Quench Issue 156

Quench JANUARY 2016

weird and wonderful

UNICORNS BOWIE ALT-J TY CELF

Issue 156

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C O N T E N T S 26

8

F E AT U R E S

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VIDEO GAMES

Coming Out

22

Take me back...

49

Virtual Reality

The Horn Identity

24

Travel Resolutions

52

Star Wars: The Video Games Strike Back

Cardiff University students tell their coming out stories.

Glitter, Ket and meditation: welcome to the London unicorn scene.

C O LU M N I S T

13

T R AV E L

56

60

Benevolent Sexism

Maria can hold her own damn door!

C U LT U R E

16

Short Story Winner

20

Famous Art in Cardiff

Featuring the English Literature Society’s short story winner.

Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh; famous works on display in Cardiff Museum you may not know about.

Each month we share some of our fondest travel and holiday memories.

Our top New Year’s resolution: to see more of the world.

FA S H I O N + B E AU T Y

28

Fashion Bloggers

36

Wearable Tech

Elis Doyle takes us through a brief history of the franchise’s video games.

FILM + TV

60

Experimental Film

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Franchise Films

Let us introduce you to the rising fashionistas of the net Useful and stylish technology - the future is now, and it’s looking good.

MUSIC

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New/Newydd

44

This Is All Yours, Cardiff: Alt-j Interview

What’s new scooby-doo? New music from ESTRONS and Big Fin.

Mark Sweeney has a little chat with Alt-J’s Gus Unger­-Hamilton.

You can throw away your VirtualBoy now, VR gaming is now more realistic than ever.

Beau Beakhouse and Sadia Pineda Hameed discuss experimentation in film.

Rebooting old, successful franchises?

Yay or nay?

FOOD + DRINK

64 66

Focus Foods

Food perfect for the exam season (disclaimer: won’t compensate for lack of revision).

Hellenic Eatery Review Quench give their thoughts on the Hellenic Eatery.

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nominations Are Open!

positions available: SU PRESIDENT

BLACK & MINORITY ETHNIC OFFICER

VP EDUCATION

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ OFFICER

VP HEATH PARK CAMPUS

ETHICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICER

VP POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

LGBT+ OFFICER (OPEN)

VP SOCIETIES

LGBT+ OFFICER (WOMEN’S)

VP SPORTS & AU PRESIDENT

MATURE STUDENTS’ OFFICER

VP WELFARE

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES’ OFFICER WELSH LANGUAGE OFFICER WOMEN’S OFFICER

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO NOMINATE YOURSELF NOW: CARDIFFSTUDENTS.COM ELECTIONS All students at Cardiff University are eligible to stand in this election

Quench EDITOR Emily Giblett

editor@quenchmag.co.uk @QuenchMag

DEPUTY EDITOR Hollie Cambridge

UNICORNS . BOWIE . ALT-J . TY CELF

FEATURES Emily Jones

features@quenchmag.co.uk @Quench_Features

COLUMNIST Maria Mellor

@Maria_mellor

CULTURE Beau Beakhouse George Caulton

culture@quenchmag.co.uk @QuenchCulture

FASHION & BEAUTY fashion@quenchmag.co.uk @QuenchFashion Jamila Gandhi TRAVEL Alice Dent Lucy Pierce MUSIC Jack Glasscock Erin Gillespie James Ivory

EDITOR’S NOTE

travel@quenchmag.co.uk @Quench_Travel music@quenchmag.co.uk @QuenchMusic

VIDEO GAMES Tom Morris Saman Izadyar

videogames@quenchmag.co.uk @QuenchGames

FILM & TV Eleanor Parkyn Sadia Pineda Hameed

filmtv@quenchmag.co.uk @QuenchFilm

FOOD & DRINK Zenn Wong Daisy Lane-Murley

food@quenchmag.co.uk @Quench_Food

HEAD OF DESIGN Olivia Thomas

design@quenchmag.co.uk

DESIGNERS Bryn Evans Eleanor Duffy Alyssa Alamillo Jasper Wilkins Sadia Pineda Hameed Stephany Damyanova Eleanor Parkyn Emily Giblett COLUMN ILLUSTRATOR Naomi Brown SPECIAL THANKS TO Everyone who had exams and deadlines to work to and still put 100% into making 156 our best this year. Elaine Morgan for keeping us all sane. The Trinity Mirror guys for showing us around the printworks and for everything they do each month to get the magazine out.

In my opinion, January is the worst month of the year to be a student. I hope the combined stress of exams, deadlines, and the fact we live in the rainiest place in the UK isn’t getting you down too much.

In the spirit of truly cliched optimism we wanted to do something special to bring in the new year, so we scoured the internet to find the best in wacky interview subjects this country has to offer. Google did not disappoint. Enter ‘The Fabulus of Unicorns’ - a polyamourous unicorn cult based out of a townhouse in London - find them in a ketamine-fuelled blur of sequins and sex parties from page eight. Music is packed as ever with the bands you’ve heard of and the bands you haven’t. Give it a read so you can brag that you knew of Big Fin before they hit the big time.

Elsewhere, we have an interview with Alt-J ahead of their Cardiff gig, printed next to Louis Browne’s amazing shots of the band on stage. Turn to the centre for Ty Celf - our annual creative anthology featuring original photography, art and creative writing by Cardiff students.

We couldn’t send the magazine to print without acknowledging the loss of David Bowie, who will undoubtedly remain an icon and inspiration for generations to come. Quench Designer Bryn Evans shares what Bowie meant to him below.

BOWIE. DAD. ME.

EMILY GIBLETT

I woke up to the usual updated torrent of group chat messages, scrolling and expecting what is usually topical memes and typical low quality student chat. “Have you heard the Bowie news?” My first guess is that Theo has been listening to the new album; I’m impressed. A new message pops up from another friend. “The king is dead.” I didn’t really react until settled in the library, when the flood of tributes, homages, and respect that the online world delivered solidified what had only potentially happened in my mind. Strings of tweets and retweets poured from my dashboard, some were simple, some elaborate, but all were deeply sincere in their sentiments. Soon the debate of “how to grieve” in an online setting took place. Admittedly I did not bawl when I heard of David Bowie’s death, but acknowledging that one of my musical and cultural heroes was gone deeply saddened me. Pop stars are often temporary figures, soon to become victims of ageing and evolving trends. Yet David Bowie convinced us that he was an alien- ageless, transcendent and otherworldly. I think that’s what makes his passing even more difficult for the many people he influenced and touched across the globe. To consider his death is to admit that he was all of those amazing elements, and yet still a human man. He was also an incredibly strong force of art and creation, who made his life and visions into an experience for us all. He was an ever-changing creature, always moving in a direction that only he knew. Years ago, when listening to my father reflect on the 70s, he spoke of Bowie’s influence upon him; “He carried an entire generation through a time of trial and tribulation.” After a day of pawing through tributes and articles, I rang my Dad. The conversation fast reached the loss of one of our mutual heroes. Once again, he noted the musician’s impact upon him, “He really did add so much to my life, especially some sort of clarity as a teenager.” As for the teenagers of the 1970s who were lucky to witness the birth and evolution of Ziggy Stardust, I will be eternally jealous. Speaking to my parents about this, they explained that seeing this man/woman/alien was a revolution for teenagers – a successful figurehead for British teenage outcasts and misfits. Bowie’s persona and music managed to help introduce fluidity to gender, sexuality, and style that was celebrated by a generation, not to mention futures of people. Even during my teenage years, some thirty years after Stardust was introduced to the world, Bowie was a role model and hero to me. His confidence within himself and his art helped me to use my creativity to understand my identity. I hope his progressive attitudes, art, and legacy continues to inspire me throughout my life.

BRYN EVANS

LGB FEATURES

Elliott, Biology, First Year

One of the things they don’t tell you about coming out is that it’s a continual process. It’s not a day of telling everyone you know, and then that’s that. In fact it’s the opposite, it’s a decision you have to make every time you meet someone new.

Well, not every time. I don’t mean that I announce to the cashier that 'by the way, I’m bi'. Or that when I ask someone on the bus to move over I do it with a, 'just so you know I’m transgender'. I mean that every time you make a new friend, or see a family member you have to figure out whether they’re worth revealing this piece of information to. With practice it can get better, but there is no way to make that first time any easier.

The first person I came out to was my mum. I was eleven and had just figured out that my feelings for one of the girls at my school weren’t strictly platonic, so I did what most eleven year old's do when confused, and asked my mum. I planned it for days, the exact words to use, how she’d react. But when the moment finally came I just panicked and shouted “Mum, I think I’m a lesbian!” Her reply is still one of my favourite things she has ever said to me.

“Yes dear, probably, can you put the washing away?”

While overall I was lucky with my immediate family, not every coming out story has ended as happily. Like most LGBTQ people I have lost both friends and family after coming out. My favourite bad reaction was when I came out to my friend whilst we were in Costa; just as he picked up the tray I told him I was bi and he dropped it, drinks and all.

Despite the fact it can often be funny, coming out has to be one of the scariest things I have to do on a regular basis. Statistics like “in the last seven years 1700 transgender people have been murdered in Europe”, or that 55% of LGBTQ youth are bullied after coming out, or even just the horror stories shared by friends of bad coming out experiences make each time I have to do it a little scarier.

So whilst coming out can be liberating, exciting, and oftentimes necessary just for sanity’s sake, it’s also scary, daunting, and can get tiring very quickly.

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Luke, Media and Communications, First Year

It sucks that life doesn’t come with a “How-To” manual; and even if it did, I still don’t think it’d come with a “Coming Out” section. My biggest worry when I was a teenager was how I would be seen in secondary school.

Am I being too camp? Should I really wear this? Do I need more male friends? Do I seem gay?

During a time where the word “gay” is thrown about freely as an insult, it was hard for me to separate my identity with the word that the majority of the boys in my school saw as a bad thing. Fraught with anxiety, school up until GCSEs was a minefield. One wrong step and I might be labelled as “the gay”. Thankfully, when I got to the age of sixteen I finally realised that none of the people in my life that I cared about would have an issue with me being gay, and I set about slowly becoming more me.

Calling back from the days of MSN and many late-night deep conversations, I recall how worried I was to actually tell the people that mattered, individually, about who I really was and how relieved I felt to unburden myself with something lumbered on me from birth. By the end of year 10 I was fairly sure everyone knew, even those outside of my friendship group even who I I didn’t officially “come out” to - but at that point I just didn’t care. The often falsely dramatic and uncomfortable coming out experience is not something any straight person has to consider. I’ve always felt I was happy being myself and that those who have known me well will probably suss things out for themselves. I acted how I wanted, and didn’t worry about being treated a certain way, mainly because I wasn’t being treated any differently before.

By year twelve I’d had one or two people come to me, and ask me for advice on ‘how to come out’. The best thing I could tell them was to just be themselves, because the most awful feeling in life is being unable to be your truest self.

T+ FEATURES

YOUR STORIES Sarah, Cardiff – Bordeaux Politics Programme, First Year

I guess the first, and most important step towards coming out is selfacceptance. Probably because I grew up in a tolerant and broadly openminded environment, I had always considered having homosexual experiences as a possibility. Therefore, although I had felt heterosexual so far, and had never even been attracted to a person of the same sex before, accepting I had this huge crush on a girl was in the end pretty easy. I have to say, however, that I am also very lucky this happened while I was far from all of my friends and family; past the initial surprise, I was able to explore this new aspect of myself, free from pressure or the fear of judgement your entourage can sometimes bring.

There was definitely more to it than exploration though; after a few weeks, I realized not only that I had actual feelings for this girl, but also that they were reciprocal. That’s when things became a bit more complicated. Although she never asked me to clearly define what I was, I felt the need to; both to feel more credible and to make sense of these unprecedented feelings. Looking back now, I am starting to understand that I won’t be able to say whether I am bisexual or lesbian before long. I don’t personally need to know precisely whatI am, neither does my girlfriend – we’re in love and that’s far enough for us, as for a vast majority of our friends.

However, I can tell that to my parents, who had always known me with boys, this doesn’t feel completely “normal” – hence my mom’s 15 minute-long nervous laugh after I told her that no, I wasn’t kidding.

They’re still in the process of digesting the news, which I understand, particularly as I am unable right now to tell them what I am exactly.

Again, I am lucky that all they want is to see me happy, whomever I am with. They are afraid though, because they know, just as I do, that even in 2015, some people might reject me, simply for loving a girl. But I hope to turn the tables, and to help build a world in which one won’t have to define what he/she/they are; in which there will be no need to “come out”; in which my relationship will be seen only as what it is – love.

We’ve watched as celebrities have taken the plunge, willingly or not, and have come out to millions of people.

Ellen Page, Raven Symone, Caitlyn Jenner, Sam Smith; there is no 'one-story-fits-all'. Some face criticism, some receive love, respect and admiration, while for others it simply isn’t that big a deal. This month, Quench asked students to tell their stories.

