for a Dream' is the extraordinary range of approaches used. While Burstyn pulls absolutely no punches in graphically showing us the extent of her mental and physical devastation, Jared Leto's 'Harry' is relatively internalised, leaving the audience with many unanswered questions as to his experiences.

Jennifer Connelly's performance as Harry's girlfriend is perfectly executed and leaves us at a complete loss as to who to blame for Harry's downfall (a clear sign of any successful 'drugs film'). She effortlessly shifts from an innocent lover to a manipulative parasite, but somehow always retaining our sympathies.

If 'Requiem for a Dream' is to be seen as somewhat of a successor to 'Trainspotting', then it is probably thanks to its actors that it is a superior film. Danny Boyle created a cast of caricatures, each one with their humorous ideologies and social idiosyncrasies.

We were left somewhat saddened at the tragedy of their lives, but essentially entertained by the glimpse at a lesser seen lifestyle. Aranofsky places before us char-acters we think we should know, characters we do know; mothers, sons, lovers, friends. The power of 'Requiem for a Dream' is not in showing us the awful effects of drug addiction on characters, but its effects on people.

Adazn O'Brien

he artists Jackson Pollock and Ernst Kirchner lived fairly similar lives. They were both expressionists. They both lived during one of the two world wars. They were both of the male gender. But underneath the canvases of their lives lay a far more sinister world that frays nerve endings and makes muscles twitch.

Pollock was one of the greatest American artists. His work was original, and his painting method, which constituted an action of simply throwing or dripping paint onto the canvas, was all the more curious.

But he had problems. Generally, Pollock is regarded as a self destructive, tortured genius wrecked by depression and alcoholism. It is believed that the issues (and the drink) in his life frequently influenced his artwork. In one instance, painting was the only thing that brought Pollock out of a suicidal mind-set. In 1952, Pollock's friend, Tony Smith, rushed to visit him at his home in Long Island after he had received a phone call from Pollock where he declared he was going to shoot himself. When he arrived, Pollock was rampaging in his studio, slashing up a canvas with a kitchen knife, and guzzling a bottle of Bourbon. Smith settled down and began to paint what is now called Blue Poles, and as he did so Pollock seemed to calm down and began painting with him.

The painting appears to display signs of anger and rage. Its deep and somewhat disgusting colours, it's crushed glass, and its tortured and battered shapes describe in detail the event of that alcohol fuelled night.

Use of dark colours and dramatic swirls of blood-red and lightening-blue gives Kirchner's From The Apocalypse-The Man With The Fiery Sword (1918) a highly unsettling appearance. The figure in the picture represents the disturbing air that the picture portrays; his form is not quite clarified in the image, instead the block of red that composes his cape and the white and grey that composes his face is blurred out of focus.

The question that dawns is: What would make a man who, just eight years previous had been expressing his love of the German countryside in Akte in der Sonne, Moritzburg (1910), change his artistic ideology completely to portrayals of the end of the world? Kirchner, who was born in Germany in 1880 and had followed the typical root into the world of Art, had had a personal breakdown when he was conscripted into the German army in 1915, and tried to use a morphene and absinth addiction that he had cultivated to be removed from the ranks. However, this led to a further breakdown of his phsyche. As he was an expressionist painter, we can imagine that what he put on the canvas was the direct expression of what he was thinking whilst in battle at the front. It is possible that the drugs influence emphasised his feeling of the events that took place during war time.

Whatever the case, both Kirchner and Pollock's stories provides us all with a good reason not to take drugs. Or if you like, to take drugs? Like life, choices are always a crucial factor in the decision to take drugs.

But reasons aren't.

Toby. BllUil

19.11.03 TH E

E V E NT

Writing ...

Please send submissions to lizziebrien@yahoo.co.uk for initial consideration

Coffee

•

I hadn't been paying attention to the customers. The internal documentary I was doing on restaurant hygiene had made me adamant never to drink out again: coffee cups with lipstick stains the dishwasher hadn't removed, murky reflections in greasy cutlery, a tea-spoon dropped on the unswept floor then placed delicately on a saucer, milk that was left out all day frothed and re-frothed ...

The man wandered in without acknowledging any of the smiling waitresses, walked past all the coffee tables and sat at one laid for a meal. He turned his head to the side as though there were someone standing behind him that he was about to address, but he kept his eyes lowered and looked insulted until a waitress

approached.

'Coffee. Black' he said not looking at her, as though it were the fifth time he'd had to repeat himself 'Okaaay, anything to ... ' 'That'll be all. Thank you', he said, snapping his head round and glaring at her after he said it. She looked startled, smiled vaguely and fled to the bar area. · · 'Coffee Neil. Black, American.' She shot the order at me as she swung round the end of the bar, moon-eyes fixed on the myriad coloured buttons on the till. Top left, second row, second one in I thought, but left her to find it herself. I set about emptying the machine to begin again.

'One more cup of coffee 'fore I go ... ' Pushing down a lever I

watched the grounds fall, then, clamping down another lever, a plunger packed the coffee into its little hollow. What I held looked like a spoon with a wooden handle like the flush on an antique toilet, the spooning end was more like a miniature metal ashtray with a spout protruding from its base; now full, he slotted this into the coffee machine, lined up a cup with the spout, pressed a button and waited to see the jet of opaque, ebony liquid slide through the spout, through the air and puddle in the cup.

Unusually, a song I could actually stand listening to began to play in the restaurant. I tapped the bass line with my hand on the wooden surface Dum ... dah dumdum, Dum ... dah dumdum ...

DUM. A coffee machine will

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placid skin stillness on the calm ramen of the sloppy universe

explode for a number of reasons: You didn't remove all of the grounds from the previous cup you made, the old grounds blocking the pressurised processes of the machine, forcing the spoon bit loose You didn't slot the spoon bit in properly You were too busy imagining you were the bassist for Elastica to care.

The man jolted, his eyes widening, as though someone had just punched him. He huffed, then hunched over again and carried on staring at his phone.

I didn't need to look down to know my white shirt was splattered, I could feel tiny wet, gritty globules on my face. My trouse~s would be covered in coffee too, but it wouldn't show up on the black material.

Sally Campbell

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The sky seems translucent , like drawn curtains Blunting the glint of the sun's flashes .

The sourceless light is dull and gauzy, It rubs and leaves a graze of shade .

Trees nudge the stiff air from side to side.

We do not have long before this haze lifts And we will be left in the harsh glare Of each others' company, clashing and splintering Like midday sun on a TV screen, Rearing up hard and solemn like storm clouds, Rippling in dark boredom.

Until then I'll keep my mind inert And drift slowly through these vapid days, My edges smudged by your warm, close breath.

It's easy to give up and forget my hold on life And float in this vagueness with you: I'd give A lifetime of hard experience For one day of laying next to you, Watching the world evaporate.

MoPamplin

THE ,.

EVENT 19.U.03 . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .

he Mother Dlr ctor: Ro r Mlch 11 t rrln · Ann R ~d, .p t r V u hn,.

Macklnto h~ An oxplorntlon of the fiiiiilly

It is hard not to be somewhat· dubious of The Mother when the flyer reads: "From the Director of Notting Hill and Changing Lanes." Worry not, however, this is a British fihn that avoids the glossy production values and irritating middle class characters that some may have come to associate with certain British fihns of late.

The irritating middle class point is a frequent moan by critics, particularly with some Working Title productions (see forthcoming Love Actually), and indeed this fihn has its fair share of middle class characters.

But if it is not middle class characters then it is a moan about working class characters; typified by fihns such as Brassed Off and The Full Monty. This is a fihn that provides a refreshing change from the expected class orientated productions, and instead gives us an affecting story about people and relationships. .

The Mother follows May (Anne Reid) on a visit to London with her elderly husband, Toots (Peter Vaughn}. May feels distant from hei: husband; he is old and ready to reflect on life while she•still desires to discover it. While visiting their SOJ;l Bobby (Steven Mackintosh) and his family, Toot's dies suddenly. Until now

It was her first night

as a ' granny-o-gram' .

And her last .

v n

May's desires have remained latent,. but her husband's death triggers her to go out and find herself. Rather than stay in her quiet suburban street and become another lonely old widow, she moves in with her children in London.

The fihns script, courtesy of Hanif Kureishi (Buddha of Suburbia, My Beautiful Laundrette) draws out a frequently touching story that never quite follow's the expected.

