Venue 351

Issue 351.

Editorial

A note from the editor

“After reading Venue’s Live Music in the Big City feature on page 31, I am putting an evening aside to go to Rumsey Wells, if only because I have learned they sell Pieminister pies.”

-Tom Bedford

Deputy Editor By the time you’re reading this Easter will be over, and we’ll be back to sunny days sat drinking in the Square. At the moment it’s rather overcast and foggy, and whilst Norwich is rather pretty when you can’t see much of it, it’s still enough to cast a downer on the holiday.

That means you’re going to need something to cheer you up, and Venue has that covered with a plethora of reviews this week. With three new films in Film, two new albums in Music, two new shows in Television and a lovely exploration of the new Sainsbury Centre exhibition, there surely must be something for you to enjoy in these pages.

Or, if you prefer, we have some exploration of 80s culture in Film and one of our Features pages (p7), and some pieces inspired by American politics in Gaming and TV. Thanks to everyone who wrote this week, and good luck with your impending doom – sorry - deadlines.

For me, and I’m sure many others of you, it is slowly dawning on me that my time at UEA is coming to an end. So, I’ve been compiling a list of things I want to do before I leave Norwich. I’ve already purchased my Soul Train ticket for 27 April (I’ve lived here for four years, and I still haven’t been yet…); I’m preparing myself for the Derby Day LCR – the only major LCR of the year I have yet to go to; and, after reading Venue’s “Live Music in the Big City” feature on page 30, I am putting an evening aside to go to Rumsey Wells, if only because I have learned they sell Pieminister pies.

I’m also preparing myself for the last issue of Venue. For those of you who haven’t heard, we were nominated for several SPAs (Student Publication Awards), so I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the writers and artists who have contributed to Venue over the course of this year. And, for those of you who have always wanted to write for us, but haven’t quite gotten around to, it’s not too late! Keep an eye out for our content calls, and get writing for the next (and final!) issue.

Even more excitingly, Venue’s editorial applications will be opening soon, so make sure to keep checking our members page for deadline dates. I couldn’t recommend taking on an editorial role enough; I’ve learned so much, both as Venue editor this year and as Arts editor last year. If you have any questions about the sort of things these roles involve, feel free to drop us an email.

Until next week, enjoy this issue of Venue, and be sure to make the most of the last few weeks of the academic year!

-Kate Romain

Venue Editor Arts Editor - Mireia Molina Costa Film Editor - Gus Edgar Fashion Editor - Leah Marriott Creative Writing Editor - Saoirse Smith - Hogan

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Gaming Editor - Amy Nash Television Editor - Dan Struthers Music Editor - Nick Mason Arts and Design Assistant - Emily Mildren

Contents

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Arts

17th April 2018

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Film

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Fashion Bobby Onanuga writes on the latest steps taken by ASOS towards promoting diversity in the fashion industry

Molly Welsh considers the way that Instagram has changed the way we experience art

Sara Lapinova reviews Wes Anderson’s latest film, Isle of Dogs

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Music

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23

Gaming

Television

Music editor Nick catches up with Frank Turner

Gaming editor Amy argues that “we need more games like Nier Automata”

Joel Shelley reviews Flint Town, a show which “chronicles the efforts by the

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Front and back cover credit: Isabelle Siddle

police force of one of America’s poorest and most crime-ridden cities”

Creative Writing

Features

Venue’s creative writers’ explore the theme of music in their poetry and prose

Emily Hawkins reviews the new exhibition at our very own Sainsbury Centre, Superstructures

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Arts

Has Instagram changed the way we view art?

Valued at 35 billion US dollars in 2014 and with an average of more than 800 million users per month and growing, there is no doubt that Instagram has caused a storm in the art world, allowing for more and more artists to obtain popularity and, as a result, worth. Is it wrong to assume that the social media application has blurred the lines between the prestige associated with art and the perceived inability to achieve success in such a career?

Maria Solias, from Colombia, began her journey into the art world with uploading photos of a student project onto Instagram. From this, she gathered a following of 10.9k individuals, printed an array of garments & story books, and gained a loyal fanbase that share their thoughts and opinions in the comments. The art world was once a place for pompous people to stare at new pieces in a famous gallery, pretending to understand the message of a painting. Now, an average girl in the prime of her studies can make a living from Instagram.

We can all communicate and discuss directly with the artist about their intentions. This newly-found global audience is definitely beneficial in bringing the art world closer – into people’s homes, lifestyles and journeys – with the touch of a mobile phone.

Once, such careers seemed impossible.

Now, however, it is clear that all users have the opportunity to use social media and global interactions to develop their own successes.

Individual artists are not the only people using Instagram to their benefit. Arts institutions are also trying to impress Instagram users. For example, the Museum of Ice Cream in the US is an incredible, and if one will, Instagrammable exhibition that has benefited from the app. With large, suspended displays of fruit in rainbow colours, a pool filled with sprinkles as if a childhood dream and, of course, ice cream, this institution has attracted a following of users and visitors through the posting of content.

It is evident that Instagram is a visual space that can benefit various art careers. Given the approaching end of university for many of us, perhaps social media is the answer to all anxiety and worry. Of course, popularity and fame is not a given or an immediate result of posting work, however Maria Solias proves that a pastime can certainly turn into a dream.

- Molly Welsh

What’s on in Norwich Cilla 17-21st April - Norwich Theatre Royal Wasted 23-25th April - UEA Drama Studio Frogman 24-28th April - Norwich Theatre Royal WOW Norwich 28-29th April - OPEN - N. Arts Centre UEA Human Rights zine launch 30th April - The Birdcage

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Images: (top) Wikimedia Commons, Instagram; (bottom) Pixabay, Free-Photos

Arts

Romeo and Juliet: “what a performance!”

When Sergei Prokofiev set out to compose Romeo and Juliet he did so positively. Having been absent from Russia since 1918, he saw the opportunity to return and compose any ballet or opera that he wished as a triumphant homecoming. Prokofiev’s initial score reflected his joy at being back in homeland; composed over the course of the summer at an artist’s retreat in Polenovo, he deviated from Shakespeare’s traditional tragic ending.

Instead, Romeo was refrained from stabbing himself by Friar Laurence, and whilst they wrestled with the dagger, Juliet began to breathe. Instead of their lives ending in tragedy, Prokofiev intended for literature’s most famous lovers to leave the stage together, accompanied by a joyful score.

Prokofiev’s alterations to the traditional plot were supported and the ballet was billed for the 1936-7 season at the Bolshoi. Unfortunately, the ballet’s release was pre-empted by Stalin’s great purge, during which more than a million people were detained and over 600,000 executed. Among the victims were several of those who had supported Prokofiev’s efforts.

When the ballet eventually premiered in 1939, the alterations to the plot had been reversed, the love of Romeo and Juliet was once again doomed and Prokofiev had decided on a slightly more traditional approach.

The Russian State Ballet of Siberia have also chosen to adopt a more traditional approach in their rendition of Romeo and Juliet, setting it in renaissance Verona, rejecting the current fashion of assuming that ballet/ opera/Shakespeare is inaccessible and thus placing the performance within a more ‘accessible’ context. The result is refreshing. The changing backdrops of renaissance streets, chapels, and mausoleums drew the audience in easily, allowing them to focus on the

performance rather than how the director (Sergei Bobrov) was choosing to interpret the work.

And what a performance! The corps de ballet and the orchestra worked in perfect conjunction, one never dominating the other. That the dancers were not overwhelmed by the music is a testament to their collective talent.

Not once in the performance was there an obvious missed step, nor a missed beat; the performance was seamless.

Ekaterina Bulgutova was everything you would expect Juliet to be. Fresh, innocent, and incredibly talented, she dominated the stage. During the Capulet Ball, in which she and Romeo weaved between the other dancers, she pulled the audience’s focus with her despite the crowded stage. In the final scene, accompanied by the Death Heralds, she truly invoked the tragedy of the scene, capturing the essence of what Prokofiev, and indeed Shakespeare himself, intended.

Yury Kudryavstev, who portrayed Romeo, evidently enjoyed the performance as much as the audience did, a grin never being far from his face. Whilst for much of the show his good cheer brought freshness to the performance, at other times it did detract from the gravity of events.

He thankfully managed to maintain a straight face when beholding his beloved’s seemingly lifeless body, but he was unable to do so when cradling his dying friend Mercutio.

Nevertheless, the performance was a triumph, elevating the power of both the story and the music and proving why the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is still revered world over.

Romeo and Juliet was performed at the Norwich Theatre Royal on Wednesday 4th April.

- Louis Pulford

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Arts

Art by numbers.... letters, and colours Some of us can’t conceive the idea of numbers or letters without a colour associated to it – Arthur Rimbaud himself wrote about the images that, through colours, were evoked by letters in his poem Vowels. But while this is one of the most common forms of synesthesia, the awakening of a sense through another can occur in surprising ways; seeing music, smelling touch, hearing taste… Undoubtedly, such unique merging of sensations have led to the creation of surprising and beautiful artwork.

Take the artist Melissa McCracken, who, experiencing synesthesia herself, paints the music she hears with explosions of colours. As she listens to them, the painter gives bold and bright pink, white and green to Radiohead’s All I Need, burning orange and blue brushstrokes to Pink Floyd’s Time or pastel and soft pink tones to John Lennon’s Julia. Equally, the acclaimed Russian artist and father of abstract art, Wassily Kandinsky, evoked music visually through his geometric compositions. A synesthete himself, he is quoted saying “colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings.