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FEATURES

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THE

FEATURES

D

o you reckon he dresses as a unicorn all of the time, or is it a special occasion thing?’ I asked Olivia, Head of Design for Quench and fellow unicorn enthusiast, as we sat in Victoria station Starbucks downing sugar saturated hot chocolates.

Having stumbled across the bizarre VICE documentary that chronicled the life of a polyamorous unicorn movement; contacting the creatures that identify as mythical beings for an interview sounded like a totally acceptable thing to do during deadline period.

So off we went, inspired by curiosity and adventure, gallivanting across the country to this mysterious man’s ‘crystal castle’ with nothing but a whacky documentary to prove his authenticity as a real person (i.e. not a murderer). The road trip excitement began to dwindle as soon as we hit the steady stream of bodies piling out of the station, replaced by a jittery, nervous tension. We clumsily navigated the London walkways, contemplating our impending escapades. It’s a cold December evening, and we are in London missing lectures to meet a unicorn cult. Shaft, recovering alcoholic and founder of this ‘glampede’ following a spiritual awakening at the Burning Man festival, is back in London to recruit fellow like minded individuals to grow his mythical empire.

Armed with a Dictaphone, minimal information and marginally less of an idea as to what we were walking into, hot chocolates did not seem strong enough to calm our nerves. Dutch courage was necessary in this instance. A glass of red in a conveniently located pub helped a little to dispel, or at least mask, the feeling that we were completely unqualified for the task ahead. We began to speculate further; lead unicorn, glitter enthusiast, creative director, who is he really?

Early for our meeting, the waiting only served to enhance our imagination. We wondered whether these guys were at all sane, but mostly we contemplated our own sanity in agreeing to do this. With wine flowing through our

IDENTITY

HORN veins, we eventually set out down the rabbit hole (the tube) to meet the mythical creature at his house. What could go wrong, right?

And there we were, loitering on a street corner in a slightly dodgy looking area of London, getting cat-called from cars passing by. We dithered around for quite a while, attempting to muster up the courage to knock on the door of the disappointingly ordinary ‘crystal castle’. An average looking terrace house, one that wouldn’t look out of place in Cathays, didn’t resonate any magical qualities at all. We loitered for a while longer, apprehensive, but laughing, both at the incredulousness of our situation and in a wine-fuelled excitement. We decided to give him a call, on the grounds that this was marginally less scary than stepping over the threshold and knocking the door.

Our nerves are dispelled immediately when Shaft threw open the door, enveloping each of us in a warm hug, ‘You’re early guys!

I just got home from work!’. It seemed he did not, in fact, go to work in a unicorn horn, but, his whacky jumper, nose piercing and arm full of festival bands suggested that he was a little eccentric in day-to-day life too.

Almost instantly, the nerves had turned to infectious giggles as we entered this ‘crystal castle’. Walking into the living room, we encountered with a curious-looking woman with dreadlocks sat on the floor, sketching something beautiful on a white canvas. Next to her, a woman with razor-short hair and piercings sits at a sewing machine, threading an intricate black and blood red gothic corset that would not have looked out of place in a Van Helsing drama.

‘Do you want to watch me get ready?

Come on, come upstairs to my cloud guys!’, Shaft said, as if he had known us forever, connoting a sort of fantasy-like universe in which he is the White Rabbit, leading us up the stairs and into Wonderland. Transfixed and intrigued, we are already under the spell of this man, whose energy radiates like a dance as he leaps upwards. Sneaking a glance at each other, we silently agree that this is

EMILY JONES FALLS DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE INTO LONDON’S UNDERGROUND UNICORN MOVEMENT.

PHOTOS BY OLIVIA THOMAS

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As Shaft prances through the door and begins to rifle through his wardrobe, we spy a myriad sequins and colour as he contemplates his outfit. His bedroom is indeed a cloud; imposing, feathered angel wings hang from the white-washed wall and the bed below is painted with his own personally designed bedsheets that read, ‘The Fabulus of Unicorns’ amongst splashes of swirling colours.

We sit on the bed, and Shaft bounces around as the doorbell starts to ring; once, twice, three times. More people have arrived to join us. Bodies pile in, and we meet Patrick; part unicorn, part phoenix changeling, whose soft London drawl and laid-back, spiritual character indeed embodies a certain mystery. The others, all girls, are dressed in quirky ensembles. Danae, an Australian-born teacher living in London, wears a full-body psychedelic cat suit and pink, studded platform heels; a pink tiara perches upon her auburn hair. In our monochrome outfits, we feel rather underdressed and under-sparkled.

The conversation begins to flow rapidly and randomly around ‘the cloud’. Each voice is animated and words swirl confusingly. It is a discussion like no other, and we try to keep up. Looking at Shaft I try to form a coherent question, but I am too transfixed to say much of anything.

He twirls his moustache until the ends stand erect, illuminated against the silver glitter that glides along his cheekbones. He prances over in a gold sequined jacket and trousers; an ostentatious diamante necklace is nestled on his bare chest. His very realistic unicorn tail sways and his golden unicorn horn glints proudly from his third eye. He has transformed into something else, something other, and it is mesmerising.

‘This is the cloud guys… yes the unicorn empire came from my bedroom, as you can see I put my degree in Wales to good use!’ he laughs, half hysterically, half elatedly.

Chuffed and intrigued that he was once a Cardiff student, we ask about his degree at UWIC in Graphic Design, and the path that it has led him on.

‘Graphic Design is basically Pictionary!

I work in advertising now, I literally sell dreams. I have visions and create art…I’ve rebranded ideas as ‘visions’, it sounds much better’. It becomes clear that Shaft is highly intelligent, and a master at his craft. He’s tired of it though, he says.

‘But we have ideas and we make someone feel insecure by the way they look, through advertising, and I want to do the opposite to that.

I love my job, but I’ve been having

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visions of new things. I want to heal the world, and make it a much better place for you and for me’. His words are whimsical, poetic even, speaking as though he exists within a world beyond the one we know.

Shaft pulls a copy of Mein Kampf from his bookshelf and looks at us, his lips twitching with mischief and amusement. ‘This guy for example, he ruled through hate and fear, but he had great graphic design!’

“I mean, the idea that a short guy with black hair became the leader of the Aryan race, isn’t that a bit fucking weird? It was originally a gift from my racist friend, as a joke, but it showed to me that one man can make a difference when I’ve always actually thought ‘I can’t make a difference, I’m nothing.’

‘We all make a difference, all of us being alive makes a difference I realised; the way we interact with people changes the way they are, and the way we are…and I realised all that because of Hitler!”

We gape at him in poorly disguised disbelief. His thought process, being like none other we have ever encountered, is lightning fast.

The words that twist from his mouth captivate the room and hypnotise us into believing his world is our reality.

He is believable because he believes

every word he speaks.

This movement, we ask, where was it born? ‘It was born on drugs, mainly Ketamine.’, He laughs again. Shaft maintains that his addictions have saved him from death, allowing him to escape the darkened realms of his own mind and descend into a world that is considerably more beautiful.

Thus behind the glitter, the sparkles, and the horns, there lies something more sinister and raw. This is the life of a man who has struggled in a world full of depressing mundanities.

As a recovering alcoholic, current drug addict and a youth plagued by thoughts of suicide, his past is etched behind wild and vibrant eyes. ‘My internal monologue for my whole life has been ‘I hate myself ’…most creatives are really insecure, we do amazing things but close ourselves down. I never loved myself until now.’ This hedonist, unicorn movement, was born out of shadows, yet in its wake there is joy.

It has become a coping mechanism, perhaps, for Shaft and people like him to escape; to heal, and to embrace both the love of the world and find a peace from within.

‘The whole thing around the VICE documentary, they followed me around for a year whilst I was having a mental breakdown; I’d given

THE UNICORN MOVMENT WAS BORN ON DRUGS. MAINLY KETAMINE.

FEATURES up booze and was like ‘Oh shit I don’t know who I am’ – and I’ve been trying to figure it out. And that was year one, and now I’m going to give up drugs, which is going to be even harder because drugs actually saved my life. Drugs have helped me to gain superpowers and open up my heart, but my journey next year will be to do all of this without the drugs.’

He continues, without any attempt to explain his complex and strange vocabulary to us. We are in his world now. We are simply to listen and accept his words, not to question them. ‘ I used to be a ‘Trash-acorn… we all start off like this, as hedonists who love partying and being wild, taking all the drugs and making out.

And then you start getting bored of it, and realise there must be more to life than this. Then you take Ayahuasca [later we discovered this to be a hallucinogenic drink originating from South America], and then you see some shit, and what I saw was to become a ‘Light Warrior-corn’. I saw myself training as a Jedi warrior and Mother Aya taught me how to dance.

And then we had a gangbang, up in the galaxy with Mother Aya [in my head], and she taught me how to love myself. I got into a bliss state that I’ve never felt before, and things changed.’

‘Now I have Light Warrior-corns which is a harder path, where we actually have to tackle our own shit and get stronger, and raise the vibrations wherever we go. My job has always been to make everyone feel happy and fabulous and sexy, and Morning Gloryville has taught me how to harness that as a ‘thing’, so that wherever we go as a ‘fabulus’ we can make everyone feel happy and help people to connect with themselves and their sexuality.’

Rather lost for words, and feeling unable to ask for an explanation at this point, we nodded along, mouths slightly agape. ‘I do it in some of my tantric work, and I’m going to be doing it in my new workshops in London – it’s more sexy stuff though.’ Using this as an opening to discuss the more sexual nature of the movement, we ask about his polyamorous lifestyle.

‘In the urban dictionary, when a polyamorous couple go out and get a girl to join their relationship she’s actually called a unicorn.’ This is related to the third principle of Unicornia, he continues, a set of commandments if you will, that form the core ethos behind the glampede.

‘If you love everyone there will be more love in the world. Have many

lovers and love all of them; makeauthentic self. Everyone knows I am a out and make love with a pure heart unicorn.’ He is self-assured, as he sits and make everyone feel fabulous dripping in gold, exuding a love for and sexy.’ You don’t have to be his life and a thirst for the future. polyamorous to be a unicorn, Shaft ‘What’s in the future? The explains to the fledgling members visions I’ve been having is about my sat with us, slightly abashed. Though tantric unicorn stuff, I’ve learnt all he muses, if you are truly on a the superpowers; it’s weird, all the spiritual path then giving up the fucked up people on a journey to try ego and attachment comes hand in and heal themselves have become hand with polyamory. He speaks in healers, and they are using that to a light, playful tone, yet under his help others, and that’s what I do now.’ free-loving persona I sense perhaps What was it that made him so a more vulnerable man, who has mesmerising? Maybe it was the way suffered deeply from a broken heart he giggled; high-pitched, and ecstatic, in another life. Sexuality, it is clear, like a child playing with helium has gained a central importance to balloons. He laughs at his own words, Shaft’s vision. and at the world, like someone Basically I was on Ryan Air who knows suffering and love and going to Nowhere Festival; all the heartbreak, and it has driven him best ideas come from Ryan Air! I mad, but in the best way there is. ‘Just meditated for 2 hours. I had a tiered be happy, really, that’s the main goal, vision… about how we are unicorns, isn’t it,’ he states matter-of-factly. By and we create positive energy in the now we are inclined to agree with room. Well, we also work at high-end everything he says, as a Catholic sex parties, so we open up these orgy would unquestionably believe the rooms and work at body positivity words of his priest. Though battleevents. It’s conscious sexuality, and scarred and appearing wiser than his that’s what I promote.

36 years, he embodies a youth that I His visions, he continues, have never known in a man. And like told him to create tantric unicorns Willy Wonka in his chocolate factory, characterised within a flowing, Shaft is the king of this house and the beautiful dance of love and sexuality, God of his own mythical universe. making and spreading love in an Some may think he is more than a ethereal and undulated way. ‘And little mad, but as Bukowski once said; now I am no longer a Trasha-corn or “some people never go crazy, and a Pega-corn god, and I am changing what truly horrible lives they must from a Light Warrior-corn to live.”

Tantri-corn.’ The ability to transform remains at the heart of Shaft’s philosophy. He is on a journey of self-discovery, a quest to discover and validate his existence through change and evolution.

These high-end sex parties, Shaft explains, work to manifest and promote the belief that we are all gods and goddesses in this world; that we must harness our natural powers to give and create love. Visions that manifested on the Ryan Air flight have led him to create tantric goddess activation sessions, which are one-toone client based workshops that teach the awakening of conscious sexuality.

‘I am the creator and manifestor of my reality, Iboga [a psychedelic plant from Central Africa] showed me that I should become a full time tantric unicorn. I want to help people to activate the goddess within.’