View~rs familiar with his work will recognise some themes: the sex; the affairs; the city; the search for identity, all come to play, along with some subtle comic touches. May's daughter, Paula, appears to be a free-spirited single m9ther, but underneath she is revealed to be deeply insecure. Her relationship will} Darren, Bobby's best friend and resident builder, is hinged on necessity rather than mutual love. She thinks she needs him, but it seems he is only providing a father figure for her son.

When it is revealed that she is going to a therapist, May replies: "Why cah't you talk to your hairdresser like everyone else?"

The line is amusing because it seems to ring true; it also serves to illustrate May's shortcomings as a mother.

Until now it seems she would be the obviously sympathetic character, as her husband has just died. Yet as a picture becomes clear of the family she has in part produced, the audience is led to wonder how much $eir shortcomings are her doing? The intelligence of tl)e fihn lies in

the fact that it never wholly pl:escribes to the audience one set view of the characters. Although May is by no means a perfect mother, it seems Paula has grown to lay blame on her rather than take r~sponsibility for her own life. · When May begins an affair with her daughter's lover it does not feel wrong to the audience. His relationship with Paula does not fulfil either of thein, but when he is with May that sense of fulfilment seems to be realised, albeit transiently. Their actions seem destined to cause pain for the rest of the family, but things never quite come to a complete head. While there are moments when we see vividly what happens when things go wrong, as when Darren's frustrations come out in a cathartic rage, the fihn

has a subtle way of leaving some things best unsaid.

Alwin Kuchler's (Ratcathcher,.

Morvem Callar) artfully composed cinematography never seems intrusive; the characters are there to be taken in and absorbed, not thrust upon us. Likewise, rather than manipulating emotion, the understated piano score is used sparingly, scatter4!g a nicely melancholic feeling and mood throughout the fihn. The Mother is a satisfying journey into places many fihns rarely bother to go.

Freeman, Kris Marshall and Gregor Fisher all get their chance in front of the camera.

With this much going on, the film doesn't waste time with anything as confusing and complicated as characters, relying instead on the personality each actor brings to their role. Hugh does flustered charm, Colin does stiff, ~rnrna is frightfully perky and Alan is sarcastic.

There are no surprises. Even cameos (a relative term in this context where every part is a glorified guest appearance) by the likes of Rowan Atkinson and Billy Bob Thornton offer nothing new.

It would seem that Curtis has set out to fashion the most commercial product he possibly can. Having noted what played well in Four Weddings, Notting Hill and eo., he repeats those situations over and over again. The result is that not only does the mix of pathos, embarrassment and wit seem oddly familiar from the previous films, but also from four or five other scenes in Love Actually.

Nowhere is the intention to make a great deal of money more evident than in

the film's abysmal soundtrack. It is as .if someone has taken NOW 56 and randomly stapled songs to every scene that features serious emotion. For any movie to depend on Dido and the Sugababes for depth and feeling is a pretty dispiriting situation.

Only at the end does the film fulfill the potential the talent involved promised.

With a sizeable assist from the Beach Boys' God Only Knows , Curtis does succeed in bringing his many strands together, building a genuinely warm and satisfying conclusion. In fact it's so good that you leave the cinema thinking of the admittedly numerous highlights rather than the many sizable flaws . As an example of grand ambition attempting to exist harmoniously with absolute populism, Love Actually is an entertaining failure - a 10-course meal of gourmet fast food that leaves you bloated, exhausted and slightly ill, but in a strangely pleasant way.

Daniel MacNaznara

bOY~~ ,d~lctually I h

Expressed as a Hollywood equation, Love Actually should have been simple: Curtis (writer) + Curtis (director) = 2Curtis or $$$$$$$$$. If ever a man understood what makes a successful romantic comedy, then his name is Richard Curtis.

His scripts for Four Weddings, Notting Hill and Bridget ]ones have made hundreds of millions of dollars, and almost as many fans. Letting him also direct isn't the kind of decision you lose sleep over.

I m But somewhere, something when wrong. Instead of merely getting double Curtis, Working Title, the film' s producers, have unleashed Curtis squared; a huge, unstoppable hydra of a date movie; with enough stars, gags, tears and comic swearing to fuel all of Los Angeles for a year or more. Imagine a film written by someone who has learned to write solely by watching the work of Richard Curtis; worse, imagine that person has attention deficit disorder. Love Actually is like a two hour ten minute trailer compilation for every romantic comedy you will ever see for the rest of your life.

Ten vaguely linking storylines jostle for attention, each kitted out with sufficient celebrity to carry any normal, underachieving, lottery-funded Brit flick alone.

There's Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister and Martine McCutchion as his maid; there's Ernrna Thomson and Alan Rickrnan as a couple having marriage trouble; Liam Neeson gets to do the About a Boy thing, bonding with his step-son while Colin Firth plays a jilted author getting to know his Portugese cleaner; Kiera Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor are happy newly weds and Bill Nighy is an aging rocker on the comeback trail.

And it isn't just the established lovies who get a look in - Curtis has returned to his TV roots to pilfer the best of small screen talent as well.

Martin

;

Living In Hope Director: John Miller Starri H rris, Tom H.arper

This film is an unexpected gem - a definite must-see for all; especially the student population. Don' t let its low-budget, student-associated stereotypical exterior fool you into scepticism. It is amusing as much as it is touching and authentic. It is not outrageously original but refreshingly different. Se t at University in Bristol, the film illustrates itself as '50 ,000 shagging drinking breathing sleeping eating living students'.

The ch aracters are brilliantly written and performed to the point of conviction.

The ac tors w h o play the main parts are a perfect combination- four young lads ; one

Sunday 23rd November LT l, 7pm.

Collect free tickets from cockney who endeavours to enunC?iate his words at tli.is public school infested univerthe Box Office in Union sity; one poor Northe rner who is the pride House of his family and community - making it into his local· p aper for actu ally attending university; one posh, private s chool boy, dom and desires to fit in. It is not solely determined to shag his way through uniconcerned with constant drinking , a pparversity and one from Northern 1re land, ent uncaring a ttitudes or r eckless sex. Nor devoted to his chip-shop working fiance does it feature a stereo typical, constant w h o is sleeping with the . potato delivery over-extessive drug-taking"lifestyle that is man. generally connected to the student genre The film is jam-packed wi th witty one- quite refreshingly, the only drug that liners from the Cockney Robin Edwards ; makes a real name for its elf in the film is pretentiously wise, yet strangely inspiring Testosterone. The script is wholly witty and cites of wisdom from the Hugh Grant-esc, you will find yourself wishing that these fl oppy-haired Posh played by Tom Harper; lads were y our mates. It is truly a fe el-good comical trials and tribula tions of love from film that almost anyone will eithe r relate to, the Irish Liam McMahon and the struggling or simply e njoy.. The antics they get up to efforts of the quie t Northerner Paul Foster. and seams they invent are pretty original All this mixed in with the const ant piss-takand their drive is inspiring - they actually ing of one a nothe r ; me aningless shagging; seem to be d oing something at university, inebriated states of initiations resulting in though what exactly is not too obvious! running sta rk bollock naked, with lighted The film's soundtrack is performed loo roll up his b ackside; jumping off a entirely by one band, the Supertoys - and bridge ; getting suspended; finding them- a s a b onus the DVD comes with a separate selves in over £140,000 of debt and their CD. The music is quite fitting - not too bad growing loyalty towards one another after . yet not spectacular . It compiles a mix of the disastrous death of aptly named Animal lndie with Techno and fits well into the (pushed over the edge by the forceful nature of the film . It is slightly dated, but so pressures of his father , he takes steroids , is the . film. The clothes, cars and mobile turns a bit psycho , downs a litre of whisky, phones in the film are a bit of a clue as to its drives a car and blows it up - somewhere age- though this does not hinder the film. later along the line they decide to dig up The student is an ageless concept and the his ashes and jump off a bridge with misdemeanours associated with such a them!). concept make this film quite dateless.

The film is not too extravagant in its The only problem with Living in Hope attempts to be successful- it is truly repre-. is the Halls the students live in - they are sentative of the attitudes and extreme mansion-esc. Hope are· the Halls they live natures of the student's first taste of free- in and are huge furnished rooms with

large, p roper w ooden beds and sofas .

Hope Hall has a massive common room with a television and balconies! UEA it most certainly is not. However this could be to do with the theme running throughout that this University, set in Bristol, is apparently populated by a huge majority of public school educated students who can probably afford it - and it is likely that this is where most of the film 's budget went.

Nevertheless, it is definitely one you must watch ; there is something there for everyone. Boys will be able to relate to it and want to jump off bridges. Gir ls will probably fancy the boys in it and laugh at them.