The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”

With experimental art on the rise and abstraction not limiting itself to visual arts but also film or even music, sensations and emotions are of the main subjects art has attempted to represent, interpret and evoke.

Texture, hearing, sight, smell or taste occasionally come together to make the audience feel, or to best allow the artist to express the way in which their own sensations relate to one another.

Many artists focus on the stimulation of the audience’s multisensory

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emotions in their artworks. A couple of years ago, for instance, an exhibition at Tate Britain, Tate Sensorium, focused on smell, touch, sound and sight to engage its visitors into an immersive artistic experience; not exclusively, however. Many more galleries, in and outside of London, have been putting on multisensory spaces for the audience to let themselves feel the art in the most mesmerizing manner.

to create unique combinations that express unique feelings – music is, in fact, its most extended example, merging sound and lyrics that best express the message of a song. However, photography or paint are very often combined with poetry by artists that choose not to limit themselves to one discipline – in that way, not one, but many of our senses are appealed to by their art.

But despite visual art being often the protagonist in synesthetic experience, literature and its poetic devices alone have truly mastered the art of synesthesia. From the “yellow cocktail music” at Gatsby’s parties, where synesthesia is used as a rhetorical figure itself, to the highly impressionistic writing of Italo Calvino or Virginia Woolf that immerse us in worlds of sensations, literature has proven its poetic ability of awakening our senses. Many artists, too, explore how words can work with other disciplines

To evoke, present, suggest, rather than describe or naturalistically paint and draw is probably one of the key features, controversial at the time, that released art from its academically imposed norms. From impressionism to abstract painting, visual art has increasingly committed itself to raw and true feeling rather than the representation of such. As freedom of sensation has conquered the artists of many other disciplines, expressing truthful emotion has become one of art’s most beautiful achievements.

-Mireia Molina Image: Wassily Kandinsky, Wikimedia Commons

An ode to the 80s

So many people refer to the 1980s when they talk about perfect culture, and with its crazy hair, Spielberg films and amazing cheesey music, it's hard to disagree. Here, our wrtiers give a little insight into their favourite aspects of 80s culture.

Film

Fashion

I am a huge advocate of 80s fashion. Not necessarily the neons of the late 80s, but the greys, blacks, big hair, bold eye liner, and huge plastic earrings of the early 80s; think early Madonna with her chic red lip and wild mane of hair. So much cooler and edgier than the fake tan and needlessly thick eyebrows of today.

It is clear that 80s films, especially the chick flicks, are superior to our modern versions.

- Kate Romain

There’s a warm nostalgic feeling that comes from sitting down to watch The Breakfast Club (1985) with friends and family, as you watch this mismatched groups of high school teens become friends. No modern day chic flick even comes close to the likes of Sixteen Candles (1984) or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)!

- Gabriela Williams

Music

While many will associate the 1980s with cheesiness (Rick Astley, Wham! and Bon Jovi), there is much more to this game-changing decade than people give it credit for.

Gaming

Back when arcades were a big deal gaming was likely so much more of a social experience.

The 80s was the decade in which enduring favourite franchises like Mario, Zelda, Pac-Man and Tetris were released - how many new franchises like that can we say there are nowadays?

- Tom Bedford

Images: Bon Jovi - Jonathan King Mario - Nintendo, Empire Strikes Back - Flickr - Menj, M. Jackson - flickr - celebrityabc, Handmaiden's Tale - Flickr - KRISTO DRUMMKOPF, Madonna - Flickr - mobu27

This was the decade The Smiths revolutionised youth culture, Michael Jackson released the world’s bestselling album Thriller, and the decade that Toto blessed that sacred rain down in Africa…

- Dan Struthers

Literature With writers such as Margaret Atwood who tackles the subjugation of women in The Handmaid’s Tale, Alice Walker, who explores the domestic abuse of women in a community of equally strong female characters in The Color Purple, Jeanette Winterson, who explores female sexuality in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and Marilynne Robinson, who focuses on the growth of domestic females, 80’s

literature was, and is still considered to be, the most powerful and influential works in the feminist movement.

- Saoirse Smith-Hogan

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Film

A Quiet Place is silent but deadly Upon hearing that John Krasinski, best known as Jim from the American version of The Office, has written and directed a horror film starring himself and his wife, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was destined to be a complete and utter disaster. However, A Quiet Place manages to create a suspenseful atmosphere through its use of silence, even if it does resort to the occasional cheap jump scare at times.

Krasinski makes the wise decision of not weighing the film down with needless exposition. All that is revealed at the start is that we are a few months on from an

event that has led to the extinction of most of the world’s population. Oh, and everyone has to be super quiet now or a monster will come along and tear you from limb to limb. The monsters are rarely glimpsed at first, Krasinski sticking to the idea that in horror, what you don’t see can be far more terrifying than what you do.

Even when the monsters are shown more in the later stages of the film, the CGI creations are impressive, with a unique design that sets them apart from other recent cinematic beasties.

The aforementioned wife of Krasinski is the super-talented Emily Blunt, whose

performance as the mother of the central family is one of the highlights of the film, and helps to paper over plot contrivances such as nails conveniently sticking up from floorboards just waiting to be trodden on. Comparisons can be drawn between this and Don’t Breathe, which had a similar be-quiet-or-die gimmick, but where that film had its foot held down on the accelerator and never let go, A Quiet Place is more interested in ebbs and flows, which can allow the tension that has been wonderfully built up to dissipate.

Isle of Dogs is a ca-nine out of ten Wes Anderson’s latest film is a joyous and aesthetically staggering adventure story about the loyalty between people and their canine companions. When Megasaki City is hit by an outbreak of canine flu, Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura) declares all dogs to be quarantined on Trash Island.

Atari (Koyu Rankin) thus begins an epic journey to rescue his beloved dog ,Spots (Liev Schreiber), and, with the help of outcast canines, he inspires a prodog resistance to expose a government conspiracy.

The film is bursting with the Andersonesque signature touches we know and love (or hate). It is daring that the film has been attempted to be told in Atari’s native tongue, using only sparse translations of the mayor’s interpreter and

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a foreign exchange student Tracy (Greta Gerwig). However, despite this technique working for the most part, the third act suffers with it as it is the American character of Tracy that leads the resistance, and her confrontation of professor Watanabe’s (Akira Ito) assistant is strained and inessential. In addition, some of the narrative is let down by abrupt detours and overly-extended sequences, which unfortunately only succeeded in taking the viewer out of the story.

However, the film also bears some great merits. Beyond the impeccable stop motion animation and Anderson’s iconic satisfying colour palette, the film thrives the most in its dismantling of negative disfigurement representation which is stereotypically used to signal the antagonist character, a technique

-Tom Hall

that major Hollywood films are especially guilty of. Anderson plays on this trope by using rumours of a cannibalistic pact of dogs that reverberate around Trash Island, and then disregarding it immediately, giving the film a greater sense of depth and sincerity than some of his previous works.

I was pleasantly surprised by the candid gruesomeness of the setting as well as the abundance of violence that added a punch to the animated adventure story, although I couldn’t help thinking if a part of this magic was to be owed to the stunning stop motion animation. That said, Isle of Dogs is a funny and charming tale, and a true delight for dog lovers.

-Sara Lapinova

Image: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Film

Spielberg goes nostalgic in Ready Player One Steven Spielberg: a director famous for pop-culture hits such as Jaws, E.T and Jurassic Park. Yet in recent years he’s tended to prioritise biopics. This is one of the reasons why Ready Player One has arguably been a hit with fans – it’s a Spielberg movie that returns to his roots.

to see how this might be an issue, as the film leans on its audience’s knowledge of pop culture; but Spielberg manages to blend this idea of past and present

He returns to the big screen with a bang in the nostalgia-filled Ready Player One, based on Ernest Cline’s 2011 sci-fi novel of the same name. Ready Player One captures the magic and pop-culture feel of classic Spielberg movies and brings us a modern day sci-fi masterpiece. Whether it be main character Parzival (Tye Sheridan) racing the DeLorean through a New York ravaged by King Kong, or Aech (Lena Waithe) stumbling into The Shining’s Room 237, the film is heavy on the 80s pop-culture references.

wonderfully. The Oasis (the virtual world of the movie) is accessed through VR headsets, something that has only come about in recent years. This allows younger audiences to relate to the film, though they may have to turn to parents to understand its 80s references.

The film’s story itself is relatively easy to understand. Oasis creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) has died and left behind a challenge for aspiring gamers; pass his three tasks, obtain his three keys, and the Oasis is yours. Throw in a totalitarian company trying to stop our heroes succeed and you’ve got a solid adventure movie narrative. Ultimately, Spielberg’s film is the perfect film all round: an easy story to follow, references that audiences of all ages will understand, and enough special effects magic to make any Spielberg fanatic week at the knees.