We wonder aloud whether he feels he is living another life, with one foot in reality, and one hoof in the fairy-tale world he has created. ‘No not at all because I tell everyone everything all of the time; I would not be suppressing anything, otherwise you would not be living your true

SOME PEOPLE NEVER GO CRAZY, AND WHAT TRULY HORRIBLE LIVES THEY MUST LIVE

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FROM ONLY

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Illustrator - Naomi Brown

HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE

COLUMN

Maria

When you think of sexism, an image that may come to mind is that of the pig-headed idiots in the comments section of YouTube who think it's amusing to tell women to 'go back to the kitchen', or of 'lads' in YOLO sexually harassing any girl they can lay their hands upon.

Sexism can be split into two categories, hostile or benevolent. Hostile sexism is obvious, overt, treating women as second-class citizens or objects.

On the other hand there's benevolent sexism, a symptom of society that is far harder to eradicate.

Have you seen the latest Star Wars film? I was delighted to see that it not only sees a female taking the lead, but also the subtle rejection of benevolent sexism. Finn and Rey are running away from the First Order's troops, and manlyman Finn keeps insisting on taking Rey's hand in the manner of a parent helping their child to cross the road. Fin later gets knocked out, lying on the ground and Rey goes to check on him, he wakes up and immediately asks if SHE'S alright. See what's wrong here?

In a waitressing job I had over last summer, men were given the job of carrying heavy things, big stacks of plates and large tables. In families it's the sons and fathers that are expected to fix things and carry things. It makes me wonder how women are supposed to get stronger if we aren't allowed to do anything? Men open doors for women, pay for women's dinner and come riding in on their high horses to save poor weak women incapable of doing things for themselves.

Society views women as kinder, more moral, more virtuous. There are people who wouldn't swear in front of women as to not hurt their delicate little ears. Men feel protective over women, wanting to keep women safe from the world’s dangers. It has long been thought that in the event of a sinking ship, women should be saved before men, with most of society in agreement. Stop and think about this. It’s ridiculous! We can’t be equal if one gender is put first either way.

Just stop for a second. If you are a man reading this, would you hold open a door for another man in the same way you would for a woman? Would you give a fellow male your jacket if he said he was cold, like you might do for a woman? It’s time to reconsider attitudes to differences between the sexes, and why we do these things. It’s not just men either, but women seem to expect men to put themselves out to help them. A 2014 NerdWallet study looked at 1,000 US respondents, finding that

72.5% of women expected men to pick up the bill on a first date. In my opinion, some women perpetuate their own inequality by thinking it’s their right to be bought drinks by men. It’s fine buying people drinks, paying for people’s meals, opening doors for others, but thinking you deserve these things just because of your gender is not right.

Professor Judith Hall, of Northeastern University in Boston, puts my point perfectly: 'Benevolent sexism is like a wolf in sheep's clothing that perpetuates support for gender inequality among women.’ If we continue to expect men to treat us as like this, how can we expect true equality?

People will argue that women need to be helped because we are biologically weaker than men.

Women enter weightlifting competitions who are far stronger than the average man. And I don’t know about you, but even though I may not be able to do more than one push-up or be able to reach things that my over-six-foot-tall male friends may be able to, but I seem to be able to manage just fine most of the time by myself.

Women are not weak. Why is it then that men are still expected to be the ones who should take the

lead?

It must be recognised that there is a difference between chivalry and courtesy; as men should not be going to extra lengths to protect or help women. But if someone is physically struggling to do something, obviously anyone who can, should help. Chivalry should die.

You may argue what’s the point? It’s not hurting anyone or offending anyone, so why should we care? Just think: if a male boss believes women are more sensitive and delicate, how would he expect women to handle difficult situations, or be worthy of promotion.

Stopping this type of sexism is beneficial to all, as men will no longer be breaking their backs or their bank accounts to save supposedly incapable women. I’m sure most men will also appreciate not being made to wait in a life-or-death situation while women are saved first.

Maria Mellor

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Entrance to Cardiff Docks - L. Walden

This dark and moody painting is packed with grime. The sweat and soot and dirt almost overpower you. Painted between 1893 and 1897, this showed a contemporary scene that would have been familiar to the residents of Cardiff. In a metaphor for urban living the people in the painting huddle close together as they work, dwarfed by the looming ships and buildings.

At the centre lies a billowing cloud of steam obscuring some of the view, just as the industry obscures the humanity in the docks. However, amid the gloom there are small but beautiful pinpoints of light; green, red and orange lights that offer hope.

To the far left stands a lighthouse, even in a scene as dark as this one there are points of warmth and protection.

Pleasant or unpleasant this painting speaks to the heart of Cardiff ’s industrial heritage.

- Brett Jones

CULTURE

It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless in the empty Assembly lot, not a pile driver in sight. The sloeback, slow stacked, bible-black, bureaucratic heap rollicks in the happy hands of Captain Morgan, and points its civil servant filled windows at the litter strewn streets. I shouldn’t complain, they’ve made me a national hero, stuck my face on the wall and told me to write poems about Wales. Given me a laureates flat, beach wood, flash, bijou and free, overlooking Cardiff ’s bubbling bay.

Peter Finch - ‘What If Dylan Thomas Had Lived’ ‘What If Dylan Thomas Had Lived’ is a humorous prose poem that imagines what Dylan Thomas, the speaker, may think of Wales if he were alive past the millennium. Now living in a flat ‘overlooking Cardiff ’s bubbling bay’, the character of Thomas reflects on his national hero status in the same league as The Manic Street Preachers and Tom Jones, and mildly questions matters of nationality and identity in the environment of this city.

Peter Finch attempts to light-heartedly mimic Thomas’ poetic and elegiac style whilst muddling this with prosaic modern references, creating creative amusing contrasts such as Thomas going ‘back to Laugharne and bounced their bright-eyed burger bar into the foam flecked sea.’ The poet places a familiar Welsh figure in an equally familiar setting in this witty piece.

- Sadia Pineda Hameed

CARDIFF IN FICTION.

Quench Culture takes a look at representations of Cardiff in art and literature.

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CULTURE Traffic-jammed under a square Of perfect blue I thirst For their lake’s fingering Shadow, trunk by trunk arching A cloister between the parks And pillars of civic architecture Older and taller than all of it.

Heat is a salt encrustation.

Walls square up to the sky without the company of leaves or the town life of birds.

At the roadside this enormous firewood, elmwood, the start of some terrible undoing.

Gillian Clarke - ‘Cardiff Elms’

Sketch for Cardiff Bay - Terry Setch Painted in 1992, Terry Setch’s contemporary style ‘Sketch for Cardiff Bay’ represents the transformation of the Bay into a site of leisure and business, foreshadowing the founding of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999. The abstract oil painting encapsulates the beginning of the changes taking place during the 1990s. The vibrancy within the middle of the artwork reflects the modernisation of the Bay and the development from the more industrial Tiger Bay. In contrast to this, the sections of the piece that remain white suggest the loss of an area that homed sailors and migrants throughout the coal exportation years. ‘Sketch for Cardiff Bay’ represents the changes occurring in Cardiff during the 1990s, and acts as a symbol of modernisation.

- Victoria Rundle

Cardiff from Leckwith – F. Jones The city (or town, as it was when this was painted) sits comfortably in the landscape, fitting snuggly alongside the lush pastures of pastoral Leckwith. But do those clouds rolling in hint at trouble brewing? There is a contrast drawn between the rural and the urban. Cardiff fits in well now but it is the interloper; the hills towering over Cardiff in the background seem to be warning against further encroachment.

The countryside clearly takes precedence. It has the mellow, soothing green tones compared to the dull, flat, pale colours used for Cardiff. The people we see are happy, tranquil evidence of family life, and they are firmly located in the countryside not the impersonal, indifferent town. There is an added kind of tolerance here, the town and the countryside both have their place and all will be will as long as they both remain there. The man in the picture taking in the view may be wondering if this uneasy truce could last, today we know the answer.’

By Brett Jones

In reference to the Dutch Elm Disease in Britain during the 70’s, ‘Cardiff Elms’ discusses loss in the landscape Gillian Clarke was familiar with - that of the avenue of elm trees in Cardiff city centre during her time at university. The poem has a tender tone of mourning in remembrance for how ‘On a rose-coloured road/ they laid their inks’, the shadows cast by the elms written into her idyllic memories; and yearning for that shade once more, as ‘Traffic-jammed under a square/of perfect blue I thirst’. Clarke’s poem is not only about the loss itself, but changing landscapes in Wales, pertinent to cities such as Cardiff.

- Sadia Pineda Hameed

He hasn’t chosen Cardiff by accident: he heard there’s a great clan of Maltese here, with more arriving every day. There is money to be made at sea, he’s been told and this is the place to spend it.

Tiger Bay - the Valletta of Britain! his crew-mate had laughingly told him as the ship dropped anchor. And it was supposed to be a warm port.

Trezza Azzopardi - The Hiding Place The Hiding Place, shortlisted for the 2000 Booker Prize, is the story of a family of Maltese heritage growing up in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, during the 1960’s. Narrated through the youngest daughter Dolores Gauci, the novel shifts between moments in the past and present, with reflections on how father Frankie, the cultural displacement and life in Cardiff all affected her childhood. Azzopardi’s debut deals with cruelty and innocence, memories in the form of both mental and physical scarring; and begins with a return to Tiger Bay that causes the narrator to confront all of this all in painful retrospect.

By Sadia Pineda Hameed

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CULTURE

CARDIFF ENGLISH LITERATURE SOCIETY SHORT STORY COMPETITION

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In November we told you about the English Lit Society’s search for Short Story of the Year. This month we share the winning piece Too Little, Too Late - By Tammy Davies.

Here are the judge’s comments: The piece I have chosen as ‘The Best’ is‘Too Little, Too Late’.

Although it is a very emotional subject that could easily become melodramatic or sentimental, the writer uses a strong direct style to shift the focus between Daniel’s actions, words, memories and feelings without lingering on any aspect for too long. The ‘dozen wilting roses’ could so easily have been overdone but it is allowed to work as a simple, resonant image that is only touched on three times. The writer also leaves the ambiguity about the setting - a hospital or graveyard visit - to hang in the air until the end. Finally, the story matches its title, leaving us uncertain whether Daniel really is capable of breaking his drinking habit as well as conveying the meaning that his attempt at reconciliation with Sally is also too little too late.

CULTURE

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

By Tammy Davies

Daniel sat down beside her in the dark clutching a dozen wilting roses. It was very early morning and his face was unshaven and worn. He looked much older than thirty-six. Someone had recently asked him if he had any grandchildren. He knew it was time for a change.

His shoulders sagged in defeat and a headache throbbed behind his eyes causing his stomach to roll.

He probably needed to eat and sleep but these basic needs were often tucked into the back of his mind, behind the booze.

“Sally,” he said into the darkness.

He took off his jacket, set the roses down beside him and pressed his palms to his eyes in an attempt to relieve the pain. He sat in silence instead, gathering his courage and what remained of his shattered pride.

After a few minutes of sighing and thinking, he shook himself, brought back to reality by the sound of waking birds. Taking a deep breath, Daniel turned to face her and launched right into it.

He had been looking for the right words for years...

The right apologies...

The right excuses...

“I’m going to be going away for a while,” he said.

His voice was barely a whisper. He had spent so many years yelling around her and sometimes at her. He refused to be that man again. “It’s a rehab facility down near Cornwall. All that seaside air is supposed to be healing. Nothing else has worked. I really want things to work again.”

Daniel took a deep breath before continuing. His hands were shaking. He hadn’t had a drink in at least three hours.

“I know you’re probably rolling your eyes at me. I can’t say I blame you for that,” he paused to think, refusing to laugh at his situation. Laughter was not a solution to hardship. It did not make pain disappear. Nor did booze. That’s what they told him in that twelve step program that never helped. “What is it you always say?

Too little, too late?”

He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes for a few moments before speaking into the silence

again. “I won’t be home for two months, but my mother is coming to help with the kids until I come back. I know you don’t like her very much, but she’s all we have.”

Her silence rang of distance...

Disapproval...

Disappointment...

A dark mood fell over him, remnants of the drink still dragging him down. “I was doing well, you know. A little bit less every day. I thought that if I could prove my devotion to you and the kids, you would stop looking at me with those sad eyes. But you ruined everything--” No, he wouldn’t go there. He would not blame her for his actions or his dark moods. The fault lay solely with him and the fermented liquid demons that possessed him each night.

“I have to do this for the kids, Sally. They deserve better than an angry alcoholic for a father. I have to do this for you.” He paused and rubbed his rough, unwashed cheeks. “I have to do this for me. I think I can be the man you once loved. Do you remember those days?”

Of course she did. It wasn’t always this way. “Do you remember when Jack was a baby and we took him to see that big train? The one from the show he liked?”

He thought back on the early days of their marriage.

The laughter and the tears. The pure joy of being and being together. It had been a while since he had allowed such memories to flood him, or was sober enough to feel pain. Would he ever be able to forgive himself?