Young children will be itching to go to university and taste the freedom . Adults will probably remember the 'good old days ' and wish they were young again. It will inspire you and make you laugh- a lot. If it were not so low budget , this coul d well be. the Dazed and C onfused of British University life. So grab the chance and seize the 'opp or-fuckin-tunity'.

Living /n Hope is released on the 17th November Isab el Dyson

Futurama •• Series 4 Fox can be accused of many things: regurgitating tired, formulaic films just for the potential of mass-appeal ; stifling the viewing public's p ote ntial for well-conside red conversation by only authorising unimaginative, middle of the road tripe ; and being owned by Rupert Murdoch. Add to this list: withdrawing Futurama. This is obviously a sore point amongst the writers as the subject g ets intermittent reference across the

eighteen episodes.

Many readers may ·feel that The Event's tireless plugging of all things animated is b ecoming a little tired. It 's not an agenda; it's just turned out that way . It d oes seem that animation is able to represe nt and tackle subjects that would otherwise be deemed too sensitive for a realist live action format (See South Park) . Series four of Futurama has picked up on this. Many episodes take social commentary and expand issues into whole storylines that would usually only constitute an aside in The Simpsons. This is not to say that it over-labours the point, however , a s the staple diet of witticisms sustain the intere st of people tired of metaph or an analogy in cartoon format. It will also prove engaging viewing for those who are new to the format of the series.

For the Futurama fan , there is plenty of ch aracter development. Leela discovers her true parentage (already glimpsed in Season Two) ; Zoidbergs pathetic nature is further amplified when he becomes subservient to a parallel self; and Fry's destiny as the most important person in the universe is revealed .

Eve n th e n ature of being a fan is open to satire as the fate of the cast of Star Trek is discovered in an amusing indictment on 'geek' culture - criticising the kind of people who know Leela's parents appear in season two, no doubt. The re are also obvious appeals to the rather unnerving trend in obsessing over Leela and Amy , as they consiste ntly get undressed, and in one episode are seen wrestling. Wilma Flintstone, it seems, has a lot to answer for.

Each epsiode has special features

attached to it. As you would expect form any self-respecting DVD release - e specially one with the financial backing of Fox behind it these are fairly extensive. There are deleted scenes, trailers , galleries, easter eggs; and each episode has it's own commentary featuring Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, who reveal themselves , rather unsurprisingly, to b e uber-geeks.

Being a collection of episodes, there are of course ups and downs and across the whole se ries. The earlier episodes can seem a bit ropey, conveying the impression that the crew lost interest after hearing the show was to be axed. Each epsiode has some sort of redeeming feature. It's very h ard not to la ugh at least a couple of times during an

episode; the majority inevitably produce fits of mirth.

At Forty Five pounds, it's probably a little out of the price range for most students, but consid ering th at it's four hours worth of viewin g time, it balances out with the cost of the average film on DVD Format. It's also a lot of enjoyable time that can be spent while avoiding writing essays.

Season Four is out to buy on the 24th November, see our competitions section to win one of two copies we h av e to give away .

Phil i p Sainty

5

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Drama Preview The Screens

Written by the world renowned novelist, poet and playwright Jean Genet 'The Screens' has been called 'unstageable', the reason it has only been performed three times in this country. It premiered in Paris in 1961 and the first production in Britain was in '64 and was put on by the RSC to a widespread outcry.

Ralph Yarrow, this production' s director, explains that the violent reaction to the play in its early years of performance must have been anticipated by the author of a piece that is 'violently anti-colonial' during the undeniable mess that became France's prolonged occupation of Algeria.

It is a brave decision on the part ofYarrow and the third year drama group, whose production it is, tci attempt this piece that has had so little exposure in Britain in a climate of unrest at political and military intervention abroad. At the time Genet's attack on fascist colonialism was what Yarrow describes as 'political dynamite'. The elements of spectacle, the humour of the language and the incidents that can only be described as absurdist did nothing to detra ct from the power of the p lay to shock a udiences and provoke in them outspoke n re monstrance. The messa ge of the piece prob ably won't have quite the same weig ht as it used to but Ge net challeng es the theory that c olonisers did the colonised a favour by 'improving' them and instilling in them morals and civilisation and Yarrow is keen to point out that the writer did anticipate much of post-colonial theory.

The action in the play takes place on three levels, in seventeen scenes and involves 94

characters many of which have been cross cast in this production because of the nineteen player cast only six of them are men. The title comes from the mobile wooden and material screens that are used to shape the 'imaginative' performance space and enable the drama to take place in locations a5 diverse as Arab villages, brothels, barracks and realms of both the living and dead.

The production is being marketed as a piece of ' total theatre '. Genet may not have agreed with many of Brecht's ideas on theatre but there are aspects of the play that employ the pioneering distancing techniques of the practitioner best known for viewing theatre as a way of educating his audience on politics and principles and making them question their beliefs and accepted truths. Yarrow points out that there are also elements of Arto and Beckett's work and the emphasis on the 'dynamic dramatic' and 'spectacular' give the company an opportunity to explore and display their abilities at creating all aspects of the production. These include the costumes and masks that form an important part of the characterisation of the many parts and the original soundtrack that will be performed live by the actors not on stage at any time.

If the dynamo that is Genet's text and the enthusiasm of the actors and directors is anything to go by this production promises to be an exciting, disturbing, spectacular experience. I am reminded by Yarrow as our chat comes to an e nd that, while the material is very challenging and since rely aims to propose an alternative to the colonialism that still pervad es many asp ects of our society, it is also very entertaining and has mome nts of quite farcical hilarity. For this reason there is already pressure on tickets so get yours as soon as possible and ensure yourself a part in this involving, absorbing and sensory experience.

Katharine Clemow

When reading these two modem classics of contemporary (ok, hideously disgusting) culture you have the constant sense of dread that one of the people you passed in the street today or gently bumped into at the bar could perhaps be one of the characters mentioned in one of these two books. Maybe that's taking it a bit far but there's something horribly recognisable about some of the inner thoughts and impulses of Welsh's creations. If you haven't heard of Trainspotting then you obviously weren't living in this country during the mid nineties when it was labelled as promoting drug use; a ridiculously spurious charge for anyone who's actually read it. It, and its successor Porno, follow the lives of a group of disparate individuals united by heroin abuse but to call Spud, Renton, Begbie and Sick Boy friends is on a par with saying the books glamorise heroin use - these people don't like ~ach other, they just have a tragic reliance upon one another that is gradually enunciated in a variety of disturbing events.

Porno takes place a couple of years after Trainspotting and reunites many of the characters, as well as adding another few who become instantly recognisable in this world due to their willingness to become involved with what can only be described as the dregs of humanity. The Scottish vernacular that permeated the first book is still present here, but not quite as dominant, resulting in a book that is superficially easier to read but still retains just as much uncomfortable detail and black, black humour. This is an oft-forgotten point, that these books are funny as hell, however much stepping into this world, even for a moment, generates unease for the reader.

Welsh writes with a humane eye for personality, never once judging any of his characters for anything they do, no matter how depraved, and the result is that there is a curious sense that morals are subjective and can be suspended at will. However much you might try to distance yourself from them, there will always be a character or a moment of internal thought that will be painfully familiar. That's what makes these books (and all of Welshs ' other works) so powerful; his ability to not only find comedy in the darkest situations but to present it in such a raw, naked manner that it is impossible not to feel something for the characters when all crashes down around their heads, innocent or not.

Ben Patashink

Theatre Review

Theatre Review: BenJonson's 'Volpone' The tale begins with a rich statesman of Venice helped by his man-servant acting out a fatal affliction, dragging three unwitting and seriously greedy citizens across a tangle of avaricious guts that jumble over a lusty heart before this fox of a play comes to a head with a snarling, reluctant grimace. There it is: The tenuously synoptically linked body of Ben Jonson 's anthrop omorphic Volpone at the UEA drama studio!

This satire has no heroes, no characters with which to empathise. John Heagney, the repulsive fox Volpone, gave a strong performance though his bestial lasciviousness and

schadenfreud~ was not 1 t!onsis~ tly delightful. Mosca, the fly, the parasite, given by Wayne !.inge, after some warming up , was marvellously frenetic , peripatetic, bounding demonstratively. The couple's over-intimacy hinted at the surrogate female role Mosca plays in Volpone's life, and their synergy, wonderfully. Bitten by the dirty love bug they cannot resist a grope, a stroke, huffing and groaning over each other, over themselves, upon the slightest allusion to expanded ego or other elongation. Sex il! this production came across as unnecessarily wasted energy that would have been better focused on the rich value of Jonson's language.