Whilst the film does capture Spielberg’s infamous movie magic through the film’s nostalgic elements, does it also rely too heavily on it? It is easy

Opinion: Cannes vs Netflix

Scandal on the French Riviera. A feud is occurring in the run-up to the famed Cannes Film Festival that could shape the nature of films released on streaming platforms and festivals, and the future of film itself. Festival Director Thierry Frémaux has made the decision that films that are released exclusively on streaming platforms like Netflix are no longer eligible to win awards such as the coveted Palme d’Or, with Frémaux justifying the decision by saying ‘‘the intransigence of their own model is now the opposite of ours’’ and that ‘‘the history of cinema and the history of the internet are two different things.’’

I guess where you stand on the matter lies in what you believe the purpose of a film festival should be. The events are often a way to market films to potential buyers so that they may receive a theatrical release. French law is especially odious Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

for companies like Netflix, requiring distributors to wait 36 months after a theatrical release before they make a film available on streaming sites - if Netflix were to abide by Cannes’ rules, their films would take 3 years to actually go up on their site in France. After Frémaux announced the rule, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos said the new policy made the prospect of returning to Cannes ‘‘less attractive.’’

To me, this is a blow for the filmmakers more than anything. They can’t get the funding from a big studio for a 2,500 screen release, so they choose the cheaper platform of a streaming website to get their films out there. And as acclaimed films such as Okja and Mudbound demonstrate, this is not because of lack of quality, although Netflix does possess a somewhat hit and miss reputation.

-James Mortishire

But, let’s not forget that Netflix has raked in Emmy nominations, snatched itself an Oscar, and held a place at Cannes in the first place, asserting itself in an industry saturated with quality content.

Why shouldn’t their films compete for these prestigious awards? Shouldn’t the point of them be to celebrate artistic excellence, rather than for festival directors to maintain their death grip on how the industry ‘‘should’’ function, essentially weaponizing Cannes? One industry source described the festival rule, established in 2017, as a way for movie-industry stakeholders to limit Netflix’s growing influence; the company has announced plans to spend more than $8 billion on original content in 2018, demonstrating its desire to be taken more seriously as a platform. Perhaps it’s influence will ultimately be impossible to ignore.

-Helen Drumm

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Film

8 great films from the 80s

Our writers share their favourite 80s films and put Ready Player One to shame...

The King of Comedy

Director Martin Scorsese’s fifth collaboration with Robert De Niro, ‘‘The King of Comedy’’ is a grossly underrated and initially misunderstood black comedy that flopped on release. De Niro disappears into the role of Rupert Pupkin, a man desperate for fame in this biting satire on the notion of celebrity -Oscar D. Huckle

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

Back to the Future

Back to the Future combines a high-school love story with a time-travel ticking-clock plot to create an 80s icon greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a tight movie that manages to be both light-hearted and cheesy while hitting thrilling highs that’ll be remembered even when we no longer need roads. -Joem Opina

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

Paul Schrader’s character study of poet and activist Yukio Mishima is a biopic like no other: splicing reality between four stylised instances of fiction, we slowly understand the figure in spite of his radicalism - without necessarily empathising with him. It’s a perfect political balancing act, accompanied by Glass’ divine score. -Gus Edgar

The most stylish horror film of the twentieth century, Peter Greenaway’s decadent portrait of sex, murder, and cannibalism plays out over the stage of a vast French restaurant. Featuring a demonic performance by Michael Gambon as the inventively foul-mouthed Thief, this film is a feast in every sense. -Liam Heitman-Rice

It’s the summer of 1959 and four twelve-year-old boys go on a quest to find a rumoured dead body in the hopes of getting their names in the paper. There’s leeches, camping, trains and high pitch prepubescent swearing. But ultimately it’s about friendship and growing up. -Evlyn Forsyth-Muris

The quintessential Schwarzenegger movie, and a film that launched a superb franchise (that will have a new installment this year). Quotable, riotously entertaining, and boasting a killer lead performance, Predator is an action movie that’s still to this day a blast to watch. -Balázs Kökényesy

Rain Man’s focus - on autistic savant Raymond and the values his hot-headed brother learns from him - actively avoids presenting autism as a condition that could or should be ‘‘fixed’’. Often remembered only for Hoffman’s remarkable performance, Rain Man has revolutionised the portrayal of autism in film and still provokes reflection. -Charlie Hunt

The James Bond franchise is a long-running one, but the brief period of time in which Roger Moore, the best actor, and John Glen, the best director, worked together marks the series’ high point. Octopussy is a classic Bond romp, complete with Bond girls and gadgets (like a crocodile outfit and multifunctional watch). -Tom Bedford

Stand By Me

Rain Man

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Predator

Octopussy

Image: Warner Bros.

Fashion

Campus catwalk

Although this is a very simple look, the use of the bright pink puffer jacket is a great way to stand out (and stay warm) even better, it’s bang-on trend.

These wide legged trousers are also the perfect combination of smar and relaxed. Thank you to this Model of The Moment.

This Model of The Moment is also a proud poser. Jackets, just like the one worn here are a great way to add some brightness to your look, whilst at the same time being able to layer underneath. Staying warm and looking good = goals.

Who knew we had so many models on campus? Not only is the outfit stylish and easy to put together, the pieces in this look can be mixed and matched to create a number of different looks. Also, quite simply, I am loving the entire vibe of this picture in general.

- Bobby Onanuga

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Fashion

The best of subscription boxes Subscription boxes are aimed to provide a variety of products for an affordable price. They’re a great way to try out products that you might not have thought about before.

Some of the companies also allow you to choose your own products, so you’re not left with products you don’t want. Here, we review a few of our favourites.

Birchbox

This subscription box is the one that supposedly started it all. It’s one of the most popular, priced at £10 a month or £110 for the year. The box comes with five beauty treats that work for you. They ask you to provide details on your hair, skin and style.

Glossybox

Each Glossybox comes in their iconic pink box. This box is also £10 a month and you recieve at least 5 beauty products. You

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can also see what products you’ll be getting so you can decide if it’s worth it.

Latest In Beauty

Latest In Beauty have many different style boxes. There is a lot to choose from, such as the Harper Bazaar box with the value of £224, available for just £50. They include a lot of full size products which makes it worth the price. The subscription service they offer allows you to choose your own products. You can get three products for £9, six for £15 and nine for £18.

Look Fantastic

Look Fantastic guarantee each box will be worth at least £40. It’s a great way to discover new products and also try out cult classics. There is more of a surprise with this box as they don’t reveal what products you’ll be getting. They do however provide a sneak peek.

Pink Parcel

The Pink Parcel aims at making your period as relaxing and as possible. It’s a

great way to pamper yourself and get the essentials every month, from toiletries to treats and make up to face masks. Most of their boxes can fit through the letter box.

You can arrange the delivery to a certain time of the month.

The Pip Box

Entirely cruelty free, you recieve at least five beauty products for £14.99. For every box sold, 50p is donated to Animal Research UK. They always provide a full size product and will never feature a one time use product, like other boxes may.

You’ll also never get the same product twice as each box is unique.

Treasure Tress

Aimed at people with “kinky curly hair”, Treasure Tress has three types of boxes.

There’s a Mini-Me Box for 2-9 year olds; a Tween Box for 10-18 year olds; and the Kween Box for women. All boxes are £200.

- Leah Marriott

Images: (box) pixabay; (left to right) twitchery, Unilever, Kaldari, User: Mr X, m01229, Jen, gdakaska, samsg, Pixabay

Fashion

ASOS “makes conscious decision to increase diversity”

“The vast majority of fashion and beauty companies are usually prepared to publish “perfect” images of models on their website, with completely smooth blemishfree skin, and unrealistically well-sculpted bottoms” ASOS has always been one of the more socially aware and consumer-friendly places to shop online. Their in-house model booking team has been key to the diversity in terms of race displayed in their product images on the website.

Perhaps more significantly to the fashion industry in particular, they’ve also made the conscious decision to increase diversity in terms of body image.

In recent years, under the creative direction of John Mooney (formerly of Alexander McQueen), they’ve debuted multiple ranges like their wildly successful and acclaimed ASOS Curve, ASOS Plus & ASOS Tall lines, all created to offer the exact same clothes as everyone else. But special care is taken to the measurements of the garments, specifically designing them to fit people with various body shapes better.

ASOS has taken care to be aware of their consumers’ online shopping experience and make it more enjoyable, by making the images of their clothes - and the models wearing them - more realistic.

While the vast majority of fashion and beauty companies are usually prepared to publish “perfect” images of models on their website, with completely smooth blemish-free skin, and unrealistically wellsculpted bottoms, plenty of young people have argued that being fed these kinds of images of beauty that are nearimpossible to live up to 24/7 can eventually have a negative effect on one’s body image and mental health.

What the public thinks....

ASOS

have

taken

on this criticism of the industry, and have decided to stop photoshopping “impurities” such as scars, acne and stretch marks, things that most normal people have in to some degree.

Additionally, in conjunction with the aforementioned Plus/Curve/Tall lines, in late March their app was updated to now show the same item of clothing on multiple models by default. This helps to illustrate how the item will fit on different people, and makes it significantly easier for people to buy for their body type.

Not only do these steps towards more inclusivity contribute towards the company’s consumer friendly brand identity, but it also appears to have helped increas their profits. We don’t know much about the costs included in creating the ASOS lines or rolling out the updates to the app, but we do know that in 2017, the year after ASOS introduced them, they posted a 33% increase in revenue, and a 145% increase annual profits, to £80 million before taxes.