He had to do this. What would his life be like with his heart in pieces and his mind fractured by years of alcohol and drug abuse? When his children were grown, would they, as well, fade from his life, leaving him in awkward silence and suffocating in a bubble of self-pity?

“You’ll see. I’ll be a different man when I come back,” he

whispered through the tears and pain. “You’ll see.”

He hated himself. He hated everything he had been to her and everything he hadn’t. He had never hit her, though. He had come close to the boiling point a few times, seeing red and throwing things against the wall. But he had never hurt her or the children. Not physically, anyways. He never understood why she lay awake at night, sobbing quietly into her pillow, hoping he wouldn’t hear.

He didn’t understand why she had stopped making an effort to look good or enjoy life. He couldn’t comprehend the fear in his children’s eyes when he caught them up to mischief. He had forgotten what it was like to be a child-- what a husband was supposed to be and his obligations as a father.

He had forgotten everything that made life good and right, the knowledge subdued by the heavy burden of drink. The cloud lifted from his mind now and then and he remembered briefly his promises.

“I promised you I would change—that I would be a better man. I promised and I’m going to keep that promise, Sally.”

A tear knocked a rose petal loose and it floated to the ground between his feet. It was their twelfth anniversary. He bought them for her before he started drinking, looking for courage at the bottom of a whiskey tumbler.

“They were fresh when I bought them. One for every year I’ve loved you. I’ll miss you so much. I wish we had more time. It’s time for me to go away now, to get better.”

When Daniel had no tears left, he pushed himself off the unforgiving hard stone and reached over, placing the roses in a small stone vase before her gravestone.

‘Sally Johnston. Wife. Mother.

Best Friend’.

CULTURE

THE CITY

“You

might have passed someone, seen their face, know of someone, but have always missed them, and then come to meet them in strange, unexpected circumstances”

How does a city express itself? On its walls? In its streets?

In its violence? Through its atmosphere? Does it spill out from its people, their screams, their laughter on the streets? Do individuals make the city, or does a city make the individuals what they are, what they can be?

The interactions between the people within a city are constantly restrained, there are a set of conventions and expectations that most people tacitly abide by, and if you step out from them you are often, even unintentionally, deemed strange. You cause a friction and an awkwardness that most people would rather avoid.

Interactions are constantly policed by this accepted code, even though it is never stated and never defined. Views and opinions you hold personally, things you might say and think, are subverted in a congregation of people.

The presence of multiple people in a social situation limits what you can and want to say. Interaction can be a prison that confines people, or it can be something that sets them free. In a city where so many people have the opportunity to meet, to come into contact with each other, there is a constant potential that at some point you may meet the right person, the right people for you, and that these people will go on to let out aspects of your personality that would have been restrained had you met others. You have the opportunity to experience things in a city that could let out things about your personality that might otherwise have remained unexplored.

If you were to ask what it is that you have the potential to do if you were completely freed from the weight of the experiences that hold you back, if you could analyse yourself with complete clarity and see every event of your life and how it has affected you and what you have the potential to be in the perfect circumstances, then the city looks far less like something limiting. In a city, and at a university within a city, people continually come into contact. By chance, or through a type of predestined inevitability. You might have passed someone, seen their face, know of someone, but have always missed them, and then come to meet them in strange, unexpected circumstances, in the unusual but completely natural and inevitable ways that people come to know each other.

The importance of meeting the right people is in being able to express yourself in a way that’s unimpeded.

In encouraging and building the real version of yourself up rather than limiting it and making it fall in line with the perceptions of others. Some people might claim to see the expression of concepts, of thought, feeling, and emotion, as of not much importance, and will compare it to concrete events going on in the world for proof that self-expression is ineffectual in the face of problems that need definite action to rectify them. But unrestrained creativity, unrestrained personal self-expression is conversely exactly what is needed. If creativity and understanding an individual were prioritised and guided, and most importantly an individual was understood and empathised with, many of those seemingly concrete problems would go away.

Self-expression comes in all sorts of forms.

Painting the walls with statements, sticking up posters, handing out cards, preaching in the street, conversation, your thoughts as you walk home, listening to music, laughing. Forms of art: writing, music, visual art, filmmaking, photography, are ways in which that expression, the feelings that pass by on a normal day, an abnormal day, in a lifetime, can be captured, held and expressed to someone else.

Cardiff has many creative people within it. It has many creative places, and people that appreciate that creativity. It has venues all across the city to help express it with people dedicating their time to helping to do that.

It has people within it with something to express.

The city can, and is, constantly created by its people, continually building, redefining and expressing itself.

Tŷ Celf, Cardiff university’s arts publication, is one more place that self-expression is able to be explored and structured for others to read. In it people express themselves in poetry, prose, photography, art and film.

It is an opportunity for one person to come into contact with another in a way that is not restrained by all the conventions of a first interaction, where people can understand things about each other that are expressed honestly, in the best form that they can be. It is full of potential, as the city is, and here again is another of its expressions.

Turn to the middle section of the magazine to see your contributions in this year’s Tŷ Celf anthology.

BEAU BEAKHOUSE

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join the

evolution welsh varsity 2016 Wednesday 20th April

Cardiff University v

Swansea University in association with

welshvarsity.com

#teamcardiff

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CULTURE

Famous ART IN CARDIFF

If you haven’t been inside Cardiff’s National Museum before, you might not be aware that it houses art by several artists that are so well-known you might not expect to find them in a gallery that is free to enter and just down the road from the students union. Rosanna Hitchen tells us more.

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CULTURE

In the early days of university when, like most freshers, I found myself feeling rather lost and alone in this new city, I wandered into the National Museum, drawn specifically to the art gallery. I don’t know what I expected, I had no prior knowledge of the museum, what exhibitions there were or whether the café was any good, I only knew that I wanted some peace and quiet. It is often that we venture to art galleries for this type of solitude, a place where you are simultaneously entertained and undisturbed. I went first into the modern art exhibition the one I witnessed - I do not know what it was or whom it was by - was immediately disappointing and uninspiring.

Modern art is so expansive that it has the capacity to be either awe-inspiring or disastrously pretentious. Confronted with a jarring video art piece and an odd and mystifying sculpture I left feeling underwhelmed and bewildered.

Leaving the modern art project behind me, I discovered the other galleries. I am ashamed to say that in my younger and more vulnerable years I bought into the general belief that London was the centre of all things. I thought that it was the cultural peak and that all other cities cowered in its domineering shadow. While London is certainly an artistic hotspot, it is easy to forget that the rest of the UK has much to offer and the National Museum of Wales displays not only works of international acclaim, but art that reflects the history of Cardiff and Wales. It is here that you can find a portrait of an unknown coal miner and one of David Lloyd George hung side by side, equals in their representation of welsh history and identity.

The greatest works can be found in the collection donated by the Davies sisters, whose grandfather’s great fortune, made during the industrialisation of Wales, afforded them the

opportunity to amass one of the most impressive personal art collections. Their collection holds some of the greatest examples of French impressionism, enriching the Museum with works by the likes of Monet, Van Gogh, and Rodin.

When I walked cautiously into the hushed Davies Gallery for the first time, the magnificence of these works, regardless of their provenance or price, took me aback; the paintings stand alone as objects of awe. The eye is almost immediately drawn to ‘San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight’, a piece by Monet, that hangs pride of place on the far wall. Up-close, the picture is a rhapsody of

Their collection holds some of the greatest examples of French impressionism, [...] with works by the likes of Monet, Van Gogh, and Rodin. colours and layers, so abstract that it feels unreal.

Yet, when you take a few steps back, the picture becomes clear, the further you retreat, the more real it becomes. I must have spent 5 minutes staring stupefied at this image, I would have spent more, but I sensed that the gallery stewards were beginning to question my lingering presence.

A walk through the galleries crosses all styles,

eras, and cultures; within the space of an hour you can visit different worlds through the vistas of these paintings. I found myself becoming heady at the volume of work, gazing endlessly at the known and unknown faces in the portrait gallery. Observing the funny idiosyncratic styles of these long-past aristocrats is enough to while away hours, you begin to make up back-stories for them, trying to understand who they were through this framed window into the past. I have found my favourites within the collection, such as ‘the man in the black velvet turban’, or ‘the man standing awkwardly next to a large harp’, I make sure to visit them each time I go, it’s a rather onesided friendship.

The Museum’s collection not only dazzled me with its headline acts, but introduced me to many other brilliant artists. Witnessing a Rodin or a Monet up close is remarkable, but to discover a painting by an artist you do not yet know feels special. To know that you found them, on your own one day in a gallery, rather than through the influence of others, only furthers your connection to their work. The paintings of Augustus John were introduced to me; there is currently a large amount of his work on show, including a mesmeric portrait of a pensive Dylan Thomas. In the ‘Art of Victorian Britain’ Room, the furthest and often most empty, I found a painting by John Brett, a little known pre-Raphaelite painter. The painting is an expansive view of what looks to be a harbour town in front of a range of undulating mountains. I have yet to find much information on the exact place that is featured, there is little material on it, or the works of Brett at all.

Nonetheless, it has a meaning to me now, and has introduced me to an artist whom I may not have ever known had I not sought sanctuary in the Museum as a lost fresher.

To know that the Museum is there, so close and so accessible is a blessing. I’m sure many of you have visited, but I implore you to go again, as often as you can. Even by yourself one day when you find even Netflix has little to yield for you.

Enjoying art isn’t pretentious or exclusive, it is for us all to be enjoyed, and even if the modern art exhibition can vary in success, as all modern art does, you will find much in those vast galleries that captivates you. I promise that you will leave feeling calmed and improved, and yes, the café did turn out to be very good.

ROSANNA HITCHEN

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T R AV E L

take me back...

CROATIA Fast becoming more and more popular with holidaymakers, Croatia is a country that combines a large coastline with sympathetic prices and reliably hot summer weather, making it a gem for the student in need of a sunny getaway. While Croatia officially joined the EU in 2013 it has retained its own currency, the kuna, keeping prices somewhat cheaper than its Adriatic neighbour Italy.

The Adriatic Sea itself is one of the main lures, its waters a beautiful turquoise that is kept surprisingly clear by diligent guarding against rubbish by locals. Cushioned between Croatia and Italy, the sea is visually stunning and pleasantly warm in the summer months.

After the midday heat it’s perfect for a midafternoon swim to cool off followed by a cold beer from the bars that inevitably accompany the pebble beaches found in the main cities.

In places where beaches aren’t available, some towns just install steps into the sea from promenades, so you can walk straight from a museum or busy market square and dive in.

The must-see if you ask most people is the walled city of Dubrovnik, where some of the fortress walls encasing the Old Town

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date back to the 12th Century. Brought to international attention as ‘King’s Landing’ in HBO’s Game of Thrones, the Old Town has somewhat annoyingly been overrun with tour groups specifically posing with laminated stills from the series in their original location.

Any self-respecting fan of George R.R. Martin’s epic series won’t need any help spotting the market street where Joffrey takes a face full of shit. Thrones fan or not, paying the small admission to walk the city battlements is a memorable experience, not to mention welcome exercise on a lazy holiday.

Northwards up the coast is Split, where most of the partying goes on. With huge dance festivals in the summer and a man-made sand beach, a commodity in Croatia. The Old Town is based in the remains of a Roman palace but the city sprawl extends far beyond it. The smelly promenade is best avoided when looking for food but, as with most of these towns, a few streets away delicious meals can be found at nearly half the price of the more central areas.

T R AV E L

Croatian restaurants mainly serve up seafood dishes, the cheapest of which are scampi and calamari, which if you’re there for more than a week you’ll become slightly addicted to. The Italian influence is pretty strong, most places mixing pasta dishes with the day’s catch, and more informal bars selling massive pizzas for around £5.

One of the best things about dining in this part of Europe is getting a tankard of smooth local beer for £2, a novelty not lost on those of us used to the eye-watering prices of British pub.

Further up the coast Zadar boasts the whacky “sea organ”, a sort of huge concrete harmonica carved into the harbour wall that hums in accordance with the incoming waves.

Pula is home to one of the few remaining Roman amphitheatres left in the world, an incredible structure considering the time when it was built. In terms of countryside the national parks of Croatia are renowned, particularly Plitvice with its magical lakes and waterfalls (go for an early walk to beat the day trippers). The capital of Zagreb doesn’t offer

as much as coastal towns but with an everexpanding selection of music festival and the weird but wonderful “Museum of Broken Relationships” (all exhibits are donated from the public) it is worth a visit. Buses will take you between the various cities and towns at decent fares, with the railways being pretty useless by and large unfortunately.

If you’re looking for somewhere to relax, it doesn’t come much better than kicking back on a secluded Croatian beach with the azure waves lapping in at your feet. With the myriad choices of towns and small islands just offshore offering affordable accommodation, some time spent looking can result in finding real pearls that aren’t too crowded. All in all Croatia is great for a cheap week chilling in the sun before returning to the rain and deadlines of your next term in Cardiff.