Quite unsexy were .the three stooges, hopeful heirs of Volpone's riches. Ed Clarke's Voltore- the vulture, was shady and wicked as the lawyer but too sharp to be a corpse muncher. Andy Pritchett's Corvino, the crow, whose fine icy relations with his wife n~ver peak as the menacingly depraved merchant who scrapes a knife at his wife's neck in earnest. Corbaccio-the raven, the dim and exaggerated old gentleman Alexander Maclean allows us is often distracting as an apparent cameo.

The lively and audacious highlight performances by Eddie Birch as Sir Politic Would-Be against the deadpan Nik Drake as Peregrine, the traveller, were full of hilarity providing the subplot. Much of the prophetic and predictable pleasure in Mosca and Volpone's work in progress was lost and as a consequence the play is not a smooth coast but a stagger through that relied on the smooth staging and ingenious set, but this was an exciting piece where entertainment succeeded through a mix of subtlety and blunt action. sean Newport

Orchestra Preview

Thank goodness for Myleene Klass . Where would we be without her arranging and recording classics by dusty old men like Beethoven or Bach? How considerate of her to open up these fading compositions to the masses- how selfless. I think it's a fair speculation that the music of Beethoven and Bach is going to be 'popular' for a lot longer than that of Ms Class. Think of some of the great films and adverts: Shawshank Redemtion (Sull'aria from opera 'Le Nozze di Figaro') , The Godfather (Passacaglia and Fugue in C ¡ minor; Bach), 2001: A space odyssey (Also sprach zarathustra; R. Strauss), Hamlet cigars (Air on a G-string; Bach), Hovis bread (New world symphony; Dvorak) and Cadbury's fruit and nut (Danse des mirlitons; Tchaikovsky); the use of classical music has provided inspiration for millions.

Did you know that the university has it's own symphony orchestra? It is not the case that live performance is only available to the upper echelons of society with oodles of cash. We sell our tickets to UEA students for ÂŁ3 - a pint and a half of Stella from the union bar. Many of you may prefer the beer, but perhaps you'll find it's the music that reaches the parts that other pastimes cannot.

We play regularly in the Anglican cathedral and in St. Andrew's hall (where they also host the Norwich beer festival). Previous concerts have included symphonies by Shostakovich, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Martinu and Berlioz.

Each semester a student at the UEA also gets to perform a concerto; we've played music for flute, piano, bassoon and timpani, to name but a few.

The UEASO is a group of students that represent every school in the university. We are a diverse bunch under the leadership of Dr Sharon C hoa from the school of music. Our next concert will b e on Saturd ay 13th December at 7.30 in St. Andrew's Hall with the University choir where we will be p laying pieces by Handel. and Kodaly. Tickets are available from the union box office. Any enquires about the UEASO, please email L.Piras@uea.ac. uk.

--------------------------------- 19.11.03

...

Dav;-f Hutchinson

TH ~

~ V E NT (

Body Language It's an unusual day when Kylie Minogue starts sounding like New Order circa 1988, but following the Brit Awards performance that mixed her Cart't Get You Out Of My Head with the seminal Blue Monday, Kylie seems to have decided that slinky eighties electronica is the way forward .

bubbly Secret, where Kylie's attempt at a rap interlude (yes, really) is nothing short of embarrassing. Equally, After Darkpenned by C athy Dennis - sounds uncomfortably like coffeetable music, and makes for a disappointing closure to the album.

And, on the evidence of Body Language, the erstwhile princess of pop may well be right. Slow, the first single, is as far from Fever's glitterball disco as it is possible to get, with Kylie's breathy vocals smothering innuendo over the gyrating grooves and robotic bleeps. It's Kraftwerk meets French provocateur Serge Gainsbourg, and no less strange than that.

Nevertheless, that Kylie has survived long enough in pop's fickle sphere to make nine albums is an achievement in itself.

For Body Language to be a genuine - although frequently flawed - movement away from the sound of her previous records is, in the face of universally falling singles sales and the might cif Simon Cowell's homogeneity factory, pretty remarkable.

Despite the odd vapid proclamation ("I'm a girl who likes her fun", Kylie trills on Secret) this is mostly an album of surprising substance. Possible future singles Red Blooded Woman and Chocolate are American-tinged R&B worthy of Beyonce or Mis-Teeq, and I Feel For You continues the eighties theme with an infectious riff that could have been lifted from Prince at the height of his funk phase.

It might not have the immediacy of Fever, or the dated charm of Kylie, but any album that combines its best femme fatale sultriness with allusions to Shakespeare ("The rest is silence" , Promises) has to be worth applauding.

Sarah Edwardes Unfortunately, the wilful eclecticism lets her down on the

Thank You, Goodnight White Light Motorcade wear vintage clothes, have a p retty cool ame, the y e ve n come from the n ght ctty, NYC - so aclungly !up the se days.

Listening to the album though , they don't sotmd cool or even pil.rticularly modem. Their album IS exactly the km d of grunge lite crap t11at's been plagumg rock smce Live released their first album albwn. TIF'Y m3n;1ge to n p -off dozens of bands over the course of tlus, but Smaslung Pumpkins probably come off worst, as therr sotmd gets butchered ~1.nrl :ttt;1ched to bad, c!Jched lyrics ("Cove1 me wiU1 semi precwus lot·e"). There's ~uch a lack of mdivtduality or ongmal thought on display, it's disturbing.

..

While a couple of the songs aren't too b ad - We Come Together and I Could K1ck Myself at least have the potential to b e g ood - any sharp e dges that might have survived the well-received live gigs the y've p layed tlus year have b een rubbed off by the b land production. Worse, the whole !lung has a nasty air of corporate tlunking , as if someone from BMG dectded to take a bar band from Hlcksville , USA and kit them out like Black Re bel Motorcycle Club so they'd get on MTV. Not tlus tune.

RobLavine

mside cove r, Broadzilla rema.m far classter than Hole, which is the only femal e band I can tlunk that they come anywhere near.

Wttl1Iyrics like "You'1e the kinda guy that wl.ite trash gnls adore. but yow mullets been out since 1984"you JUS 1• can not fault this edgy and gntty band. It is not just the hard-core rock fans that will enjoy the music; it can appeal to anyone With a sense a humour and a taste for s!Jghtly bizarre twisted American purtk rock. Having just started touring England, the Detroit band has b een well received, but despite being formed in the 1990's Broadzilla are yet to aclueve the notorie ty they deserve. Until they do you can satisfy your inte re st wi th Lady Luck or their debut album Broadzilla vs. The Tramp-O-Lea. AmyHewitt

Tlus is m re mellow and with less angst than her last album , b ut still all very good. Tlus is more an album for the girls, as I can visibly see the reaction of any of my male mates if they were to hear this album. The overall impression of the cd IS a soft one inVJtmg you to relax and listen to what she has to say, and chill out.

- - ----.__,

Whether doing mund;1ne tasks such as ironing or studying Bic ts a welcome relief. At times I! does get a hi! too gnly (She Left On A Monday) , but tl1;1t doesn't alter my opmion of

Ratings

l!.ciiiiiiiiiiiiiid

The Narcotic-ometer:

19.11..03

such ace tracks as Blondie's Heart Of Glass, Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and, most perversely , a dazzling reworking of Aphex Twin's Flim that informs the most of any track heJe why you can't help b e impresse d by the b e nefits of jazz; the geme's ability to present an infinite number of inte rpretations of the tastiest morsels of lurle age. A freakily hot p otato.

Matt Sargeson

Come Get Some

These Are The Vistas Having once b e lieved NOFX to b e the best band in the world it's not Sillprising that I never got into Jazz. Much like classical music, it always seemed to impose too much of a detachment between audience and artist, a music for those more in time with sitting down next to a grrrrrrreat coffee table than getting doWJ:t the front, covered in juices and, lardy, spittle.

Beautiful Collision

Lady Luck Broadzilla: b ad name b ut g ood mustc. The album LadJ' Luck makes a retreslung break from the typtcal fen e angst ridden trash that most purtk rock b ands fall into. The lurles remain catchy and fun. while proViding us ""ith dirty lyrics and thrashed out metal. If th y were male I would compare them to Bloodhound Ganq or .1 hard co"re vers10n of Blmk 182 Despite the red PVC outfits they b;lTely squee~e into plastered on the

this album as it's a minor glitch in an otherWise good album. The album is unprete ntious and doesn't atte mpt to conform to the hollow and conceited popular music culture of the moment.