ASOS is already seen by many to be a market leader in terms of the online fast-fashion industry, and despite some minor PR gaffes, the response to their diversity initiatives has been for the most part been overwhelmingly positive.

Their healthy profits and positive social media perception gives us hope that other retailers will follow suit and heed consumer’s calls for less altered images and increased representation in their marketing materials, with more attention paid to consumers whose bodies don’t fit in the artificial ideal historically perpetuated by the media.

- Bobby Onanuga

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SUPERSTRUCTURES

The Sainsbury Centre’s newest exhibition commemorates its 40 years of art

‘Superstructures: The New Architecture 1960-90’ promises to “shine a light” on the architectural developments seen at the cusp of the twentieth century, and link these designs to their Victorian predecessors.

Utilitarianism is at the crux of the works on display; blueprints and paintings of factories and offices feature heavily.

Other mediums, such as models and partial reconstructions, show the ‘High-Tech’ movement’s incorporation of lessons from the automobile and aeronautical industries.

“Utilitarianism is at the crux of the works on display”

1970s’ architects’ penchant for steel, concrete, and skeletal imaginings, combined with the ideas of Victorian

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engineers, such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Joseph Paxton provide the exhibition with concept that spans centuries and continents.

“The exhibition evidences how this new modern architecture emerged from a generation of (largely British) architects who challenged convention,” a spokesperson said of the exhibition.

“Immersed in the utopian and experimental ideas of late modernism, they shared a commonality of ideas, forms, and materials.”

The Sainsbury Centre is keen to impress on the visitor that the story of “high tech” is not one confined to the British Isles. In addition to highlighting the work of the Sainsbury Centre architect Norman Foster, work by the US designer Buckminster Fuller is also on display. A personal highlight of the exhibition is the sketch of the

Depression-era architect’s Dymaxion car, which pledges to help society “do the most with the least”. (To this end, ‘Dymaxion’ is Buckminster Fuller’s

“The story of “high tech” is not one confined to the British Isles”

portmanteau of the words dynamic, maximum, and tension.) The car was intended as a prototype of a versatile vehicle that could one day fly.

“The decision to focus on the museum itself [...] is a clever one” The exhibition features many patents and blueprints; mid-way through the

exhibition you are left wondering why it is so many of the works were never executed. For a collection of works so concerned with utility and adaptability, a strong vein of innovation and idealism runs throughout.

Skeletal structures run riot in this exhibition. The focus, of course, is on Norman Foster’s ‘shed’ design of exposed steel rods, which is covered in panels of plastic and glass.

“‘Superstructures’ is an invitation to consider our surroundings”

Opened in 1978, the museum is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month and the decision to focus on the museum itself to mark this is a clever one. The Sainsburys viewed the building’s design as one of their collection’s most prized assets, and it is a testament to the gallery’s strong history that this is continued in anniversary celebrations.

The Parisian Centre Georges Pompidou complex, which holds a public library, museums, and research centres, was a late 1970s design that incorporated bursts of bright colours with exposed steel. Described in one French newspaper as the city’s monster, “just like the one in Loch Ness,” contemporaries spoke of the building as a structure that wove itself into Paris, thus breaking down barriers to accessing the city’s history and cultural opportunities.

‘Superstructures’ is an invitation to consider our surroundings and their contexts. A model of Stansted airport, complete with tiny lilac and pink cars waiting outside terminals, gives visitors cause to question the buildings around them. The exhibition also sees the debut of a model of the Sainsbury Centre, three-metres in length, which depicts the starkness of the museum’s ingenuity.

Top images L-R: Foster + Partoners, Alan Howard; Grimshaw, lower images L-R: Ben Johnson; Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

- Emily Hawkins

15

Music

Venue catches up with Frank Turner Frank Turner has had a busy decade.

Touring like it’s going out of fashion and dropping consistently brilliant albums has made him one of Britain’s most respected and established musicians. Music editor Nick caught up with him to talk about politics, music, and being kind,

Hi Frank! We last spoke in 2016 and I remember you mentioning the political direction you were considering taking your music in.

With 1933 we’ve definitely seen that, does the rest of Be More Kind follow the same vein?

Not every single song, but certainly there is a lot more of that than the last couple of albums. That’s part of why we put 1933 out. Writing about politics is a difficult thing to do, especially as you get older. Anthems have to be quite short, so you have to be sure what you are you pumping your fist about.

You have been promoting the idea of being at your live shows for a while. Is the album title an ode to that?

It is. I don’t want to over-idealise what happens at my live shows though, I’m sure some people are dicks at them!

The title comes from a poem from Clive James, who is one of my favourite writers. He’s been writing about death as he has terminal cancer and he has a line “I wish I had been more kind”. But it’s not just Clive James, there seems to be a lot of people who reach the end of their lives, and conclude they should have been kinder.

1933 takes a much rockier direction than a lot of your older work, who and what inspired this move?

It’s worth me beginning by saying that 1933 is a bit of a misdirection on that level, it’s one of the punkier ones but it’s the only one on the new record that sounds like that. With the new record

16

I was trying to be stylistically episodic, if I was doing a punk number it would sound punk, the same for a country number. [The album] heads in lots of different directions.

in 2 months, no disrespect intended.

There’s a balance to be struck as I don’t want to disrespect the old stuff and I still play them, but it’s important to move forward.

I remember you mentioning the Arkells when we last spoke and now you are bringing them out on tour. How did that link come about?

You often bring out Safer Gigs For Women on tour, given the #MeToo campaign and recent allegations against musicians and other artists. Do you think the work they do is even more vital now than before?

It came about because of an oldfashioned tour swap. I always give advice to young bands to swap shows with other musicians who need to fill their bills. They’re huge in Canada and we were helped by that, so we helped them in the US when we toured. It was more commerce than art. But they blew me away live and I love them. They’ve been a huge influence on the new record.

Last year you released Songbook, your greatest hits and an alternative versions album. Do you plan to play any alternative versions on tour?

Yeah, I play one or two which we put down on there because it was how we played it live, like Long Live the Queen. Some of the others were ones I came up with in the studio. Certainly, I prefer the Songbook version of Polaroid Picture.

It’s not more vital as it was always vital, but I think that the Harvey Weinstein thing has been a sudden sea change to views on respect for women. There’s a lot less cynicism over allegations. I do feel like these conversations have moved to the centre, and they are moving in a positive direction. It shouldn’t be a cause for complacency, we should always do more. I think there has recently been a change in that whole conservation.

Frank Turner plays at the LCR on 9 May.

-Nick Mason

It’s been 10 years now since Love, Ire & Song, do you ever find yourself looking back at the early days or are you very much forward looking? Did you ever think that you’d be where you are now: with a film, sold out tours and a large fanbase?

There’s a difference between expecting and hoping something would happen.

I always wanted to be successful but when you are driving around playing to 80 people it doesn’t quite feel like the road to stardom. Then you watch bands like Arctic Monkeys go from 0 to 60 Images: (top to bottom) wikimedia commons, Melister, ManxStef

Music

The Republic of Wolves: Shrine Long Island alt-rockers The Republic of Wolves have been around for a while now, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing them if you were outside certain musical communities. Their debut EP, For His Old Branches, was mistaken for demos by fellow Long Island band Brand New, and caused some hype; it is testament to the quality of the material that it could excite the most cult-like fanbase in modern rock music. Their first full-length, Varuna, was a satisfying chunk of atmospheric experimentation and clever lyricism, which saw frontman Mason Maggio establishing himself as an outstanding songwriter. This was followed by either their two greatest efforts or two missteps, depending on who you ask: The Cartographer EP and No Matter How Narrow. These saw the band move towards more straight-forward, optimistic indie and away from the oppressive soundscapes of their early work.

With Shrine, the band has merged these two sounds flawlessly. Songs like The Canyon and Birdless Cage feel like they were meant for No Matter How

Narrow but have some of the band’s earlier atmosphere, particular with the chorus on the former. Meanwhile, Mitama and Bask sound like they were written by the same band who wrote His Old Branches, but bigger and more powerful.

Maggio’s lyrical prowess remains unchallenged on Shrine. It lacks some of the mystery that permeated Varuna, but their immediacy and accessibility makes up for it. No longer must one be versed in matters of Islamic philosophy to appreciate the full meaning of certain songs. For those who loved the mewithoutYou vibes of their earliest work, this may be a disappointment, but it is a necessary step for the band to grow and develop.

those who backed the album through a crowdfunding campaign, but this prevents one from getting lost in the flow of the music as was so easily done with His Old Branches. Then there are the weaker tracks that don’t stick in the mind, such as Worry If You Want, which could have been replaced on the standard release by those on the extended one.

Despite these faults, Shrine is a worthy follow-up to the rest of The Republic of Wolves’ earlier work and, hopefully, will be the one which gets The Republic of Wolves more widespread recognition

-Nick Mason

Shrine is, for the most part, a strong display of controlled musicianship and the celebration of a band who have forged their own sound and built a tight-knit fanbase. However, there are weakness that cannot be ignored.

The most notable of these is that the order of songs feels jumpy, less so on the extended edition available to

The Wombats live at the LCR

In support of their new album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, The Wombats returned to a sold out LCR to deliver that infectious indie pop sound that has lit up indie discos for the past decade.