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T R AV E L

2016 TRAVEL RESOLUTIONS So, you’ve given up on Dry January and sacked in the gym? Why not follow in the footsteps of our writers and set yourself some travel goals for this year?

We’ve even included boxes for you to tick off as you go. Happy exploring!

Banff This picturesque town in Alberta, Canada, has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Surrounded by mountains that are part of the famous Rocky Mountains, you are guaranteed to find your next Facebook profile picture here.

Banff is simply a stunning landscape that must be witnessed first-hand at some point in my life and thankfully there are some amazing resorts and tourist destinations there, which makes it a hell of a lot easier to gain access to. The diamond of Banff is the Fairmont Château adjacent to the stunning Lake Louise. This hotel will set you back by at least five student loans but I’m sure it’ll all be worth it with the incredible views and service that you will receive there. The real pain is that my parents went this summer, which means there’s no chance of hitching a ride off them any time soon! The Canadian Rockies is a destination I eagerly wait to cross off my bucket list.

Alexander Jones

Vietnam This year, Vietnam is top of my list. The long coastal road is too enticing to put off any more. Whether you rent a motorcycle, use the (cheap!) public transport, or hitch a lift with some new friends, it’s a must! It’s the perfect way to experience the cities and towns, whilst witnessing the awesome scenic view.

The sheer amount of history there is incredible, especially in regards to the Vietnam War; Ho Chi Minh City is ripe with commemorative museums, tours, and even Cu Chi tunnels.

It’s not a massive country, so you can take your time getting to know the more hidden areas. Da Lat lies 1500m high inland and looks beautiful. But don’t stop there! Journeying further North will bring you to the more untouched side of Vietnam, where you can connect with rural villages rather than large, booming towns. I can’t wait to immerse myself in the culture!

Madeleine Banfield

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T R AV E L

Nashville

Malaysia

It’s a big world out there, and I wish there was a way I could see it all. So many places jump out at me, from Sydney in the South to the North American city of New York. But if I had to whittle it down to just one city to explore, I’d go with Nashville.

Less well known than other US areas like LA and Orlando, I think Nashville is a hidden treasure – although I admit I haven’t been yet! Tennessee’s capital is a cultural epicentre, not to mention the home of country music. This might not be the coolest genre, but ever since I discovered Taylor Swift many moons ago, I’ve had my heart set on first-hand experiencing the mix of independent venues and bigger names. Nashville has it all – the Southern charm, the glittering skyline, the rich history and no shortage of sights to see.

Malaysia has always been on the top of my travel wish list.

The country is comprised of a range of landscapes, from the bustling capital of Kuala Lumpur with views of the Twin Towers amongst the urban skyline to the stunningly beautiful Taman Negara National Park – an eclectic mix of rural splendour and natural beauty. With Malaysia’s two main islands boasting 4675 kilometres of coastline, the country surely has some of the most breath-taking beaches in the world, with Sipadan and Redang Island to name just a few.

Malaysia is a country of culture. Having a Malaysian flatmate in first year, I was routinely in awe of her countless stories of her home country, such as climbing Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu - my achievement of reaching the summit of Caerphilly Mountain wasn’t quite in the same league. I hope to fulfil my dream of visiting the stunning country that is Malaysia in the coming year.

Ellie Philpotts

Alice Dent

Amsterdam A new year - consisting of and committing to several probable and typically unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions whilst being under the influence of several alcoholic beverages as the clock strikes 12. One thing, however, I do genuinely intend to do, is explore Amsterdam. There are multitudes of reasons that lure me into Amsterdam’s beauty, ranging from the ability to be culturally enlightened by the Van Gogh museum and an array of outstanding architecture to having an extremely, yet obligatory, cliché Instagram picture next to the ‘I Amsterdam’ sign at Rijksmuseum. The juxtaposition of the peaceful Vondlepark against the bustling environment of the red light district create several opportunities for a stress - free break, probably just what I’ll need after next semester! The way that Netherlands’ capital can be sprinkled with essences of such historic and cultural richness, whilst having the capacity to withstand a fantastic night life and ride a bicycle everywhereof course!- are all reasons why my New Year’s travel resolution is to visit the famously renowned, cultural capital of Amsterdam.

George Caulton

Havana For the past five years, my main travel resolution has been Havana, Havana, Havana. The vibrant capital of Cuba is famous for its old world charm; the city is full of classic American cars and elegant, antiquated buildings, both in every colour imaginable. Havana and Cuba as a whole are rich in history and culture, incorporating European and African influences into music, literature and cuisine. Another part of the attraction of Havana for me is an interest in the language; the variety of cultures present in the country has made Cuban Spanish unique and fascinating. What’s more, like many other Spanish-speaking countries, the people of Cuba are known to be welcoming, affectionate and outgoing. Vintage cars, brightly painted buildings, street musicians, delicious food and lively, hospitable people - what’s not to love? Hopefully this will be the year I have the opportunity to experience it all for myself.

Harriet Thornley

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T R AV E L

ARRIVALS

BERLIN 48 KRAKOW HOURS BUDAPEST IN...

B A R C E L O NA EXPLORING EUROPE WHEN YOU’VE GOT LITTLE TIME AND EVEN LESS MONEY CAN BE

CHALLENGING. LUCKILY QUENCH TRAVEL HAVE DONE THE DIRTY WORK FOR YOU - HERE ARE THE BEST WAYS TO SPEND 48 HOURS IN OUR FAVOURITE CITIES.

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RACHAEL HUTCHINGS

KRAKO W

EMILY GIBLETT

Krakow, Poland’s second largest city after Warsaw, is definitely one of the most exciting places I’ve ever visited; not only due to the fact that it snowed for the entirety of my visit and resembled a winter wonderland, but also because of its endless treasure troves of culture, art and beauty.

For those among you who crave sightseeing and snapping the most gorgeous landmarks that cities you visit have to offer, I recommend staying at one of the hotels around the main square. Here you can indulge in iconic and colourful marvels like the indoor flea market, the cathedral, the statues and the museums (there is even one dedicated purely to torture!).

Krakow’s main cathedral is truly outstanding and remarkably peaceful, with beautiful detailed stained glass windows and artistically designed furnishings. If you visit upon the hour you will have the pleasure of watching the bells of the tower being rung by hand, and I was told by a local stall owner that this is a tradition that happens to commemorate those who have suffered. If you venture out of the main square and can handle a bit of steep walk, a visit to Wawel Castle would not go amiss. It is a very hands-on experience allowing visitors to take a step back in time and witness history in the form of weaponry, religion and costume - all whilst breathing in fresh air and taking in the stunning views of the city from above.

Krakow is also extremely popular for its (incredibly cheap) vodka and delicious food. Two places that will definitely tantalise your taste for Polish culture are Flacha Kielbacha, a homely and cosy pub on the outskirts of Poland’s Jewish Quarter serving lots of traditional stroganoffs and stews, and also the outdoor Stare Miasto bar; 20zl (£4) per cocktail under the bright stars awing you something you will not have bargained for!

B A R C E LO N A

T R AV E L

Barcelona’s close proximity to the beach makes it perfect for sun worshippers and culture seekers alike. The skyline of the city is dominated by the vision of the architect, Antoni Gaudi, whose work spans from the private residences Casa Batlló and Casa Milà to his unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia church. Gaudi’s unique style is synonymous with Barcelona and is by far one of the biggest draws for tourists on city-breaks, so if you’d prefer to get a bit further away from the hustle and bustle then visit Park Güell, Gaudi’s shrine to the beauty of the natural world. It’s up a hill so you can even call it a workout, and it’s worth it for a beautiful view of the city.

Delightful cocktails and of course, Sangria, can be found around almost every corner in the city, with a particular favourite being Marmalade.

This bar is less than five minutes walk from the main shopping district of Las Ramblas and boasts pretty much every cocktail you can think of for under seven euros. If you’re hungry head to Brunch and Cake. This little backstreet cafe is off the beaten track and so popular you may have to wait to be seated, but a portion of banana bread with mascarpone cream and grilled banana is completely worth your patience.

With four kilometers of beach right next to the city, there is always space to sunbathe, but if you are a typically British sweaty mess after 3 minutes of uninterrupted sunshine, Barcelona outdoes itself with an abundance of air conditioned museums to duck into when it all gets a bit too much. If you’re into taxidermy and good gift shops, the natural history museum, Museu Blau, is a safe bet. One of the city’s hidden gems is the chocolate museum, where you can learn about the history of chocolate whilst nibbling on your entry pass (also made of chocolate!)

No matter what time of year you choose to visit Barcelona, there will be more than enough to occupy your time and plenty of places to spend all your euros.

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T R AV E L

BU D A P EST TERI HOWELLS

Budapest is a true hidden gem of Europe that’s finally getting the hype it deserves. It’s a city with so many wonderful things to do. Take a stroll down the Danube, where you’ll see the breath-taking “shoes on the Danube” memorial, a walk across the Széchenyi chain bridge from Pest to Buda (especially beautiful at night). Then brace yourself for a climb up Gellert Hill! Whilst on the Buda side of the river, make sure to pay a visit to the iconic Fisherman’s Bastion and take in the panoramic sights of Budapest which are as spectacular as the Bastion itself.

Budapest is known for its insane nightlife, specifically the ruin bars dotted around the city. The most famous, Szimpla Kert is legendary; an eclectic mix of mismatched furniture housed in a run-down warehouse type building.

Purely amazing. While you’re in this neck of the woods you must visit Bors Gasztrobar, located directly opposite Szimpla. They have the best

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LUCY PIERCE

BERLI N

T R AV E L

An absolutely fascinating city that boasts an eccentric culture and oozes history, with so much to see in so little time. Grab a bike and pedal the streets of Berlin taking in the monstrous pieces of street art - many stretching the whole height and width of the Kreuzberg buildings. Check-in at Checkpoint Charlie, admire the triumphant, neo-classical Brandenburg Gate, then strike a pose in front of the East-Side Gallery, painted with iconic works by artists worldwide - the only still standing stretch of the original Berlin Wall.

Learn about the horrors of the past at the Topography of Terror and the Holocaust Memorial or discover abandoned Berlin in the form of an old US spy tower, Teufelsberg, old war bunkers and eerie hospitals. Berlin has an abundance of quirky contemporary art galleries just waiting to be delved into and plenty of independent cafés to keep you whizzing around the city.

Over the summer, Berliners flock

to many of the outdoor bars and clubs that don’t shut all weekend or Badeschiff, the urban beach to enjoy the sun and some beers. Hidden on top of a multi-storey car park, Klunkerkranich is the perfect place to admire the city as the sun sets and to prepare yourself for Berlin’s wild nightlife; the most popular venues are wackily decorated houses, ex-factories or dungeons. Tresor, Chalet and Sisyphos are particular must do’s; some of the clubs feel more like an adult playground than your average uni night out, with swings, tree houses and hammocks gracing the unconventional ‘smoking area’.

On lazy Sundays head to either the Breakfast market at Markthalle Neun if your trip falls on the third Sunday of the month, or Silo in Fredreichshain, which provides the perfect healthy hangover cure before rummaging Mauerparkt or Boxhanger platz flea markets to find some cheap vintage classics.

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CHARITY

the from s e n d o an n J Betha out boobs o t ab ed chatt oppaFeel e w C h of ? mont This ff branch uiged yet r i t d Car les. In bicyc Boobs. Breasts. Bosoms. Not really a common topic of conversation in everyday life for the vast majority us, but for Kris Hallenga, boobs are a connection between her work, social calendar and physical health. Kris is 23 years old and looking at her youthful complexion and styled blonde hair you would have no idea that she has been diagnosed with Stage 4 advanced breast cancer. For those of us who may be less aware of cancer treatment, there is no Stage 5 breast cancer, which tragically makes Kris’ diagnosis terminal. Let’s just stop here and pause for a moment. What things occupy the mind of the average 23 year old?

For most of us, life is just beginning, we may be at university or using our well earned degrees as we compete for our dream graduate jobs in the big wide world or some of the luckier ones amongst us may be exploring exotic places with unpronounceable names whilst travelling the world. It is needless to say that being given a diagnosis of terminal breast cancer at this point in our lives is just something that the vast majority of us would never anticipate, and neither did Kris.

Over the past few years breast cancer has gained increased public awareness through campaigns such as Cancer Research’s Race for Life, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and more recently, the Breastmates Campaign on ITV’s morning television show Lorraine.

The majority of these campaigns are directed towards older women, correlating with Cancer Research’s observation that the majority of breast cancer diagnoses (80% to be exact) are made amongst women aged 50 and over, with very little emphasis being placed upon breast cancer prevalence in younger generations.