If you were to push me to p igeon-hole thi s album it would b e as me lodic p op music, but like most things that's an Wl.fair representation. Tlus ts an album where you get a feel as to what the singer songwriter is like and. as •t,ith most individuals, every persom.li ty is different to the next. Titis makes you happier or at least more content, that you may not have been there bcfor0 Its more relaxed than her last albtml and equally as honest, which endears you to bot11 Bic and het music.

The Bad Plus aim to set that straight. Piped aboard the g ood slup mainstream by the Jazz pre ss, bassist Reid Ande rson, piarust Ethan Ive rson and drummer David King are he ralded as b rattish prince s of Beat-top ia; crafting a sound tllat "will connect with younger listeners, and open- minded older ones, by not dwnbmg down tts Jazz mustc but still being open to today's popular sound" say the no doubt beret-wearing smokmg jncl:ets of Jazz Times. What's here is tree fom1 and exciting. The band's compostnon~ paint an m1pressive ptcture of all thi't jazz has to offer. org<l.Snuc t'lUSICtu:lslup, melodic inventiOn and bags of daddy o cool- setthng and Tionstrg m eqctal measure. Showmg a love of popular culture is no bad tiling here w1th self-styled 'deconstructtm s· of Sw e e t La dy H

If tile modem face of country could do with a slap , then the chances are Hayley Willis will be the first in line to ad.i.ninister 11. An impassioned v-sign to Beth Orton's tasteful warb lings and Shania Twain's anaemic man-phob ia, Come Get Some is a country record as they should be made: angry, b roken-hearted and feisty.

Consider this urban folk music, ground down b y the manic repetition of the city and forced to look elsewhere for inspiration. Oh Brother, wtth its twenty-a-day cigar habit vocals and sparse orchestration, ts the perfect example. Fragile but defiant, it we aves a delicate melody with unde rstated strings to blissful effect.

Yeah Yeah is a role call of wronged woman cliches ("lf you only

singe r-songwnter credentials and ecle ctic influences will no doubt go d oWJ:t a storm .

Sarah Edwardes

Dance A While, Upset I first saw Settlefish e mbedded into the frontlir.e of the Fe rryboat, mere inches from fro nt man Jonathan Clancy's fizzing cnes and croons, and thereafter fell completely under their spell Baring the dubiou5 p leasure of b emg the only Italian signings to everyone·s favourite emo label Deep Elm, Settlefish draw thetr inspiration from not only tile overv:rought and dense gwtarplay at work m post-hardcore visionaries Cave In, b ut also the more purtk side of math-rock, like ]oan of Arc wtth b tg brass b alls (the b and, not the warnng Fre nch harpy).

There's much to like here , which can't always b e said of the more raucous side of emo; ge nume believers in the pomt that melodie s should g o somewhere and not ge t dissected by wmecessary riff-b eatings, Se ttle fish even manage to come up with some darned catchy choruses. Breeze is a powerful ang st b allad, its' re train of "To Remould and now reshape. to reshape and now r emould" save d from

being so much e mo shirt-stuffing from Clancy's dramatic vocal fireworks. On Measures Can Divide, the band pitch an alt. rock b reakbeat, guitars playfully skip ping over e ach other with resounding success, and Artificial Synapse shows they can fuck with time signatures and still keep you dancmg.

kn ew h ow to make it sp ecial I .. .Bu t yo u only d o what IS asked of y ou I The same shit. but it 's a differen t day'),

written with such panache that I! sounds fresher than its sentrments should allow. Elsewhere this nostalg1a becomes a problem, as No One and November rely too heavily on Vintage Joru Mitchell cool to avoid sotmding calculated.

Fven though the trutial mvennveJ,ess oi Come Get Some trickles m to repeUtion, and the. wmecessaJ.ily Amencarused vocals beg1n to untate by the end of tile 1lbtm1, tlus rem;uns m rmpresstve debut. Expect to se;e Willis battling it out for next years Mercury Music Pnze, where her

Columbian Marching P ow der

A Jaw-droppmg debut for those who like that cerebral !lung. Roll a fatty put on your h<'arlphones and get out your handkercluefs; you have been warned.

Matt Sa1:geson

Drugs-style Re efer Doobie

C alpol

Ra e e

Single Choice Johnny Cash Hurt/Personal Jesus Fact: this is the most depressing single you'll hear all year. It's posthumously released, tied to a video choc-full of waste, void and destruction and Cash's vocal is laid down as if the lyrics to Hurt were his famous last words. Not that Nine Inch Nail's original is a syringe full of laughs in the first place, but though Trent Reznor's version was rife with selfloathing and yeamings of atonement, Cash's recent death and chequered past can't help but lend that creamy dreamy voyeuristic feeling that enhances this awesome cover to classic status. A legendary recording, as important as Nirvana' s swansong You Know You 're Right in proving the might of our contemporary musical heroes.

Hurt is coupled as a double A-side with a cover of Depeche Mode 's Personal]esus, another jukebox delight for rununies who like their glasses half-empty. 'Laughing' Dave Gahan's original might have been grimy, even a little scary, but Cash brings out the song's shy retiring blues side and canes it for everything its worth. A radiant re-working of one of the early 90's most wilfully obscure dance floor fillers.

The B-side, another interpretation (this time of Glenn Campbell's Wichita Lineman) is pure gold too. More than any other part of this single, it resounds with the grave majesty of Cash's voice, a sound rounded from experience, hurt and hope. All this and more reside on the fourth chapter of Cash's American Recordings project, The Man Comes Around; and all are highly recommended.

Matt Sargeson

Kom -Right Now Korn, pioneers of nu-metal, have in recent years expanded from their gentle forays . into hip-hop and fully embraced the crass cons~erism of bling bling. It is from this despicable incarnation that the single Right Now has come. The main riff is insipid and sounds as if it has been lazily recycled from the Issues album. Lyrically it is uninspired, with abysmal lines such as 'you open your mouth again /I swear I'm gonna break it'. Basically, this song is akin to a dodgy vindaloo.

On the surface it seems appealingly aggressive but if you listen, you'll soon discover that it is stale and way past its sell-by date.

Tim Tonkin

Good Charlotte - The Young and the Hopeless

Losprophets: Lifeless

The Ghears - Inter:Flex If any attention was paid to

this band's press release you would think they were Godspeed You Black Emperor!, so keen are they to distance themselves from current trends in music. Well, for all the pretentious musing, they certainly follow the path of their 'post-rock' predecessors like the Pixies. It could even be termed Pixies by numbers, with its quiet bit/loud bit/quiet bit/loud bit/build up/end. Inter:flex is actually brilliant, devoid of too many unnecessary lyrics and with a great rhythm behind it.

I would love to hate this but as simple, honest music, it's certainly very good, especially for a debut.

Matt Stratton

Apparently it's been a year since Good Charlotte arrived on our shores. Has the charade gone on for that long?

This release is emotional drivel provided for the pre-pubescent teen market, and about as challenging as a crossword in the Star. As a band, Good Charlotte are stuck in the meaningless void between pop and 'punk' . This single is so irritating it's not even worthy of the status of a coaster and shouldn't even be allowed to sit alongside the rubbish in my bin. Track one: pretty much the same as their other releases. Track two: an impossibly mediocre attempt at song writing. Please let the charade end.

Bum Bum is the new single

from the Lostprophets, but they might as well have not bothered: it sounds like a rock out cover of Seal's early nineties track KiiJer. This single is three minutes of bland nu-metal. All the ingredients are there - the anthemic chorus and the thumping bass bu! somehow the dough just doesn't rise. It's frustrating because the band seem to have regressed since the strong, catchy Shinobivsdragonninja, and have the annoying habit of singing with American accents, despite being Welsh.

If the 'Prophets want to live up to their name they need to look at the lifeless music they're churning out.

Suzanne Rodger

The Moonies - The Rock and R ollEP The Moonies have a sound that is energetic, upbeat, chaotic and young. They sound like the little brothers of The Strokes, Ash, Feeder ... there's even a little bit of Greenday in there. First track Being Me is a hectic, rocky song. Teenage Suicide has a predictably very teen-rock sound with repetitive vocals and a heavy drum beat.

Record Store sounds more mature, and is a great singalong track- it reminds me a little of The Monkees - but not as cheesy, don't worry. These songs are all great, and this is a high energy soundbite from the Liverpool based Moonies.