As the lights dimmed, the sleepy CGI wombat’s eyes shot wide open and synthesizers bled out the speakers. The crowd erupted in elation as the headline trio finally emerged behind the sidestage black curtain. Psychedelic, jangly pop vibes engulfed the room and it became clear The Wombats were still just as relevant as they’ve always been.

The adoring crowd screamed back every lyric and were moving side to side under the frenzy of the mosh pit.

As The Wombats ripped through their set, playing fan favourites such as 1996 and Moving To New York, the energy didn’t stop for a second. Nostalgiainducing bangers such as Techno Fan accumulated roars of happiness from the first note hitting the ears of the crowd.

The sparkling indie pop tune, Pink Lemonade, was accompanied by lead singer, Matthew Murphy, confessing that he was sitting in a café in Barcelona convincing himself that his partner was off having sex with everyone in London.

As the set grew closer to its finale, the indie pop trio whipped out their most renowned song, Let’s Dance To Joy Division, the venue felt like a Propaganda event x10 (in a good way).

As the band briefly exited the stage, they

shortly arrived back to play an encore.

The delicate synths at the beginning of Tokyo sent the place into indie euphoria and the stage was invaded by people in wombat costumes. Finishing off the show was Greek Tragedy, from their third album Glitterbug; the compelling blend of tradition indie rock with off-kilter beats and interesting synth sounds translated beautifully to the live show and capped off a great evening of music.

The marsupial, Liverpudlian pop outfit certainly proved they’ve still got life left in them, and their fans will be with them till the end.

-Joe Maguire

17

Music

Outsider music in the internet age It’s hardly a revelation that the internet has irreversibly changed how we view musicians, and how we consume music.

But what does it mean for emerging artists and the rise of the next generation of stars?

Well, it seems that it has let us replace DJs, labels and music magazines (read: money) as the key sharer of new music.

Underdogs now can be just that, and not artists hiding behind a façade created by a highly professional marketing team.

Perhaps the best recent example of someone who has come to prominence through people power as opposed to label clout is Sacramento spoken word artist Hobo Johnson. Real name Frank Lopes, he has shot to the public’s consciousness (whether you love or loathe him) thanks to his posts and videos being shared online.

He’d been plugging away for several

years with his weird, unique brand of spoken word-cum-rap, posting songs like, er, Hobo Johnson Met a Thot, Hobo Johnson’s 1994 Toyota Corolla and the wonderful Dear Labels.

After the incredible opening lines, the refrain of that song runs thus: “you’re gonna hear me whether you like it or not.”

Prophetic though it was for him, therein lies the thing about the internet - it’s no different to the radio which used to be on constantly in the family home - when someone is on the rise, they’d be nighon impossible to escape. Only now, that pressure is being exerted by the people rather than The Man. Of course, labels do still have some considerable sway with online and print advertising. I’ve become curiously fascinated by Daphne and Celeste’s freaky comeback LP, but only came across it by seeing the gorgeous poster on the tube. However, despite the thousands of

commuters who pass their album cover every day, they can’t hold a candle to Johnson’s organically grown listenership online.

It’s clear the influence of paid-for promotion is being rapidly overtaken by the customers’ furious retweeting on social media, making Spotify playlists and shouting from the rooftops in groupchats about their favourite artists. And for the lucky ones, this is now more effective than any radio play or billboard advertising.

It also can’t hurt that now sharing music online can be done legally, and far more easily than in the web’s infancy.

So, while the Spotify generation is more musically open-minded than ever, we still receive persuasion and cajoling from all sides. The only difference is that the hype machine is now a collective effort inside all of our computers and ‘phones rather than concentrated in a nerve centre of the CBS or Columbia offices.

The Vaccines: Combat Sports

The Vaccines have based their eight year career on the dubious idea that you can never get sick of a good song - the vast majority of their songs are poppy threechord three-minute rushes, and their debut album consisted of twelve almostidentical songs. Yet the band’s primary audience, teens who can’t wait to be old enough to go to their first Propoganda and think Truck Fest an edgy festival, are getting older and maturing in taste.

Combat Sports, therefore, represents the band’s attempt to mature. However, unlike cheese or whisky, The Vaccines do not mature well.

The first few songs of Combat Sports are traditional basic Vaccines songs Put It on a T-Shirt snuggles warmly in its A, D and Fm with a C# thrown in now and then to spice things up; I Can’t Quit is a barrage of alternating Cs and Fs; later Someone To Lose

18

hops between Bs, C#s and F#s with an almost identical rhythm. The album begins with the bold proclamation that “The Vaccines will not change!”

And then the album changes. Your Love is my Favourite Band drops some of the band’s signature stylistic features for a more generic indie sound, and subsequent songs boot those features out the window. Nightclub and Surfing in the Sky sound like Off With Their Heads-era Kaiser Chiefs, Maybe was found in a time capsule from 20 years ago, and Young American wouldn’t sound out of place as a ballad from an 80s glam rock band.

It’s clear that The Vaccines were going for something a little different with Combat Sports, though it’s not clear what. The different sounds used throughout the album land with varying degrees of success, and although each is clearly genetically linked to the band,

- Tony Allen

none of the new sounds seem linked to each other. A Vaccines 80s ballad is fine, and a Vaccines noughties indie song is fine, but side-by side they don’t seem to make much sense.

Despite this weird limbo the band has stepped into - or been dragged into by the slow agony of time - the album is fun, fast and only thirty minutes long.

If anything is a certain truth in life it is that The Vaccines have boundless amounts of energy, and Combat Sports wears this fact like a superhero suit.

Nearly every song is exciting, and by the end of the album it becomes clear that the more traditionally Vaccines songs are the weak elements. It’s just a shame the band couldn’t start their march to maturity in a more coherent way.

-Tom Bedford

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038

Gaming

Not a far cry from colonialist fantasy “Trust. Pray. Obey” proclaims the marketing material of Far Cry 5, the latest instalment in Ubisoft’s venerable Far Cry series. The official game description on Ubisoft’s website describes the game as a fight “against a fanatical cult in small town, U.S.A.” where “Freedom, Firearms […] rule above all else.” These statements, along with images of topless armed men and people shooting guns at bears, boldly describe the game as a satire-cumparable about the state of militant and religious seclusionism in America. The game, notably by Canadian developers, places itself firmly in a problematically stereotypical view of rural America with violence and hatred taking centre stage.

The actual message of the game is rather cloudy, due to Ubisoft games’ rambling and semi-incoherent storytelling style, but whether Ubisoft were trying to deliver an eloquent ode to resistance against facism or simply depict exaggerated stereotypes, one thing is certain – a game about toxic Americanism is worthless in a series that thrives on it. If there is a recurring theme in the Far Cry games it is the destructive nature of “heroic” Americans in foreign countries, and no “shoot-the-cultist” simulator can cover up the colonialist pride of the series.

The first Far Cry took place in Micronesia, the second in Africa, the third on a Pacific Island, and the fourth in the Himalayas. In each game the protagonist is a white American (save the second, in which the white American is one of multiple optional playable characters) who saves the day through force and violence, with recurring game mechanics including the “liberation” of enemy outposts and completing missions to support the rise to power of certain leaders. The use of violence and political pressure by Americans in other countries isn’t new in world politics, and the actions of the American protagonists in the Far Cry series speaks to this tradition.

20

are murdered by the player in exchange for diamonds, the game’s currency. In every game the player-protagonist, who carries out these actions, is considered the hero - save perhaps Far Cry 3, which made a slight attempt to criticise this theme of the heroism of visiting Americans.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Loch K. Johnson, the dean of American intelligence scholars and a professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, said “we’ve been doing this kind of thing since the C.I.A. was created in 1947. We’ve used posters, pamphlets, mailers, banners – you name it.” The interview, written to link this intelligence community tradition to recent Russian interference in American politics, mentions how the C.I.A. “plotted assassinations and supported brutal anti-Communist governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia.” These are the exact locations Far Cry 3, 2 and 4 take place in, respectively.

Johnson’s descriptions of C.I.A. actions seems more startling when compared to game mechanics in the series. A collectible-style quest in Far Cry 4 tasked players with defacing posters of the leader of the region, and Far Cry 2 included multiple optional assassination missions in which nameless men in business suits

The enemies in the games are almost always the native inhabitants of the region, with Far Cry 3’s Vaas, the iconic – although not primary – villain of the game, being characterised with his adherence to the setting’s traditions and culture. Yet whilst Vaas was also characterised as the leader of a band of murderers and rapists, justifying him as the antagonist, other games feature political tampering against normal residents. Near the end of Far Cry 4 the player is tasked with choosing a leader for the “heroic” rebels – which involves murdering one of the two options, who had both been recurring allies until that point. This outright political tampering is poorly justified in-game, and the fact that an American is the character tasked with choosing the political fate of a distant country speaks to the tradition Johnson describes of America’s forced involvement in other countries.

It is noteworthy, therefore, that Far Cry 5 drops this long-standing and outdated tradition of white male American heroism in foreign countries, in favour of white male American heroism in America. Yet whilst the political commentary in Far Cry 5, satirising toxic beliefs and the extremes of violence and prejudice in the country, is progressive if a little commonplace in culture at this point - it’s too little too late. The recurring themes and problems of the series speak to longstanding ideas of American supremacy and colonialism, and one game won’t be enough to overturn that centuries-old narrative.