Since breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, it is unfortunately all too common for us to know someone in our lives, perhaps an elder relative or friend who has battled with this ruthless disease. But how often do we stop and think about the members of our own generation who attend chemotherapy, endure mammograms and take a cocktail of breast cancer fighting drugs daily just to stay alive? Does our society view breast cancer as a disease affecting only the older generations? And are many young people

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aware that they too are at risk of developing this disease? This is one of the key motives that inspired Kris and her twin sister Maren to create their charity CoppaFeel!

Kris’s story began when she noticed a lump in her breast and visited her GP who dismissed the lump as being due to hormones, since she was so young. After spending 6 months travelling, she noticed a pain in her chest and with the lump still being present went back to the GP and demanded a referral.

Kris was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer eight months after initially finding the lump in her breast. As we are all aware, as with any form of cancer, an early diagnosis is crucial and can have a hugely significant impact on the success of treatment and the prognosis of the patient. Having taken her late cancer diagnosis as her motivation for her charity CoppaFeel!, Kris is determined to encourage earlier breast diagnoses among young people through raising awareness by encouraging and reminding us to get to know our boobs by checking them regularly. Since starting her charity Kris has established a network of 55 University Boob Teams across the UK, created annual music festival Festifeel! And has been awarded Outstanding campaigner of the year at the 60th annual Woman of the Year awards 2015. Throughout all of her campaigning, the message never changes; checking your boobs regularly could one day save your life.

CROATIA

Having been part of Cardiff ’s CoppaFeel! Society for two years I have had many an opportunity to learn about boobs and have spoken with students about the importance regular breast checks. The most popular questions students ask is “how do I check myself?” and “how often should I check myself for signs and symptoms?” So let’s dive straight in and discuss the art of copping a feel.

It is advised that you should check yourself at least once a month and us lovely people at Cardiff University Boob Team have set up a free text reminder service to make sure that you don’t forget. Simply text UBT CARDIFF to 70500 and you will be treated to a text every month to reminding you to check those boobies!

Above: Kris Hallenga - Founder of CoppaFeel Below: Cardiff CoppaFeel Society

CHARITY

ON YOUR BIKE! Whilst checking, be sure to look out for changes in the shape, size and texture of your breast, nipple discharge, nipple inversion, rashes and for any signs of swelling. Finally feel the breast tissue (which starts from the collar bone and ends in the armpit) for any lumps or bumps. The take home message when checking is that if you spot anything abnormal or if there is anything that you feel is not quite right for you be sure to make an appointment with your GP straight away because ultimately nobody knows your boobs better than you do.

So how exactly are we spreading the boob love around campus at Cardiff? Your CoppaFeel! Society committee is determined to make this the biggest and breast year yet and have a calendar jam packed full of fundraisers and awareness events, so be sure to pick up a cupcake (or five!) at our famous boobie bake sales in the student’s union and join us at our meetings and socials. We are excited to be planning a sponsored cycle on 22nd-24th April 2016 around castles in West Wales whilst wearing a giant CoppaFeel! boob. We are also busy arranging our CoppaFeel! 2016 Dodge Ball Championship.

As our members can assure you, all of us at Coppafeel! love having a good time and last year took on the Four Peaks Challenge. This

was a fun packed weekend where we did a spot of sponsored mountain climbing in the wild Welsh hills together (and got absolutely soaking wet thanks to the lovely Welsh weather!) but all our hard work paid off as we raised heaps of awareness and over £3000 for CoppaFeel!

How can you get involved?

This year we are excited to announce a sponsored cycling challenge around West Wales, a ‘Tour of Tittie Towers’. This event will take place over three days, from Friday 22nd April to Sunday 24th April. All cyclists need to source their own bike and helmet.

Snazzy Lycra is optional and the bolder the better! There will be a £20 deposit which needs to be paid by the end of January 2016.

The remainder of the payment will cover all of your accommodation and transport from Cardiff and back again and will be payable at a later date.

To register your interest and to get more information about the itinerary and costs please contact the Cardiff CoppaFeel! society via our Facebook page.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up with your friends and flatmates and take on an unforgettable challenge surrounded by breathtaking scenery and all for a great cause!

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FASHION + BEAU T Y

The Blogging Starter Pack Be inspired by...

Becca Rose

Lily Melrose

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Full time social media consultant as well as lifestyle blogger, Lily is one of those people that got lucky finding success in what she considered a hobby. One to thrive on multitasking, she entered the blogging world with two blogs; the first focusing on fashion and lifestyle while the other catered to her love for beauty. Yet today she’s the proud curator of only one domain on the internet. Blogging since 2009 when she was just 20, Lily chose to join YouTube in 2012 to try something new, a fruitful decision which saw her popularity in video form, transfer attention onto her blog.

When she isn’t being a busy bee, this English blogger and vlogger enjoys fangirling when celebs like Paul Heyman notice her, a comforting fact considering we do the same.

Becca’s journey began at age seventeen back in 2011, temporarily under the name of ‘voussontbeuetbelle’ but now officially recognized as just ‘Becca Rose’ on and offline. The living stereotype of a female in its truest form, Becca’s style consists predominantly of pinks, whites and florals which are reflected in her lifestyle, fashion and beauty centred blog. A strong advocate of comfort being key to achieve confidence, it’s no surprise Becca’s reigning the British blogging scene with one of the largest following at such a young age. Whether it’s her love for pugs and flatlay or detailed personal experiences, Becca Rose is growing and is possibly a force to be reckoned with.

FASHION + BEAU T Y

Whether you’re considering starting up a blog to call yourown or want some motivation to work on your incomplete blogging goals, this quick and effective guide will have you checking off at least one of your new year’s resolutions!

estee lalonde

Recently making news with her feature in Darling Magazine, Estee Lalonde’s success is a true example of the potential bloggers have in today’s digital age. A proud Canadian now residing in London with her boyfriend Aslan and beloved greyhound Reggie, Estee’s interest in food, interiors and travel besides fashion and beauty makes her blog an allinclusive package. However you’re more likely to come across ‘essiebutton’, her stage name inspired by the pet names given to her by her grandparents and Aslan. But, don’t be fooled as her aesthetic is anything but cute as a button. Always in search for a challenge and new adventure, Estee’s experiences and wise words make for good stories to read for when you’re low on motivation.

Fleur Bell The immense success that Fleur gained via her blog is something even she fails to quite comprehend.

A highly trafficked website, three busy YouTube channels, a book making the charts, a collaboration with Eylure to create bespoke eyelashes and a booming social media presence. The list goes on and it’s no surprise that she’s got a handful of projects in the works.

Most people may know her as “Fleur De Force” as she once upon a time wanted to keep her real name hidden. Fleur explains, “I didn’t want to have my surname [Bell] in there at the time; it was the Internet and I didn’t know if I wanted to share my full name. Now, if I started out again, I probably would just have my full name because it’s easier.” So if you happen to face the same fear, just get creative with your stage name and you might see your products on the shelf on your next shopping trip!

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FASHION + BEAU T Y

How to Blog

Now you’ve got some inspiration from our pick of the bloggersphere, here are Quench Fashion and Beauty’s top tips for starting your own

Step 1 - Find Your Niche What makes you different from the Channelling your otherwise weird having a distinctive structure, make your blog more memorable and

rest of the crowd? passion online or for example, will give it character.

Step 2 - Be Consistent Schedule your posts so readers know when to return for more. Ideally post at least twice a week and if possible, have some posts pre-written for days when you’re caught up with that last minute assignment.

Step 3 - Get the Look

Besides quality content, to stand out from the crowd you’ll need to have a layout that pleases the eye.

Either customize your default design via YouTube tutorials or if you’re willing to spend, purchase a web design that you know will work for you.

Step 4 - Get the Name Purchasing a domain will instantly enhance your credibility and guarantee you more views. You’d be lying if you said you’d rather visit www. thisismyblog.blogspot.com than thisismyblog.com. If you’re committed, it’s value for money with prices

Step 5 - Network!

If you like a blog, give the owner some well deserved love! Engage with fellow bloggers, collaborate on posts, attend your local blogger events; there is no one else who will understand your #bloggerproblems!

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MUST HAVE

FASHION + BEAU T Y

FASHION APPS

From banking to ordering a take away, mobile apps are everything for generation Z and the fashion world is not one to stray away from this norm. Find your aesthetic and be in the know of all things fashion with our rundown of the best fashion apps out there. -Jamila Gandhi

VESTIAIRE COLLECTIVE

VOGUE RUNWAY

Cheap designer clothing and accessories?

Sorry, could you repeat that? As a student Vestiaire is a dream come true. Recently I bagged myself a pair of Prada earrings from the S/S ‘14 collection for an insane £60, which is almost 80% cheaper than their original retail price. Yes many items are pre-owned but when luxury comes at such great quality and student-friendly prices, you’re guaranteed joy and satisfaction when your parcel arrives.

Not only can you buy goods, but also sell your unwanted stash, so bid farewell to that old pair of barely worn Loubs in the back of your closet and say hello to the Choos you’ve had your eye on from last season.

Every fashion lover’s go-to during fashion week, this app is our only chance to simulate a FROW experience from the comfort of our homes. Besides the basic images, prepare to find interviews and backstage sneak peeks of industry gurus and models alike. With the app holding almost 12,000 collections dating back to 2000, it is the largest online runway archive available and place to be for fashion fanatics everywhere. Disclaimer: You may end up spending hours wishlisting like me, but at least you’ll be more knowledgeable of who wore what at the 2001 Elie Saab show at 7.25pm.

POLYVORE Whether you’re a fashion lover or not, it’s fairly easy to be spoilt for choice and spend way too many hours submerged in this app. Polyvore assesses your fashion taste to help become your personal shopper and pick out a range of new clothing, ready for you to view each time you open the app. It’s no surprise Nylon Magazine referred to the app as ‘extremely addictive’ when style inspiration from celebs and stylists is this easily accessible, saving yourself from asking pals to approve your OOTD. Basically a Topshop personal shopper experience but with no obligation to interact with humans, this is an ideal alternative for when you’re in no mood to venture into the great outdoors.

STREETHUB Working together with some of the best independent fashion labels across the UK, Streethub is known for offering a different bespoke collection that stands out from the crowd. With access to what your favourite brand is up to, as well as information like release dates, following your beloved designers has never been easier. More than just viewing, take joy in buying what you like with the promise of instant collection. What makes it different from average online shopping is the ability to follow trends and find pieces with total satisfaction of knowing it’s genuine. This app has been featured in some of the UK’s fashion magazines such as Company and is slowly, albeit steadily, taking the fashion app world by storm.

DEPOP Don’t cancel on your shopping plans if Cardiff ’s weather is playing its wet tunes; give Depop a go to buy and sell from the comfort of your home. Simple and slightly addictive, this is a great way to procrastinate when you should be revising for those January exams.

With millions of items to view, you’re sure to find something to cater to your needs (and wants). Just like opening your own little store but 100 times easier, Depop definitely has the best range of vintage fashion and brand new products from sellers who received a useless gift or made a regrettable impulse buy. Try using the tag ‘BNWT’ aka Brand New With Tags, to track such gems. Ultimately we recommend getting tucked up in bed with snacks for the best luck at finding bargains.

TUMBLR Not especially known as a fashion app, Tumblr is another source to find great style inspiration from like-minded individuals globally. Some of the world’s best fashion bloggers use Tumblr as their main blogging platform, so it’s a tried and tested method to get into the fashion journalism game.

Besides allowing full freedom to individuals to play around with styles from goth to retro to minimalist, the emphasis of Tumblr lies with finding and creating your own style.

Tumblr is a good start to getting introduced to the current trends on an international level and join a fun community.

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PREDICTING THE FUTURE

Wearable tech has come a long way in 2015.

Health conscious tech geeks can breathe a sigh of relief as brands like LEAF and WellBe have got it covered. From January this year and beyond we might even see products from Rainbow Winters and Ying Gao coming to the high street. With Nike revealing their Back to the Future self-lacing shoes there is clearly a growing market and interest emerging in 2016, and the progress made in 2015 is proof that the future will only be amazing. Before long, fashion savvy students will be donning eye-tracking dresses for a night at FLUX for the ultimate eye-catching (literally) statement.

Outfits which will move when glanced at and glow in the dark on the way home at 3am, what’s not to love?

In terms of existing technology, we’re still far from perfecting products like the Google Glass which has often been labeled as ‘ugly’ in terms of design. If made more practical and fashionable in the future though, there is definite potential for it to be of actual use.

Keeping your outfit on point, you would still be able to find your destination with Maps and chat with friends on messenger, all without draining your data allowance. While many of the devices that charge phones are not developed yet, this would be huge. No more soul destroying 1% IPhone battery leaving you in a state of despair, no more rushing to find a plug socket, and no more getting lost if your phone dies; Google Maps will still be there to lovingly guide you home. Overall this invention will make our tech-orientated lives a whole lot easier. Whilst, some companies have already done this with backpacks, they’re not very stylish and hands-on to walk around with, and are rather more suitable for hikers. A night without stress of keeping your battery over 20% means a night truly lived with more time for group selfies and lip singing for Dubsmash with your mates.