Lauren Tavemer Brown

Sarah Edwardes

Matt Stratton Michael jackson - One More Chance

Good Charlotte: Mediocre

Korn : Bllng bling

Los tprophets - Burn Bum

The Coral- Bill McCai Barmy Liverpudlian chartbotherers The Coral return with the cheeriest song about suicide you'll hear all week. A kaleidoscope of marital strife, alcoholism and processed ham, Bill McCai is a toe-tapping, rib-tickling tale about growing old. If Syd Barrett had decided to write a seashanty based on the complete works of Ken Loach, it might have sounded something like this. As jangly and hununable as Dreaming of You - and much better than anything produced by the bloke out of the Lightning Seeds should rightly be -Bill McCai is depression wrapped up in a pink bow. Nice to look at, but frankly a bit unnerving.

The Cribs -Baby Don't Sweat/Another Nwnber Despite consisting of three brothers, The Cribs sound nothing like the Bee Gees.

They do, however, sound like The Strokes. Prevailing riffs, incessant drums and vocals where you don't quite know where the whining stops and the distortion begins. It's all pleasantly Lo-Fi and The Cribs quite successfully straddle the line between pop-catchiness and indie "cool". This double A-Side shows the influences of Sonic Youth and the Pixies, but it seems that a bunch of shabby-haired wasters in New York got there first. The Cribs don' t yet hit the peaks of pure energy, and depths of melancholy that they will need to get recognised amongst the Rock Revolution, but they are an awful lot of fun .

Michael Jackson, once the prince of all things pop, has not had much good publicity lately. You might think he would keep quiet for a while, let people forget the baby over the balcony or the 12year-old in his bed. Instead, Jackson thought it would be a good idea to team up for the track One More Chance with a popular, wholesome, and respectable singer. Like R Kelly. The start is quite chilled and melodic but after three and half minutes of repetitive Jackson lyrics you will be reaching for the heaviest text book to smash this CD into oblivion.

AmyHewitt

Jackson: Wholesome

"Why are you here?" they asked, presumably because of my grey hair and very obvious elderly appearance. "Is it your barn?" I was there from curiosity, and because as an artist much of my subject matter is musicians at rehearsals or buskers in the street.

By now several hundred people were milling around or standing in small groups waiting for the music to start. I unloaded my easel and found a spot in the corner of the barn where a beam of light from a floodlight lit up my canvas but left me lurking in the shadows. The noise (music) started and, surprise, I was actually beginning to enjoy the rhythmic beat patterns, and the pulsing forms of the young dancers had a hypnotic effect that made it difficult not to dance - even whilst painting!

I started to try and capture the scene on a large canvas but soon a young girl stood in front of me so a quick oil sketch of her was produced. "How much is it?" she asked. "Oh, I don't charge", I replied, giving the-painting to her, but agamst my protestations she said "I've put a pound in your pocket" and disappeared into the heaving throng of gyrating figures. She was followed by several others who offered me kisses and spliffs for the paintings which I'd given them. Suddenly I became aware of someone beside me in the half light - it was the girl who had given me a pound. She had her hand in my jacket side pocket, apologising that she needed the pound back to buy a beer!

The youngsters all seemed to be smoking and openly rolling up joints. I enquired about drugs. "There are no druggies [hard drug users] here", I was told. "They just sit at home and shoot up: they're all downers, we're uppers!" It seemed that soft drugs were equated with alcohol in the ravers' minds and were incidental to the event rather than the reason for it.

Remembering how good it had felt to be fit and healthy in my youth, I wondered how these young people could possibly enhance their enjoyment by smoking dope. But then, together with my contemporaries I'd consumed larger quantities of beer in my rugby playing days than was perhaps sensible.

In spite of the ravers assuring me that they always "clear up " and repair any damage that may have been caused it cannot be right for uninvited groups of youngsters to occupy private property. For a landowner to give permission brings problems, but there seems no way to find an outlet for this group desire to enjoy their kind of music and each other's company in a way free of bureaucratic control that does not impinge on the rest of society.

A policeman and policewoman arrived and took a stroll around the barn. I was dismissed with a sharp upward lift of the chin together with a look of disdain from the constable and a smile of sympathy from the policewoman. I wondered how they compared policing this scene with the fighting, shouting and swearing gangs of lager and cocktail bingedrinkers who were probably at this moment kicking empty beer cans and bre~g b ottles and windows in the city centre? There was no violence here and I was continuously being asked whether I was enjoying myself, as if seeking approval for the rave. There was good natured banter with the police and I noted h ow this single policeman had achieved a reduction in the sound volume - keeping the peace rather than enforcing the law.

Daybreak saw groups sitting around "chilling out" and a further visit from the policeman saw the music stopped without rancour. I left somewhere between 9 and 10 in the morning as I had a lunch engagement after which, declining an invitation to go for a nice walk, I fell fast asleep in my armchair to wake at midnight, crawl up to my bed and pass out for a further sl_eep.

David Potter

Matthew Creber

19.11.03

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18

Best of

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t Best of the rest is back with even more fun things to watch on your own. But remember , don't watch too much or you'll go blind. Or is that somthing else.

01 Buffy The Vampire Slayer Tuesda\, v\L::dnesdav. Thmsjay.

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The Slayer is back in this the final season of Buffy, for those of you who are up to date you're either already watching it or have it on video , for those of you who don 't, catch it before it's gone.

02 The Matrix Defense Wednesdav 10. !0 .n. C'hatmel 4 This possibly commercial, possibly genuine documentary looks into the cases that are springing up in the US where murderers are claiming that they killed people because of the influence of 'The Matrix.' Yeah and the Simpsons made me obese! Doh.

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03 The Rugby World Cup Final Sctu,·da\ 8 S1. <l't I '\ l Yes we're in the final, having shrugged off France and squeezed through against Wales and Samoa we're up against the big boys now, the men we came here to beat, Australia. I hope you'll all tune in to support us!

Considering driving is essentially the art of going forward as fast as you possibly can, there's a surprising diversity of racing games on the market. From absolute realism to spaceships, whatever fo rm of sim ulated mechanical propulsion you 're a ft er, there 's something available, a fact lhat makes companies ' occasional attempts to create the best driving game ever slightly baffling. In this Playstation saturated world, common wisdom suggests the Gran Tourismo series have come closest to being all things to all garners, combining depth, excitement and lots and lots of cars. However, over on Xbox there is another serious contender.

Before explaining why, it should be mentioned that Project Gotham Racing 2 is a misleading title, in that it is really the third of its kind and Gotham (or New York) doesn't feature. The series began on the Dreamcast as Metropolis Street Racer, a vast and hugely underrated game that let players race around photo-realistic versions of London, San Francisco and Tokyo . MSR was the debut of developers Bizarre Creations' kudos system, where success comes not only from finishing

V DV

Essential TV:

Blob. I am not the only fan , as almost seven mil-

lion people watch and regularly it wins more viewers than any other programme on BBC2 .

Kathy Burke is in fine form as the luscious Linda La Huges, previously known for roles in Harry Enfield and not so much for her role in the serious Nil by Mouth; she is the perfect complime nt for the pretentious Tom Farrell, played

by James Dreyfus. The undiscovered actor, whose biggest break was b uyin g an an orak from Bianca's stall in Eastend ers, dreams of Peak Practice's Simon She p herd, his knight in shining armour.

If anyone othe r than Ka thy Burke playe d the offensive, foul mouthed Linda it could easily not b e funny , but her superb helplessness in the character leads the audience to sympathise

with Linda rather than hate her. Their lives are so dire it makes student debt seem appealing.

It works in the same way Royal Family makes y ou appreciate your own mediocre existenc~ . and like car crash syndrome, the scenes are h orrible, b ut y ou just canno t help looking. The series consists of e ight great episodes, with highlights includin g Millennium and Stiff; the phra se "There's some thing in my eye" will never seem the same a g ain . While the second series is suppose dly less crude than the first , and has evolve d from simply relying on y e lling m a tch e s for comedy, it still generally consists of smutty innue n do . This serie s will still appeal to fans of the firs t, while appealing to peop le that found it a bit too much to begin with.

Amy Hewitt

Tales From River Cottage

From the reviewer who brought you "Ready Steady Cook" and "Gardener's World" comes a fantastic fusion of the two, made by the pioneering boys and girls at Channel four . It's a retrospec tive view by our man in Dorset, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, on three years living it like a commoner, showing how meaningful! and fulfilling living off what you can produce in your back garden can be. The Good Life for real you could say and isn't it great.

Bizarre diatribe aside it is a really enjoyable show that has everything from reliable rustic recipes to how to raise a family of pigs and eat them. I'm not sure whether I should admit this but it's a dream of mine and one day I, like Hugh, will say, "Hold everything, this rushed smoggy Norwich life is not for me, I'm going to Dorset to live in a cottage by a river and channel four are going to pay me lot's of money to live the way we all should live, off the land not harming anyone but the local livestock and then only when they've lived a long healthy life."