-Tom Bedford

Image: Ubisoft Montreal

Gaming

Existentialism: 2B or not 2B? We need Automata.

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games

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Nier

Yoko Taro, its director, isn’t afraid to attempt the unconventional, and the game wears its enthusiasm for philosophy proudly on its sleeve. The amount of referencing and namedropping is beyond anything I’ve ever seen in a game before, but it’s chosen carefully to suit the themes of the game’s story. I’m doing my utmost to avoid spoiling the plot, but there is a real focus on easing the player into concepts of existentialism. Simply put, existentialism is the view that people define their own meaning in life and must try to take responsibility for the freedom they have to make their own choices; things only matter because people decide that they matter.

You even run across a very talkative robot named after Jean-Paul Sartre who outright tells you that “existence precedes essence” - a lecture that protagonists 2B and 9S find confusing and pointless. Further shoutouts to various philosophers - including Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Simone de Beauvoir - also crop up. “Subtle” isn’t really a word I’d choose to describe how the game puts it across - it more of beats you over the head with it all - but the fact that it even tries to explain and use such

Image: Flickr, l a n g g i

concepts in its storytelling is impressive, and the degree to which they influence the emotional weight of the finale is even more so.

In a time where a great deal of AAA releases follow what amounts to a cookie-cutter open world formula, it’s refreshing to see a game experiment with form as much as Automata does.

While it’s an open world game, it doesn’t fall into the conventions of creating a huge, empty space with little to interact with. Save for a desert section, the map is relatively small and dense, and the side missions peppered throughout it actually have a bearing on the player’s understanding of the story rather than just being busywork to artificially extend game length.

Platinum Games’ handling of the combat is a godsend, with plenty of variety offered to the player as to how they want to fight. It also plays around with genre fairly often - the camera will occasionally switch to an overhead or side-scrolling view in particular areas, and elements of bullet hell appear too.

There are nods back to retro gaming as well, with autosaving completely omitted and fast travel locked to progressing to a certain point in the story - these can get frustrating, but they’re a nostalgic reminder of how JRPGs used to be.

Despite what seems to be a general consensus among the cult-like fanbase the game has accrued, I don’t think it’s quite a masterpiece - and that’s just why we need more games like it, to take the ideas present in it that much further.

It would be incredible to see a story as strong as Nier Automata’s without some of the familiar JRPG tropes it falls back on. Similar to the recently released Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the sexualisation of female characters can get a little distracting at points: during what was meant to be a touching conversation with an NPC on higher ground, for example, the camera showed what is basically 2B’s undergarments enough times that the trophy associated with peeking under her skirt popped. I don’t think this is inherently bad - I enjoyed Lollipop Chainsaw, which had a similar trophy - but it feels tone-deaf in a game that tends to take itself more seriously.

Overall, it’s a brilliant example of how far games can go with storytelling - and hopefully one that other developers choose to follow now that Yoko Taro has seen more commercial success. We see quite a few games that feature choices to make, now it’s time to see some that really expand on why we make them and what that means about us. After all, as Sartre said: “it is only in our decisions that we are important.”

-Amy Nash

21

Gaming

Indie-penchant: The Letter

Fittingly enough, The Letter is essentially a love letter to Japanese horror films like Ju-On: The Grudge and The Ring. This visual novel is the first game from Filipino developers Yangyang mobile, and it’s certainly an ambitious undertaking - I’ve never seen a visual novel with such a wide diversity of branching paths.

Cause and effect is the major strength of The Letter, where tiny decisions can have massive consequences down the line - character relationships can make or break a playthrough. Because of this, the amount of replayability is phenomenal, especially if you’re a completionist - there are hundreds of different events to trigger. The game follows seven protagonists, who each have their own chapter, and because of this changing perspective, events don’t often happen consecutively. Thankfully the developers had the foresight to include a journal which catalogues the events of the game in order, as well as making sure that relationship values between characters were easily viewable. If these had been kept a

22

mystery, keeping on track to certain outcomes would be frustrating, since quite a number of them rely on how much one character cares for another and the most innocuous conversation could cause a drastic shift.

Takako’s always far more creepy when she’s smiling rather than sporting the toothless open mouth she often does.

These kind of became charming the more I played, however, and they stop being distracting surprisingly quickly.

The premise is loaded with stock horror tropes - a group of young people all wind up visiting a haunted mansion where they find a cryptic letter. After reading it, they are all cursed and are then stalked endlessly

by Takako, a violent ghost who is basically the twisted lovechild of Samara and Kayako Saeki. While the setup is basic, there is something nostalgic in how familiar it is. It also helps that character development goes much deeper than just imitating tropes - none of the playable cast are flat or one-dimensional, and their behaviour can vary wildly depending on their circumstances.

The Letter barely ever relies on jumpscares for a cheap shock, preferring to delve more into psychological horror and the feeling of being pursued.

QTEs might have become a cliche in the wake of Telltale’s success, but the ones used here are extraordinarily well executed, partly because of their difficulty: there’s not much “press X to not die” here, but rather a wide variety of increasingly difficult button prompts. They’re skippable, so you can never get truly stuck on one, and there is an option to switch to easy difficulty to give yourself more time.

Admittedly, some elements can be a little clunky. The voice acting features some hilariously wobbly attempts at British and Scottish accents, and

There was a lot of heart and a lot of hard work put into this game, and it really shows. It’s well worth picking up if you’re looking for a horror fix, or you want something more interactive than a typically kinetic visual novel.

- Amy Nash

Images: Yangyangmobile; Flickr, mosaic36

Television

Flint Town: An exploration of one of America’s poorest cities Presenting to us an urban world eerily akin to a dystopian nightmare, Flint Town chronicles recent efforts by the police force of one of America’s poorest and most crime-ridden cities, Flint, Michigan. Suffering from severe cuts, the police force is down to just around one hundred officers – an impossibly small force to police such a tumultuous city.

It is a crucial period of turnover too: a new mayor and Chief of Police mark a potential for change, but drastic actions have to be taken to see this through.

Due to a severe water crisis, which potentially caused lead poisoning in 100,000 citizens, trust in the local government is at an all-time low in Flint.

This estrangement in the community is escalated by the inability of such a proportionally small police force to answer every call-out – some can only be followed up hours later and sometimes never at all.

Flint Town shows a shocking and often unbelievable example of a western government’s inability to protect its citizens; sometimes police will never arrive in response to a call even if there’s been a shooting, but that’s the unfortunate and terrifying reality of living in Flint.

Criminals are allowed to wreak havoc unchecked and the police who attempt to enforce the law risk their lives both when they’re answering calls and even off-duty.

Grounding the show are the more intimate details that come from following a number of individuals and their personal experiences across the couple of years that we see. These include a mother and son duo who enrol in the police academy together before joining the Flint Police Department. The son is forced to cut people out of his life, ostracised by previous family and friends who see him as a traitor for joining the police force.

Throughout the series, it is highlighted that the issues in Flint are not selfcontained to just that city. We are shown how, at an interpersonal level, the tensions between police and locals of Flint are elevated by events elsewhere in the country, most notably due to the shooting of black civilians by police. Of course, it is not simply a matter of abusing power, but an issue regarding race and the persistent victimisation of black communities.

In Flint, the effects are reflected in the fears of both the police and the local citizens. The former know that other police have been targeted – there have been cases of officers being shot while waiting in their cars – and this everpresent danger makes their job extremely stressful.

Meanwhile, the latter, in particular the black communities, feel unable to put faith in a system of law enforcement

Images: Pixabay, Wikimedia Commons (Lokal_Profile)

which has proven time and time again to discriminate against them and even put their lives in danger rather than protect them as it should. Ultimately, this is one of the key issues that Flint Town portrays: the discord between the police department and the citizens. There is a frustration in the officers we follow, many of which are locals of Flint, that their jobs are hindered by this hostility. In the end, there is little they can do; the root of the problem is deeply imbedded in the history in American culture.

In one episode, the 2016 presidential election takes place, preceded by a rally in Flint for candidate Donald Trump.

In the fallout of the results, it is made clear that the division between black and white Americans is present not just in the community as a whole but even in the police: one white officer voices his opinion that the recent distrust and deterioration of the police is all Obama’s doing, whereas a black officer is almost in disbelief that his white colleagues could ever vote for someone like Trump.

Flint Town leaves the fate of the city uncertain. There is little that a police force can do to solve more problematic issues such as those regarding race, but efforts at a local level do eventually see a reduction of crime, and it may be that the crisis in Flint will one day be fixed.

- Joel Shelley

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Television

You should be watching...Scrubs Struggling to find a light-hearted comedy TV show to binge watch? Look no further because Scrubs will save you from the coursework slump or the revision boredom. It might seem a bit outdated in parts but it’s the perfect blast from the not too distant past. The protagonist, John Dorian ( JD), starts out as a medical intern and we follow his journey as he climbs the ladder and ends up as a high profile doctor at the Sacred Heart teaching hospital.

other sitcoms, has aged gracefully, and you can easily watch a few seasons without grimacing at the quality of the cameras, or at the poor choice of dialogue between characters. This is unfortunately becoming rarer and rarer as we move away from sitcoms where you can watch any amount of episodes in any order, and we move towards darker avant-garde thrillers structured on story arcs that are designed for binge watching in one go.