Technology is making its way into fashion and onto the runway in the near future. Winters’ work was featured at Kinetica Artfair where she bagged a nomination for Designer Of The Year at The Irish Fashion Innovation Awards.

Recognition of such hybrid pieces only goes to highlight how wearable technology is the next big thing. The wait for more advanced wearable technology is on and there is no doubt that it’s slowly changing the world of fashion as we know it.

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WEA It’s 2016 and if anything is changing, it’s fashion.

Georgina Crespi looks at the phenomenon of fashion technology and what it has to offer in the digital age.

FASHION + BEAU T Y

RABLE TECH

Imagine being able to charge your smartphone with your clothes

Imagine being able to charge your smartphone with your clothes? Well, in the future that might just be a thing you can do. Using flexible solar panels, two companies have started producing clothing and accessories that can be used to charge up your devices. Startup company Wearable Solar is trying to make lightweight clothes that will be able to charge a smartphone up to 50% once worn in the sun for a full hour.

In the world of fitness trackers; FitBits and similar brands have already covered the basics.

However, new-in-town label WellBe is built to help detect stress whilst helping you shed some lbs. It does this with the aid of a built-in heart rate monitor; observing your stress levels. The accompanying mobile app details the causes of stress levels, helping you to monitor the triggers of anxiety throughout your daily life.

The wide range of health and wellbeing benefits this brand offers is exactly why they can be so highly useful to such a wide variety of people.

For the bold and brave, Rainbow Winters’ Thunderstorm Dress is a unique design that has created a storm of interest. Responding to sound and light, it’s constructed with holographic leather and sound-reactive panels so, as volume increases, the lightning bolts appear. The mastermind behind the label, Amy Winters, claims the pieces are made ‘for performers and performances to express the aesthetic and emotive capabilities of technology’, which truly is transforming clothes into technological works of art.

Next in line is Ying Gao’s genius clothing range, consisting of dresses that magically change, all with the power of the eyes.

Fitted inbuilt tiny motors on the fabric in the dress move around when looked at and also glow if gazed upon for long enough.

Picture the fabric changing as you walked down the stairs, all eyes on you. And, this time, it’s not because you’ve got something in your teeth.

Straying away from clothing, Bellabeat LEAF’s smart jewellery tracks steps taken, sleeping pattern and ovulation, with focus on reducing your stress levels. Sport the device around your neck to make a statement or follow breathing exercises through their mobile app to chill out.

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ESTRONS ESTRONS are next in a long line of an exciting crop of new Welsh bands.

ESTRONS. “What kind of name is that?” you might say. “It sounds extraterrestrial.”

Well, it is: it’s ‘alien’ in Welsh. But ESTRONS don’t care what you think of their name, or if you even understand it.

In fact ESTRONS only have their own prerogative on their mind; and isn’t that all a band should be thinking about?

Lead single ‘Make A Man’, from their debut EP ‘Whoever She Was…,’ is lyrically and musically confronting; a theme that remains throughout. There’s a sense of punk in this pseudo-indie outfit that consists of only two permanent members and a revolving cast of supporting musicians. This fluidity is mirrored in the way the vocals flow between English and Welsh, yet another not-so-subtle middle finger of disparagement to the casual fan.

ESTRONS are not a band that deals in halves whatsoever. It’s all in, for what they believe in.

For fans of: Savages, Siouxsie & The Banshees.

Download: ‘Make A Man’ Facebook: facebook/estrons @ESTRONS_MUSIC

N E W NEWYDD BIG FIN For fans of: Dry The River, The Lion & The Wolf.

Download: ‘Not For Want Of Trying’ Facebook: facebook/bigfinbigfin @nextbigfing

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A singer songwriter with dulcet tones that will melt your heart.

Big Fin; alias Matthew Reynolds. A man that for much of his musical career will have been seen running about the stage, fiddling with wires, Sellotaping set lists and ensuring that everything ran smoothly in aid of his good friends in the now disbanded Dry The River.

But, we’re here to talk about his personal endeavours. His debut album, ‘Ebb & Flow’, has been under his belt for nearly a year now.

It’s a beautiful, enriching piece of music, which does exactly what it promises in the title. If there was ever an album that was made for a candle lit bath, this is it. His heavy lyrics are held afloat by a soft, yet powerfully smooth vocal, which lies atop instrumentation made to evoke both emotion and calm.

Fun Lovin' Criminals

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18/02/16, £23.50 ADV

The Temperance Movement

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Machine Head

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All tickets subject to booking fee Codir ffi archebu ar bob tocyn

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Staves LIVE - Y PLAS - 03/11/15

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tarting the concert with a beautiful acapella rendition of ‘Hopeless’; sisters, The Staves immediately prove that their harmonies are of top class quality. They’re also what makes this group so special, as members Emily, Camilia and Jessica gather around the central microphone creating an ocean of harmonies for ‘Let Me Down’. The sweet and simple ‘Mexico’ created a hush over the audience; an effect that The Staves achieved for much of the concert, as the silent crowd contented themselves with just listening and enjoying the music. A fun exception to the calm was the performance of unrecorded new track ‘Tired As

Fuck’. They joked afterwards that “This probably won’t be a radio smash!”. There’s something very endearing and warming about this band, and this comment shows their down to earth and humble nature. The French horn, trombone and violin that joined the band added extra power to the sound, creating even more depth and layers, whilst never overpowering the harmonies. Similarly their closing track ‘Teeth White’ got people dancing and was a loud and lively way to end the show. A man from the audience summed the concert up in one outburst, “this is beautiful!”. Expect to hear much more from this band in the future.

‘this probably won’t be a radio smash’ 40

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INTERVIEW

We spoke to Jessica Staveley-Taylor ahead of The Staves gorgeous Y-Plas performance back in November. We learnt about working with Justin Vernon of Volcano Choir and Bon Iver and being more balls-y recently, which may explain why this interview contains nudity.

Hi Jess! You three must have been singing together your whole lives, but when was the moment you realised you three could make a living out of beautiful blood-harmonies?

Our singing has definitely developed over time, but it has always been there without actually trying. We never learnt to sing together, we just always did. Like, it was fun, natural and instinctive to us. Maybe that’s why we never thought it was anything special. We’ve been playing together for ten years but for the first 5 years it was a bit of a hobby because of age differences and school and uni. People started reacting really well when we were playing little open mics back home in Watford, and we started to realise we had something a little bit special. It started to become the main thing we were doing and we couldn’t hold down jobs anymore, and it was a bit like ‘Oh I guess we’re in a band now!’.

We actually got paid for gigs and it all got a bit real and professional about five years ago.

Back then did you ever think you’d be as big as you are now, with Maida Vale sessions & impressive collaborations under your belt?

I never thought it no, I dreamed about this fantasy sort of life ‘what if we could be the next Dixie Chicks’ but stopping and thinking about it now is really strange, we’re very lucky.

Opportunities like working with Justin Vernon on the new album must be a sweet reward, how was making ‘If I Was’?

We went on tour with Bon Iver a few years ago and Justin and the band were so lovely, we had this mutual appreciation with them where they listened to our set and we cried at the side of the stage for the whole of theirs like every night, we’ve always been fans of their beautiful music. Justin offered us his studio anytime we wanted it and so we went there with no plan or agenda when we got a few weeks off tour in America. He was there with all of his engineers, and there’s never really a right time to make music but it seemed to really work, we came out with about 10 songs that made it onto the record, it must have been the fuse that lit a spark beneath us.

Does the ‘thicker’ sound of the second album come from his ideas or a collaboration between you all?

The first album was definitely more acoustic though it did have electric guitar and drums, but we knew we wanted to try a different sound with the second album in the back of our minds. Bringing Justin’s ideas and ours together created this bolder, bigger sound. It sounds like we have a bit more balls on this one.

And how’ve you dealt with the huge reaction to the album? Was it expected?

No definitely not, I think I always expect the worst with things. Like, it’s scary releasing this incredibly personal thing that was made with just a few precious people who will understand it to the entire world. You have those ‘fuck is this really shit or actually quite cool’ moments where you worry what other people will make

of it, but really you just hope people can connect with it and enjoy it. We really poured our souls into making it and I hope that’s why people connect with it, because it’s honest.

Being Wales-based, we have to ask about the Tom Jones collaboration and how you landed a gig being backing singers to every Welsh mum’s favourite?

Ha! God that was a long time ago I’m starting to feel old! That was one of our first professionally paid gigs, they asked us for our services singing in the background of this really cool new record he had out. Ethan Johns was producing it who went on to produce our first album too. I always look back on that era with a huge smile, Tom was so lovely and laid back which honestly we didn’t expect. You expect this big crazy character but he was really chilled out, our mum and auntie are Welsh and they properly freaked when they met him which was funny.

Florence Welch is amazing, her voice is so powerful even running around on stage. We can’t compete with that so we might just get our tits out.

You’ve recently toured with Florence and the Machine on her arena tour, should we be expecting full body glitter jumpsuits at your shows now then?

You know, we were thinking of just performing completely naked really. Just proper going for it.

Sounds about right, yeah.

She’s amazing, her voice is so powerful even running around on stage. We can’t compete with that so we might just get our tits out. No but seriously she is like an athlete, she’s such a dedicated performer and a lot of preparation goes into each of her shows. It reminded me of cool runnings or something, whereas we sort of fall out from the back of a van onto the stage. It was interesting to be a part of a pop world as we’re more used to supporting indie bands. She is a powerhouse, carrying an entire arena tour with just her voice. It made us put a little bit more into our performance I suppose, but ultimately we are who we are and if people like us then that’s great.

You’ve recently become Netflix famous as well as musically famous, how did you get involved with the ‘Austin to Boston’ documentary, working with Ben Howard and Bears Den etc?

That was our favourite tour ever. It was hard, mind...

But amazing. The tour came out of our connection with the amazing lot over at Communion records.

We’ve always been really involved with them, so much so that people think we’re signed to them when we’re more faking it and just hanging out with them. Maz who works at Communion [who ended up driving the band round America in the VW van for the tour) and Kev from Bears Den booked us a lot in London when we started on a play only basis, so we didn’t struggle without a record deal or manager as we didn’t have to bring a certain number of people to the shows, it was more like ‘we like your music you should come and play in London’ they really took us under their wing and we’re so grateful. The tour was like us and lots of bands who were friends and some who we didn’t know to begin with, it was so much fun to do and we met loads of cool people on it.

Back to the music, you’ve played loads of festivals this year including Wales’ own Green Man. What was the favourite?

Green Man was definitely a highlight. With all the lovely people and rolling Welsh hills it’s so beautiful, we played there two or three years ago and it reminds me of playing the Park stage at Glastonbury where we played this year; it’s got that sort of vibe to it. Another fave is Justin Vernon’s festival out in Wisconsin where he basically got his mates and favourite bands to play. There was us, Sufjan Stevens, The National and obviously Bon Iver. It was amazing.

Is your music more festival inclined or do you prefer playing your own headline shows?

Headline shows, definitely. You can be in control and make sure you’ve got the sound perfect with sound checks and stuff, whereas at a festival although the vibes are so nice for the fans, for musicians it’s pretty much a case of surrendering to no sound checks and a half hour set before being rushed off, though the crowd are usually more ‘free’ than usual. There’s fun to be had at festivals but when the season comes a mild panic sets in with me, like we’re definitely going to be rained on during at least half of our festival sets.

Have you been writing much on this tour or do you prefer writing when things are quieter?

You don’t get as much privacy on tour, like it’s hard to get into the right headspace of discovery when there’s 15 people surrounding you at all times! There are some moments of inspiration during tours but usually it’s afterwards when I have a bit more time to gather myself again. You normally get a bit down when a tour finishes; your body is tired and you need a break but you also really miss that family atmosphere. I get really reflective and that’s when stuff starts to happen.

Erin Gillespie

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ALBUM REVIEW

Staves:

the

If I Was

We want more Staves. But, for now let’s reminisce.

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The latest edition to The Staves discography entitled ‘If I Was’ was released in 2014. Produced

by Bon Iver/Volcano Choir’s, Justin Vernon in his Wisconsin studio throughout the bleak mid-winter. The most appealing element of the family folk/rock trio’s later endeavour is the effortless way in which the dynamics and mood of the album can change from song to song, keeping the listener on their toes. The opening acoustic fingerpicked arpeggio of ‘Blood I Bleed’ starts as you would expect a Staves album to begin however out of nowhere breaks into a hard hitting folk/rock groove, somewhat of a departure from what we have heard from the band before. Yet, unlike many whose sound is transformed by the addition of instrumentation and production, The Watford Sisters have by no means distanced themselves from all they once were, ‘Let Me Down’ and ‘Sadness Don’t Own Me’ capture, in its rawest form, the emotion and beauty which is so distinctive about their sound. ‘Make It Holy’ interweaves a fourth vocal to the harmonic concoction, providing a beautiful element of diversity

James Ivory

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LIVE @ The Motorpoint Arena Cardiff Photography: Louis Browne

alt-j.