19.11.03

it 's far too easy to find several hours have vanish ed in th e process of trying to finish just one more challenge. These range from eight-car street races , to time attacks , to tests of skill. But b y far the b iggest selling point o f this latest version is its compatibility with Xbox Live. If you have access to the service, Proj ect Gotham 2 lets you compete with people from all over the world, both in one off races and by comparing your slats. As good as the computer players are , it 's infinitely more fun beating actual people.

The little touches also make it a joy to play - using the Xbox 's hard drive you can listen to whatever music you like, and it's somehow reassuring for a game to feature both accurate car models and have them show damage when you crash.

Though announcing this to be the best racing game ever may be meaningless, it is certainly fair to say Bizarre having achieved the rare feat of producing a game everyone can enjoy. Project Gotham looks a·m azing, sounds amazing and can probably be enjoyed more or less forever thankG to Xbox Live. It deserves to be on a lot of Christmas lists this year.

• Gimme Gimme Gimme series 2 •

For those of you that find comedy shows such as The Royal Family and The Office too tame and lacking in real comic perversity, Gimme Gimme Gimme, series two could be the answer. Too often comedy becomes stale by its second series, especially with only two m ain characte rs, but this does not. Linda is grotesque, simple and crude, y e t som e h ow remains the furmiest female character on TV. Tom, vague ly more intellectu a l and g ay , m akes Linda appear almost normal. The d odgy outfits , dire surroundings and Linda's expr e ssions will make you laugh before they even speak. In some perverse way, I admire Linda's unque stioned confidence in herself as she de sc ribes herself as an 'Auburn Jerry Hall' while looking more like something out of The

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firs t, b ut also from driving with style. When the Dreamcast failed , Microsoft stepped in to inherit the sequel, which now included New York , an d released it as Project Gotham.

For Project Gotham Racing 2, Bizarre have thrown ou t all the old cities, replacing them with seven brand n e w one s including Mos cow , Florrence, Edinburgh and Chicago. All are visually stunning and, if Chicago a nd Edinburgh are anything to go by, amazingly accurate. But there is much more to do than virtual sight-seeing. Once you 've finished gawping at the backgrounds, there are hundreds of races to win, challenges to beat and dozens of cars to master (somehow it's more satisfying to win in a Beetle than a Ferrari).

Third time around, the kudos system is close to perfect, with points awarded for power-slides, jumps and overtaking, but subtracted for collisions and shunts. In Project Gotham, points mean prizes, so the slicker you corner, the sooner you'll unlock the vehicle of your dreams.

Unlike Gran Tourismo, the feel of the game is distinctly arcadey; in theory you could pick it up for a couple of five-minute races, although

Many people I'm sure will have seen the long-shanked Londoner on this or that chat show representing the views of the home steader (the name for someone who lives off what they produce), but if you've n ever seen the show then I beg you to watch it at least once, for the sake of the counrtyside and all that we hold dear as British people . It's very rewarding, sitting back in your armchair thinking how peaceful life must b e when you're only job is to look after your garden and enjoy the fruits of your labour.

This weeks show is on Hugh 's memories of his early days when he first had to care for animals. He has a very competitive streak in him which can be both irksome and funny (as he tries to out grow his neighbours veg, and out sell his mentor at the local village market) , so don't be surprised if we find him at a country show trying to win a prize for his porkers.

This show will not agree with everyone, especially the vegee's out there as he does raise his animals to eat them, (except his chick-

Bpm, channel 4

ens which he keeps for eggs), but quite frankly I think that this is the mosl honest way of being a meat eater, not some one who buys his chicken for the cheapest price and doesn't consider that they were probably battery housed and force fed. As students that's a dmittedly all of us , me included so I guess the moral is that we should all raise chickens. I think . Although! I don't think that is advisable in halls.

To end then I just have to say that this will be the last cookery/gardening show for a w hile in Essential TV, the editor feels that I have overtaxed one part of our audience and I must gather unto me fresh TV watchers to read my page so I shall merely say this last snippet of tele-visual avdvise, keep your eyes out for shows like these because they are refreshingly honest and simple, which sometimes makes the best TV Tim Barker

1st1ngs 19

Wed

19/11

Thur 20/11

Club: Sports Night -Trampoline Sec's Casino Night with Disco 9pm £3adv

Club: LCR Disco 9pm £3 Buy a ticket for this weeks LCR & Saturdays Club Retro for just £5

Club: Relax @ Ikon - hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Drinks £2 all night. £2 b4 11 pm, £3 after.

Gig: Whole Lotta Led @ Waterfront.

Tribute to 70s rock band Led Zeplin pay homage to Jimmy Page et al. £10/8

Club: Superfly @ Lightbar - funk, ska, soul, hip-hop 1Opm-2am. No dress code. £3.50.

Union Film: Phone Booth - Colin Farrell's day takes a turn for the worst when he is held hostage in a

Fri 21/11 Clubnight: Harmony @ LCR. Seconf time round for this new R&B night for UEA Students feat. Harvey (So Solid Crew) and Channels 4's T4 & The Games. 10pm-1 .30am £4 Union Film: Buffalo Soldiers - Black comedy about US service men in West Germany involved in various illegal activities. 8.30pm. £2.75.

Gig: WombatWombat @ NAC. WW promote a night of noise core featuring Terrashiina, Fixit Kid, When Ghosts Use Knives. £4adv/5door Clubnight: 80s Night @ Waterfront.

80s nostalgia in main auditorium with Disco Fever of the 70s & 90s in the Studio. Spec1al charity event for the SOS Bus. Free with Flyer 102am. £4.50/3.50 NUS.

Gig: The Selecter @ Waterfront. featuring Pauline Black guest vocalist Rhoda Dakar. £9/8NUS. Comedy: The Comedy Store @ Forum - Stand-up. £12.

Bar: Blend @ Alibi Funk&Soul. £1 .

Club: Tighten Up @ Po Na Na. Funky Grooves.

M on

24/11 Comedy: Jimmy Carr L T1 8.30pm Sat of C4's New Game Show Distraction Last Few Tickets £10 Gig: Jet Plane Landing @ NAC. Post hard-core garage band with support from Bareface. £5adv/6door.

Gig: Therapy? @ Waterfront. A date in their European tour to promote their latest album High Anxiety. With support from Amplifier & White Light Motorcade. £1 Oadv.

Play: The Graduate @ Theatre Royal. The play of the story about Benjamin Bradock and Mrs. Robinson enjoyed critical acclaim when it played on Broadway and the West End. 7.30pm. £4-18.50.

Club: Mukky Duck @ Brannigans'student night until 1.30am Free b4 9, £3/2 NUS after.

phone box by sniper. 8.30pm £2.75.

Club: Boyz & Girlz @ Time £3.50 Club: Disco Sucks and The Underground @ Light Bar- real 70s, with indie downstairs Free b4 10.30, £2 after.

Tue 25/11 Club: RAG presents Plmps&Ho's, Vicars&Tarts Fancy Dress Party @ LCR 1Opm LCR £2adv £3door profits to Laura Crane Trust and Children's Trust Union Film: The Hulk - Directed by Ang Lee. Starts 8.30pm. £2.75.

Club: Salsa lessons @ Po Na Na from 7pm. £4/3 NUS for lessons, free without.

Club: Life@Time- student night 9.30pm-2am £4/3 NUS Club: Hip-Hop with electric beats @ Lock, Stock - until 2am. £4.

Play: Rabbit @ Norwich Playhouse. (also on 24/11) Frantic Assembly present this dark comedy about dysfunctional families written by the

Club: Bootylicious @ Lightbar - HipHop and R'n'B 9pm-2am Free b4 10.30pm , £4 after.

Comedy: Jeremy Hardy @ Playhouse. Well known from BBC radio and television, Hardy brings his hilariously sharp stand-up to Norwich. £12

Wed

26/11 Gig: Complete Stone Roses @ Waterfront. Tribute to the 90s Madchaster band with support from local band Swirl. £8/6NUS. Club: Relax @ Ikon hits from the 70s. 80s and 90s. Drinks £2 all night. £2 b4 11 , £3 after.

Club: Fushi @ Lock, Stock - Hiphop, funk, soul. 10-2am. £3.

Club: Superfly @ Lightbar - funk, ska, soul, hip-hop. 1Opm-2am. No dress code. £3.50.

Gig: Francesca Mann @ NAC. Soulful vocals supported by rhythm section from London's Vortex club. £7/5.