Elliot Reid whose will-they-won’t they relationship with JD provides much of the entertainment of the earlier seasons.

Or perhaps you don’t want to admit that you align with Bob Kelso, the meanspirited chief of medicine?

In later seasons, JD is no longer a medical intern nor practicing at Sacred Heart, but a mentor at the University of Winston. In his new role as mentor he helps teach the new narrator of season nine, Lucy Bennett (played by Kerry Bishe), about all the pitfalls of becoming a doctor. This final season is arguably not as good as the nostalgiaheavy seasons one and two. There are fewer members of the original cast, but season nine becomes very jovial and pithy and follows the same light style as the first few seasons. It’s because of this pithy style that this TV show is a personal favourite. Scrubs, unlike most

Although some may place JD as their favourite character, the sassier head nurse Carla is not to be dismissed as a candidate for this position. Carla, played by Judy Reyes, quickly forms a sweet relationship with JD’s best friend Chris Turk and they eventually get married and raise two children in later seasons. Other memorable characters include Perry Cox, the intimidating but well meaning doctor who becomes JD’s mentor and idol, and “Janitor”, who often plays pranks and belittles JD as a medical intern. If you still haven’t picked your favourite, there is also the beautiful, determined doctor

-Gabriela Williams

Despite Queer Eye been constantly recommended to me, I was initially reluctant to watch it. While dismissing it as “the gay Netflix reality TV show” ounds incredibly reductive, and it definitely was, I thought it would be a show filled with clichés and scrape the bottom of the reality show barrel.

family, and most importantly, teaching them to love themselves again.

goes out ofits way to conunterbalance this with their inclusion of AJ, a gay black man who is just as slovenly regarding his appearance as the other heterosexual subjects. This episode also provides an emotional punch as AJ comes out to his stepmother, after not being able to come out to his father while he was alive; if you manage to watch thiswithout welling up might require you to check for your pulse in search of a heart.

This is a show for everyone who wants a light-hearted medical comedy; especially if you are studying medicine or have an unhealthy interest in broken bones and appendicitis!

Venue’s Netflix pick: Queer Eye

However, Queer Eye is one of the most entertaining, smile-inducing, and moving shows that I have watched in the last few years. For those who do not know, the Fab Five go on a quest to improve the lives of their subject - but they go above and beyond giving them a simple makeover. it’s about improving their confidence around others, allowing them to reconnect with their friends and

24 Illustration: Emily Mildren

While the individual’s are the focus of the episode it’s their interactions with the Fab Five which provides the laughter, tears, and food for thought.

Among the important discussions that arise in the eight episodes, we are treated to an insight from a Christian father, a police officer and a Trump supporter about their preconceptions of gay culture and how this has changed after meeting the Fab Five.

Many have been quick to criticise the show for adding to the stereotype of gay men as automatically more fashionable than heterosexual men, but one episode

More than just a reboot of the original 2003 TV series, this show will keep you smiling like an idiot throughout, on the verge of tears by the end and with a more informed idea of the struggles the LGBT community face every day.

- Dan Struthers

Television

Dynasty: provides only “surface level” diversity “Blake was given a South American wife to make him seem like less of a jerk, and to make the family drama more ‘exotic.’”

If Gossip Girl had been released now, it would have probably been a lot like Dynasty. A reboot of an -80s show by the same name, Dynasty follows the Carringtons, a family of over privileged, rich, and extremely whiny people.

While it has its good elements, and is certainly fun to watch with all its drama, it lacks in a lot of areas. The main difference to most of the richwhite-people shows that have been on TV in previous years is the diversity that Dynasty attempts to include.

Unfortunately, however, this is presented only on a surface level, and misses out on a lot of potential discussions.

“The main difference to most of the rich-white-people shows that have been on TV in previous years is the diversity that Dynasty attempts to include” The main rival of the Carrington family is Jeff Colby, a young black man seeking revenge for Blake, the Carrington patriarch, putting his father in prison.

This plotline had the potential to lead into a very interesting direction, but the show chose to address the problem with a rich, white CEO putting a black man in prison only in passing, making it barely part of the story.

Jeff Colby’s father is presented as a mentally unstable murderer, a dangerous person, and Blake bribes multiple people to keep him in

prison and continuously ruin his life.

The fact that Blake has had people hurt in multiple ways, without getting his own hands dirty thanks to his money, is barely brought up in relation to this particular story, demonising a desperate man while washing a terrible person clean of blame.

The characters, although some of them likable, are difficult to connect with and feel sympathy for due to their shallow writing. Character development is severly lacking, which is where the show continues on repeating the same mistakes it has made for the last six seasons.

An aspect that initially seemed promising, and that in many ways is very positive, is the inclusion of Venezuelan characters in main roles. Cristal, Blake’s wife, is a lovely woman with a big heart and an incredible mind, smart and kind towards everyone, and loyal until the end.

Fallon, the main character of the show, seems to improve and learn from her actions in one episode, only to resort back to her old behaviour in the next; in that aspect, she is like her father.

Steven, her gay brother, who begins a relationship with Sammy Jo, is in many ways a good man, but ultimately falls victim to being a privileged, spoilt rich kid as well.

Sammy Jo, her gay nephew, is definitely the best character of the show: while a bit of a stereotypical shopping-addict kind of queer character, he is a sweet man, and the only one who seems to mind his own business and genuinely want to do good. These two characters’ backstory made for an interesting and important part of the show, with a look at immigration, abusive families, and what it means to flee a country.

Despite this inclusion, the fact that Cristal married a cowardly man who will seemingly change his political opinions to fit the situation and get the most profit, ruins the good work done by the writers, making it almost feel like Blake was given a South American wife to make him seem like less of a jerk, and to make the family drama more “exotic.”

Having finished on some unresolved family drama with the return of Fallon and Steven’s mother, as well as the revelation of the possible existence of an older brother, Dynasty knows a good cliffhanger. If the dialogue were less ridiculous, and the characters had more depth, the stunning shots, great cast, and catchy soundtrack could have some real potential.

“Character development is severly lacking, which is where the show continues on repeating the same mistakes it has made for the last six seasons.”

Image: Wikimedia Commons (The CW, Fake Empire Productions, CBS Television Studios)

-Yaiza Canopoli

25

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C. writing

String harmonics Florence was tinkering with the sugar, readjusting the amount on the teaspoon grain by grain. Outside, autumn leaves murmured their restlessness for winter.

Evie shifted her weight in her seat. ‘‘Let’s go now.’’ ‘‘Evie, your sister is still finishing her tea,’’ their mum chided.

Gingerly, Florence transferred the sugar into her tea, as if she was at a surgery table. ‘‘It’s based in London, obviously, and I’ll be living in my own flat for a change. But there are also opportunities for tours across the UK and in America as well…’’ ‘‘Mum, it’s going to get dark if we leave later.’’ ‘‘Honey, listen to your sister. You might learn something.’’ Their mum clasped her hand over Evie’s. Evie glared down at the rubies glittering on her mum’s rings. She would be listening to real music right now if she had her phone, but said it was ‘family time’. ‘‘Wait, what’s London Symphony Orchestra?’’ she replied. ‘‘I’ve never heard of it before. It’s almost like someone hasn’t been mentioning it every day since August. What’s it like in London, Florence? Can you send me a postcard?’’ ‘‘You should take Evie with you and visit me during the holidays,’’ Florence cut in. ‘‘That sounds like a good idea.’’ ‘‘No!’’ Evie exclaimed. ‘‘It would be nice, though, won’t it, Evie? Honey?’’ ‘‘I have my mock exams coming up,’’ she muttered.

Outside the casement windows, a couple was strolling down the path, the trees turning their faces into kaleidoscopes with shifting shadows. A dog snuffed its way in and out of a bush, intent on some purposeless quest. She was sick of the bitter smell of coffee, and sunlight was slipping away.

Florence took a sip of tea. ‘‘I’m just worried about transporting the cello…’’ Evie has a lingering conspiracy that her sister never eats or drinks, and only pretends for the sake of their parents. Her cup was still impossibly full. ‘‘…then, it’ll be good for Evie to tour London, she needs a break from her studying. I can show her around. And I’ll be able to pay for everything then, you know?’’ ‘‘Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here.’’ ‘‘Yes, you’ve been studying a lot lately.’’ Their mum wiped her mouth with a napkin and placed her hands on her lap. ‘‘How did the Geography test go? Are the results out yet?’’ ‘‘Honestly.’’ Evie pursed her lips. It was as if she had emptied everything in her head onto the test paper, and now her thoughts were blank. Geography was the furthest thing from her mind right now. ‘‘I’m not sure. I mean, but I memorised the definition of population momentum correctly, and chart interpretations were the easy part, obviously.’’

Evie felt heat rising and her cheeks, her pulse jumping against her skin. She had wasted so much of her life listening to Florence’s accounts of her various accomplishments that she had started to sound like her sister. The silence stretched out like glue, webbing its way across the crawling seconds. She kicked her legs against the table legs.

Florence’s gaze was shifting between her and their mum, the pale blue like waves viewed from a ship’s hull. ‘I’m sure you’ll be fine,’ she said.

The conversation shifted into more discussion of how Florence is going to move her things to London, but Evie’s mind was still full of what she said. What if she does end up failing it? The words crunched in her eardrums as she watched her sister’s lips move.

When the attention had suddenly turned to her, Evie had felt a need to defend herself, to prove that her studying had paid off.

Florence readjusted the way her cup was placed on the table, her eyes moving away from their mum’s now and again to small imperfections that only she could see. She was going on about something to do with the elasticity of the cello’s bow and how sounds blend in an orchestra.

Evie had no idea what Florence was describing, but her voice stood out clear and bright like a songbird’s. She suspected that their mum doesn’t, either, though Florence doing all she could to justify a celebration for her new job. Her voice was like a film of glass muffling the stench of rotting leaves. Evie leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

- Isabelle Harrison

Image: (Background) Pixabay, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, (Bottom) publicdomainfiles, cyberscooty

27

C. writing

How many keys until something is undone?

Hands as creation, as “if I put my fingers here will it make a sound?” The weight at which you touch meaning something soft, something determined. Something with which to turn a body, to move it, to finally give the ground some knees to hold, to give the sky some eyes to see. The slow breaking of strings, a gentle rise and fall of knuckles pulled tight and then released. Fingerprints over keys that know only how to comfort and unsettle, that know only the composition of what eyes look like when they’re closed.

And that’s the sound of the bits of life you’d live over and over again and so you put your hands there and you do. You put your hands in the space and dissipate time.

- Mollie Sambrook

The fifth wall The highway in my head clears. The cars part as if I’m an ambulance quietly speeding through, straight to its destination: the back of my head.

A wind blows the smog away. Hands massage my neck, push my shoulders down, stroke the tears from my eyes.

A black aura is in my mind. Pushing buttons, flicking switches, pulling levers. Making me feel. My body is all over. The ghost is now purple. The hairs a breeze down my arm. My heart trembles. The tremors break it. My heart is coming back to life.

The space in my shoulder, between the bone and the empty, bulking muscle. The shivers trickle down, swimming lengths down my forearms, down my thighs, across my cheeks, beneath the roots of my hair.

The electric guitar is menacing. It scares me, yet it comforts me. The ivories poke at my beating heart. The harp player plucks at strings. The voice consumes my eyes. The haze in my chest. I feel hands, but do not know where they are, or where they come from.

The music speaks. Synthesisers squeak, wail and cry. Guitar chords play a trickling stream. Sonorous singing voices echo within the confines of my chest.

Empty white skies filled with grey cotton clouds, tickling the hairs of the barren black branches. Walking blue Converses landing a millimetre from the tarmac path. Palpitating fingers twitching an inch away from her yellow painted fingernails. Lavender perfume speeds in a Ferrari down the motorway, veers into a hidden road, crashes, a beautiful explosion, against the bone wall. Shrapnel stabs, and forever stays. Smell will lead me down that path whenever I want. Regardless of if I want.

But for when I choose, I know there will always be music.

- Tom Cascarini

Gaza Prick on the end of a sniper. Click Click - Click - go the metal.

Bullets splitting bones in the boy throwing bricks.

- Tom Ryan

28

Image: (Top) Pixabay, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, (Bottom) ink-kong.com

C. writing

Notes

The silver bell above the door of the shop rings, letting out a clear, crisp note that reverberates like the pluck of a string pulled taunt.

At the sound of it, the woman behind the counter looks up with interest at the customer whose entrance the sound had announced. Almost immediately, she looks back down again, disappointed. Judging by the young man’s appearance, it’s unlikely he has any notes to do business with. Or any notes that she would be interested in, anyway.

So she keeps her head down, and when her customer steps towards the counter and clears his throat, it is with pointed annoyance that she looks back up at him. ‘‘Yes?’’ He nods to the shelves behind her, stacked to the ceiling. ‘‘I want to buy some.’’

The woman’s lip curls, and she removes her spectacles from her nose to regard him. When she leans back from the counter, the man reads from the badge pinned to her cardigan that her name is Aria. ‘‘We require proof of payment,’ she says, ‘before any service is offered.’’

Her customer had been expecting this, and so had come prepared. With a smile, he reaches deep into his coat pocket and brings out a silver treble clef. The symbol fits in the palm of his hand, and when the woman leans forward she sees that it is made of good quality, matte-finished metal. She sniffs, unwilling to be impressed until she’d heard its sound. ‘‘Well?’’

With the ball of his thumb the young man begins to rub the base of the clef in small circles, his touch light and even. As he does so, the sound of an orchestra symphony starts to play, rising in tempo as his thumb moves further up the clef and reaching a crescendo as he comes to the top loop.

By the time he finishes the last flick with a flourish, the scepticism on Aria’s face has faded. Instead, there is an absent, dreamy look in her eyes and the shadow of a smile on her face. She exhales, and turns around to face her shelves of sheet music. ‘‘Let me see what I can find for you.’’

As she starts to delve into piles, sometimes climbing a short ladder to look on an out-of-reach shelf, her customer takes the time to look around the shop. Apart from the daunting towers of sheet music, there are instruments strung up on the walls and, in a corner, he can see a crate of clefs like his own, but in bronze, not silver. ‘‘Your notes were highly complex,’’ Aria calls over her shoulder. She is still up the ladder, a pile of sheet music tucked under her armpit. ‘‘How many instruments did it take to produce them?’’ ‘‘Five,’’ the young man tells her. ‘‘Piano, viola, flute, cello and trumpet.’’

Aria nods. ‘‘Unusual. I don’t suppose notes like that get you very far at the greengrocers, though.’’

He snorts, and fishes into his pocket again. This time, he comes up with a handful of different clefs, some treble, some bass. ‘‘I keep a few on me,’’ he explains. ‘‘Different varieties, just in case.’’ ‘‘That’s sensible,’’ Aria says, as she brings her stack of sheet music to the counter. She glances up at him, a little sheepishly. ‘‘After all, you can never tell quite what people will enjoy, just by looking at them.’’

Her customer takes the pages she is handing out to him and flicks through. The disappointment evolves on his face, until he meets her gaze with a scowl. ‘‘Is this it? Only five pieces?’’

Aria shrugs. ‘‘It’s what your notes are worth here.’’ ‘‘I had been hoping for seven,’’ he pushes, at the same time rubbing gently at the treble clef in his pocket.

A few notes of the concerto echo across the shop, too subtly for Aria to grasp what he is doing, but the glassy look falls over her face once again and she turns to add another folio of sheet music to his pile. ‘‘Six,’’ she says quietly. ‘‘My final offer.’’

Her customer smiles, satisfied, and sweeps his stash off the counter. Opening his coat, he tucks the sheet music into an inside pocket, next to a shining pewter flute. ‘‘A pleasure doing business with you.’’

This time, as the shop door closes softly behind him, the bell tinkles out a piano scale.

- Sandra Tse

Image: Pixabay, Arlouk

29

Live music in the big city Platform 12

In such a cultural city as Norwich it can be hard to decide on the best places to find good live music.

Luckily, whether you want a jazz bar or a rock band in the corner of your pub our writers have a few suggestions for you.

Within Norwich there is a huge music scene that thrives throughout its numerous independent venues, pubs and bars.

you will find Platform 12 dominates this end of the scene. With a grand piano in the window the bar attracts talent from Norwich and the surrounding areas which often leads to musicians of all styles playing.

Towards the more jazz, classical and acoustic end of the musical spectrum

The bar itself has a relaxed vibe with a great selection of spirits, but this is

Fat Cat Brewery Tap

Although it’s a little way out the city, and quite a mouthful to say, the Fat Cat Brewery Tap is a great place to go for live music. It’s a rather traditional pub, with some lovely local ales, but doesn’t feel too exclusive.

The great thing about the Fat Cat Brewery Tap is that it has a little stage for the band, and so instead of playing in an empty pit in the corner of a pub a visiting or local band can be elevated over the audience, projecting their tunes better and giving them literally centre stage.

- Dominic Clarke

The Rumsey Wells

Nowhere in Norwich has as diverse or cool music as the Rumsey Wells. It’s got a range of different genres playing on all nights of the week, from hip hop to reggae to folk, in all different levels of the pub, for all comers.

The quality of music is also really high all the time, so you know you’re never going to have a boring evening! From DJs to live performers, I always have a great time.

Bands visit nearly every Sunday at different times, and they cover a wide range of genres from Americana to rock, and so every time you go you know there’s something different in store. Fat Cat Brewery Tap books their bands quite well in advance too, so the website has a full list of who will be playing and when. Just don’t get confused with The Fat Cat, which is a completely different place!

- Tom Bedford

30

all complimented by the impromptu jams and variety of artists on a Sunday night or the solo artists who perform on a Wednesday. Furthermore, to aid a student budget the music evenings are free (unfortunately the gin isn’t) and for any aspiring musicians the friendly vibe gives anyone an opportunity to perform or play the piano!

Rumsey photo: Tom Bedford, images: guitar - pixabay - OpenClipartVectors; Martini - Wikimedia Commons - Will Murray

For those who haven’t been there the Rumsey Wells is a great little pub on St Andrew’s Street that serves loads of different drinks and also Pie Minister pies, for those who get hungry. It also has a smaller lower level that they open on certain nights, which makes some music events feel friendly and tight.

When my friends and I are going out I always make sure we go to the Rumsey, because I know we’re sure to get some great music.

- Alex Cheshire

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