Play: The Graduate @ Theatre Royal 2.30 & 7.30pm.

Club: Karaoke @ The Bank until 1am. Free.

Literary Festival: Philip Pullman @ UEA. Sold Out

Sun 23/11

22/11

Gig: Caravan @ Waterfront. After enjoying popularity in the 70s and 80s the band reformed in '91 to continue their progressive psychedelic rock sound. £12.50adv.

Clubnight: Club Retro @ LCR. 9pm £.4.50. DJ Gav spinning 60's, 70's & 80's party Anthems in the best retro night in the city. Buy a ticket for Club Retro and Thursday's LCR for just £5

Gig: Australian Pink Floyd @ LCR. The best (and there are several) Pink Floyd covers band come to UEA as part of their Dark Side of the Moon Anniversary Tour. £15.50adv. Last Few tickets

Clubnight: Meltdown /HI-FU @ Waterfront - Pop, Alt, Rock, India with hip-hop, funk, breaks and the funkiest bootlegs in the studio 102am. £4.50\3.50 Club: Vibe @ The Bank - cheese, chart & party 7.30-1am. Free.

Club: Quest @ Lockstock Hard House 10-6am.

.,.

Clubnight: Junktruffle @ NAC. Breakbeat, funk, electro, reggae , world bass & dub Mike:Some:Noise and more, 8-12am. £6\5.

Club: Optic - Chart, retro , r'n'b .

Drinks 2 for 1. Free b4 10pm, £3 after.

Play: The Real Thing @ St.Peters Hall . UEA Drama Sec perform the Tom Stoppard Play starts 7.30pm.

Also on 20,21 ,23/11 . £3.50NUS.

Club: Brann1gans" - Anthems and good time hits 8-12.30am. Free.

Club: Hot 2 Trot @ Liquid Dance Anthems, R'n'B, Garage. £3/2NUS b4 11 , £5 after.

Thur 27/11 Club: Boyz & Girlz @ Time lar dance, r'n'b and chart. £4.50/3.50 NUS.

~

Fri 28/11

popu-

Club: Disco Sucks and The Underground @ Light Bar. Real 70s, indie downstairs. Free b4 10.30 £2 after.

Club: Party Night @ Mercy. Smart casual dress code. 9-2am. £2 b4 11 pm £5 after. Union Film: Crime of Padro Amaro - Thought provoking drama about a young priest confused over his animosity toward religion and struggling with his conscience having fallen in love with a local beauty. Starts 8.30pm. £2.75.

Dance: Salsa in Norwich @ Lightbar. Opening night of Salsa club with classes 7.30/8.30 for absolute beginners/more advanced dancers with DJs at 9.30 playing Iatin tunes to test your new skills. £4/2NUS.

Clubnight: Now 90s feat EAS17@ LCR. £5.50. This is no tribute its the real thing East17 on the LCR stage along side all those 90's tracks you grew up with. What more do you want!

Clubnight: Absolution @ Waterfront Hardhouse allnighter (1Q-4am) feat. residents Ana-logue & Bump + guests. (£12/1 ONUS) Club: Liquid·- Chart and Party £4/£2 Club: Bootylicious @ Lightbar - HipHop and R'n'B 9pm-2am Free b4 10.30pm, £4 after.

Play: The Graduate @ Theatre Royal starts 7 .30pm.

Union Film: The Pianist- Roman Polanski's brilliant Oscar winning

Food: Thanksgiving Dinner@ Diner.

International Students Society host traditional American holiday meal. £12/10 for ISS members.

Club: Play @ Po Na Na - Student Night. Disco, Funk & Classic Grooves 8.30-12.30am. Free.

Club: Manic Monday @ Light Bar Chart, Dance & Retro with DJ Rob Mac 9-2am. Free.

Sat

Australian Brendan Cowell. 7.30. £8

Play: The Graduate @ Theatre Royal starts 7.30pm.

Club: Tighten Up @ Po Na Na. Funky Grooves.

Play: The Graduate @ Theatre Royal starts 7.30pm.

film about pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's survival in a WWII Warsaw Ghetto 8.30pm £2.75

19.11.03 TH E

E VE NT

20 L

Clubnight: Soulshaker @ LCR. third anniversary masquerade ball feat. Jazzy M 10-1 .30am. £7.95.

Clubnight: Meltdown/Wraith @ Waterfront - Pop, Alt, Rock, lndie with metal, goth, alt rock in the studio, 10-2am. £4.50\3.50NUS.

Gig: Electric 6 @ LCR. Favourite of the festivals and radio this summer with hits including Gay Bar and High Voltage. Note change of venue due to popular demand. SOLD OUT.

Club: Funky Jam Carwash @ Liquid. 70s Night free entry with 70s dress. £3/2NUS.

Club: Vibe @ The Bank- cheese, chart & party 7.30pm until 1am Free.

Play: The Graduate @ Theatre Royal starts 2.30pm & 7.30pm.

Club: Karaoke @ The Bank until 1am. Free.

Union Film: Swingers- Cult film of the 90s about the lives of 5 men in California. Comedy with a fast paced dialogue. Money. Starts 8.30. £2.65.

Club: Eat @ Kale Da Electro/Techno10-1am. £2.50/2NUS

Clubnight: Sense-Aetherica @ NAC - live electronic dance music with visuals a-midnight. £6/5conc.

Club: Hot 2 Trot @ Liquid Dance Anthems, R'n'B, Garage. £3/2NUS b4 11 , £5 after.

Club: Mukky Duck @ Brannigans'student night until 1.30am. Free b4 9, £3/2 NUS after.

Incommunicado @ Sainsbury Centre. Film, installation, video, sculpture, photography and text are used to explore the concept of communications breakdown. lt includes a recently discovered film by Samuel Becket and French film maker Martin Armitz. Runs unti114 December. Free to students.

Bar: Meltdown @ Squares. All bottles and draft £1 .80.

Cinema: Film Double Bill @ Cinema City: Two classic westerns - High Noon and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 2pm.

Club: Play @ Po Na Na - Student Night Disco, Funk & Classic Grooves 8.30-12.30am . Free.

Club: Optic - Chart, retro, r'n'b.

Drinks 2 for 1. Free b4 1Opm, £3 after.

Clubnight: Rawkus 'live' @ Waterfront feat Deadstars, Southpaw, Kneehigh, Dragline + DJs. £5adv Clubnight: Skool Daze - end of term disco @ LCR £3.

UCI- Bad Boys 2 I Singing Detective I Calender Girls I Finding Nemo I Holes I Intolerable Cruelty 1Kill Bill vel I I Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 I The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1 In the Cut 1 Matrix Revolutions I Seabiscuit I [From 21111] Love Actually 1 [28\ 11] Elf 1 Showing times can be found at www.ucicinemas.co.uk or by phoning 08700 102030. STER CENTURY - Alien: the Directors Cut 1 Blackball 1 Calender Girls I Finding Nemo 1 Holes 1 Intolerable Cruelty 1 Kill Bill vel I 1 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1 Matrix Revolutions I Seabiscuit 1 The Lizzie Maguire Movie 1 [From 211 !I] Love Actually 1 [From 28111] Master & Commander 1 Scary Movie 3 1Showing times can be found at www.stercentury.co.uk or by phoning 01603 221900 CINEMA CITY- In the Cut 19-27/ll 1 Monsieur Hulot's Holiday 19-20/11 1 The Great Dictator 19-23/ !I 1 Etre et Avoir26-27 Ill 1 The Mother 28-30111 1 Le Divorce 28-30111 1 Showing times can be found at www.cinemacity.co.uk or call the Box Office- (01603) 622047 .

Play: A Christmas Carol @ Theatre Royal. Northern Ballet theatre's recreation of Dickens story of Ebenezer Scrooge. £4.50-27.50.

Club: Salsa lessons @ Po Na Na from 7pm. £4/3 NUS for lessons, free without.

Club: Life@Time - student night 9.30pm-2am . £4/3 NUS.

A Period Eye: Photography: Then and Now @ Norwich Castle Museum & Art gallery. Historic photographs from the 1840s and 50s are juxtaposed with photographs from contemporary artists. Ends Feb 29. Opening Times: Mon-Fri 104.30pm, Sat 10-5pm, Sun 1-5pm . £3/£2 .70Conc.

Anne Frank: A history for Today @ Norwich Cathedral. Detailing the history of the Holocaust and exploring the issues of racism, tolerance, human rights and democracy, drawing parallels between today's world and that of Anne Frank. Runs until Wednesday 26th Nov.

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1Opm~2am adv UEA/LCR