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alt-J.

LIVE MOTORPOINT ARENA 03/12/15

An Awesome Light Wave At The Motorpoint.

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ith influences ranging from Bollywood to Gregorian, from electro to folk, Alt-J may sound bizarre but their execution is mesmerising. Yet, due to such complex precision to the production of their music, you'd be excused for feeling apprehensive.

But my, oh my, they did not fail to deliver. A spectacle, a show, a dream-like journey that was out of this world; an absolutely faultless performance.

Their set was not vocally impressive or distinctive in that sense, but the function each band member held to complement each other and the overall sound was profound. Joe Newman, the frontman, remained composed and encompassed in his passion the entire time. Highlights of the set range from the more electrifying, exciting hits such as the much loved ‘Breezeblocks’ which closed the show, to the more subdued, soothing sounds of 'Hunger of the Pine'. The pinnacle of the night was the opener, 'Intro'. The magical blend of vocal harmonies sung in acapella sent shivers down your spine, instantly captivating and then smashing into the chorus, sending an awesome wave (excuse the pun) of elation amongst all those in the audience.

The physical set of moving illuminated screens were, themselves, spectacular; the transfixing colours that correlated with the vibes from the music captured the audience.

The atmosphere in the arena was pulsating yet instilled and the energy from the stage radiated throughout the building.

Molly Wyatt

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“THIS IS

ALL YOURS,

CARDIFF.” Mark Sweeney chats to Gus Unger-Hamilton about all things Alt-J.

“

I’m gonna bed into you like a cat beds into a bean bag. Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet.” Out of context, their lyrics sound strange, but with the release of ‘This Is All Yours’ Alt-J have cemented their status as one of the most unique groups in the UK. Formed when studying at Leeds, their unique sound developed whilst quietly rehearsing in halls. “It was a good liberal environment to flourish in as a band” says keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton. “It was exciting to be in a new place. Leeds is an awesome city; as a uni it's very diverse and full of new things to try all the time, we really enjoyed it.”

Experimentation is a theme consistent throughout their music; using instruments in novel ways to create sounds that are unlike any other. “It helps that none of us are particularly well trained. I trained classically as a pianist, but I have no idea about keyboards and synthesisers and stuff. I just made it up myself.” says Unger-Hamilton.

“Thom is a self taught drummer who experiments a lot with what drums can do. Joe is, again, a self taught guitarist. We’re more interested in what we discover when we mess about with the guitar to see what we can create, rather than the strict discipline from learning traditionally. It gives us a lot more freedom in what we can do in the studio."

You only need to look to the closing moment of debut album 'An Awesome Wave' to see this in action. The distinctive bhangra-eqsue riff that defines ‘Taro’ was not from a sitar, but a guitar and a roll of tape.

'This Is All Yours' marks a bold departure from their debut. Written between December 2013 and May 2014, the album was turned around quickly.

In that time, they became a trio when bassist Gwil Sainsbury left the band.

“We didn't change massively. If anything, it made it more free; we felt less tied to our initial roles. We still hark back to days in Leeds, to what defined us as a group of people. We’re democratic; we put our friendship before all else.”

This foundation has anchored them on their rapid rise from playing open mic nights, to hitting platinum with their debut album.

“A few songs were ones we’d never finished, but we knew we wanted to put on a album. It wasn't the case that we put the best stuff on the first album, more that there were some songs that just weren’t ready in time. ‘Nara’ and ‘Bloodflood Pt 2’ for example, were written when we were touring the first album. Finally, there are songs written while we were recording ‘This Is All Yours.”

‘This Is All Yours’ is notably different to previous releases. ‘Hunger Of The Pine’, with its Miley Cyrus samples, sounds a million miles from ‘Tesselate’, but despite it’s differences, is instinctively recognisable as Alt-J. “The song writing process varies between songs. Joe Newman (guitarist and singer) is responsible for the lyrics; he enjoys writing lyrics and is really good at it. As to the rest, it's open. We work best when in a room without pressure to produce. It’s when we’re least expecting to come up with something, the best things happen.”

The artwork for ‘This Is All Yours’ reflects the bold progression in Alt-J’s sonic boundaries. “You’ve got to produce artwork before finishing the album.

We’re a band with lots of art graduates, so we look forward to producing album artwork. In reality, you’re caught up in producing the album and don’t have time to even think about the artwork! We were leafing through Thom’s old sketchbooks, and found a piece he’d done at university - once it was cropped to a square, it looked really awesome. The bold primary colours, red, green, blue, yellow, they dictated the feel and visual output for the whole album.”

After playing to packed stages at Glastonbury, Latitude and Reading & Leeds, Alt-J took their album on a UK wide tour in December. Having grown up playing intimate shows, this was one of the first time they were filling arenas. They’ve developed as a band pretty quickly. “We’re more confident on stage. We used to be shy and uncomfortable, not look at the crowd. We’re used to performing live now, and we’re lucky as we have the budget to bring big production with us on tour in terms of lights and visuals, which increases the spectacle of the live show hugely.”

“We come up with some new music on tour, but it's really hard to coherently work on things. We don't spent much time as a group with our instruments, bar being on stage. It’s not like we sit around with guitars all day. When you're on tour it can be hard to survive mentally. We like to do our own things too; be it exercise, sitting around reading or watching a series - whatever it is you need to not go mad, you do. We’re not putting pressure under ourselves, because not cracking up is more important. We’ll work on new stuff when we’re ready.”

The title of their sophomore album ‘This Is All Yours’ comes from a painting by drummer Thom. “We felt it summed up the fact that once a piece of work is finished, it no longer belongs to you; it belongs to everyone who listens to it.” It may belong to everyone, but it is most undeniably yours.

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MUSIC

L

ook back through the last few months of musical acts to play Cardiff ’s Motorpoint Arena and it reads like a who’s who of household names; Bob Dylan, Paul Weller, Mumford & Sons. Not a list of names your average musician would feel confident listing themselves alongside. On 23 February, that’s exactly what St Albans-based electronic/rock fusionists, Enter Shikari, are doing.

The venue isn’t entirely unfamiliar to the band, who supported 30 Seconds to Mars at the then-Cardiff International Arena in 2010.

“It’ll be very different from that” says frontman Rou Reynolds. Never one to be monosyllabic, Reynolds speaks about the show with the same excitement you’d expect from a ticket holder going to it for their first gig: “We’re off tour at the moment and just concentrating on this tour, there’s a lot of work going into the production of it. We’re combining the lighting and production with the music, so everything’s going to be heavily in sync, which recreates this uniformed onslaught on all of the senses”.

In a world where support bands are often given shows by promoters with little interference from headliners, Reynolds’ kind words about support act The Wonder Years are refreshing to hear. “We sometimes like to think about booking support bands in quite a selfish manner, we want music that’s going to get us up to playing our show.” The Wonder Years are a pop punk band that Reynolds believes have plenty of punk within their sound “If [pop punk bands] keep the word ‘punk’ in there, you have to be making a statement, usually punk is social commentary.

What I love about The Wonder Years is the sentiment is there, but that’s not to ignore the fact that their songs are brilliant.”

In terms of set list, Reynolds assures us that we will be hearing some remixes from the band’s latest The Mindsweep: Hospitalised project, an album that saw artists from drum and bass label Hospital Records remix Enter Shikari’s latest studio album The Mindsweep. Following on from the success of live performances of

their track ‘Juggernauts’ combined with Nero’s remix, Reynolds says we can hear two or three mixes along those lines from the new album “What we’ve done in the past with remixes is hopefully seamlessly go between an original and a remix.” Reynolds is also quick to kill the ‘anyone can make drum and bass music’ myth: “When it comes to music production, it’s so heavily reliant on production techniques, compression, various forms of EQing. It’s one of the most anal forms of production there is.”

For a band that takes as much influence from electronic music as Enter Shikari, The Mindsweep: Hospitalised seems like quite a natural move. The band have previously worked with Hospital Records’ High Contrast, currently a resident DJ at Cardiff ’s Clwb Ifor Bach, so a whole album came fairly smoothly.

But following on from remix albums such as Linkin Park’s 'Reanimation' and Bring Me The Horizon’s 'Suicide Season – Cut Up!', a rock band taking this route is not a new phenomenon.

What makes The Mindsweep: Hospitalised stand out? Reynolds says it is a mixture of continuity and variety: “It’s a Hospital Records release so they’re all artists that are on one label from that one scene, but within that it’s an incredibly diverse label.” Reynolds also hopes this can be a gateway to people discovering the label and the genre. If you’re looking for the harder end of drum and bass, he recommends Reso (who remixes ‘The Anaesthetist’ on this

is a new drum and bass scene taking influence from orchestral music and sampling strings and brass, that Keeno (‘The One True Colour’) and Etherwood (‘Never Let Go of the Microscope’) are currently leading.

You’d never guess it from seeing him perform live, but Reynolds also admits to occasionally being quite shy. As the singer of a band that often displays quite a political message, he says he’s been asked to appear on BBC topical commentary show Question Time, and not felt ready for it. Even though past panels have included rock stars like Brian May and John Lydon, Reynolds says there’s a difference between live music performance and heated debate “I’ve done a few talks and speeches in the past, but in that debate scenario, at this stage I’d do damage more than anything to the things I’d be supporting.”

Having scanned the scene in Cardiff for their Spiller’s Records signing session back in November, Reynolds may not be up for debating on a panel against the Welsh Conservatives, but he seems more than ready for the challenge of taking on a several thousand-strong Cardiff crowd.

ENTER

SHIKARI ALEC EVANS

album), but at the other end of the spectrum

“Uniformed onslaught on all of the senses”

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sign-up ÂŁ15 per person 59

VIDEO GAMES

QUENCH VIDEO GAMES AWARDS

Saman Izadyar and Tom Morris dish out their highly credible awards to 2015’s lineup of games.

Game Most Likely To Save Your Life in The Future: Fallout 4 Many sceptics of video games argue that games are a waste of time as they don’t provide the player with valuable life skills. I laugh in the face of these people, especially when we are all inevitably faced with a nuclear apocalypse in about 60 years’ time. The Great War of 2077 will leave the world in a chaotic state, which of course, is to be expected after the detonation of multiple atom bombs. Fast forward 200 years and the radiation has had severe ramifications.

Cows and deer now have 2 heads whilst cockroaches, scorpions and mole rats are now multiple times bigger than their 2015 sizes. Humans have also suffered from the harsh nuclear fallout environment, some have transformed into zombie-like creatures called ghouls. Half their faces are missing, excessively croaky voices and worst of all, their hair has fallen out (which is definitely where the name of the franchise comes from). Playing Fallout teaches you how to take care of these feral ghouls and oversized creepy crawlies, usually in the form of a lovingly crafted baseball bat covered in barbed wire.

You can also learn how to unlock doors with hair pins, hack computers and put buckets on people’s heads whilst you steal all their belongings. Thanks to Fallout 4’s new crafting system, I now know how to turn baseballs into grenades, trees into pictures of kittens and fertilizer into drugs that slow down time. As you can clearly see, Fallout will help you survive the future, period. But if you’re not a gamer and don’t plan on picking up the game then the most important thing I can teach you is: don’t drink the green water.

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VIDEO GAMES

Game That Gave Me a Great Opportunity to Try Steam’s New Refund System: LEGO Worlds It was very good of Travellers’ Tales to drop the stinker that is LEGO Worlds unceremoniously onto the Steam store at the same time as Valve released their refund option. Within two hours, I’d played enough to see that the game was really not worth wasting any more time on, even if it was still in early access. As it happens, that’s the maximum amount of time you can play a game before the refund option disappears. Seeing that tenner return to my account was extremely pleasing. If only all online stores had this function…

Lego Worlds (not to be confused with well-marketed and no doubt sizeably budgeted Lego Dimensions) released quietly onto Steam Early Access in June, with a full release expected for next year. Billed as Lego’s reply to Minecraft’s stealing of Lego’s blockgame thunder, it promised large scale creativity with powerful tools for shaping a rich open world.

However, there’s one problem- whilst Lego works great in real life, where you can accept the generally daft look of the blocks in exchange for functionality, there’s a reason that Minecraft uses straight up square blocks- it just works better on computers with a first person viewpoint. Everything about Lego Worlds is disappointingly done- it all seems so odd.

Major thanks must go to TT for letting me test out that lovely new feature though; it’s almost as if the game was designed to make me want to return it.

Most Relatable Game of 2015: The Witcher Wild Hunt Now, I know what you’re thinking. Saman, you’re not a badass mutated human, specifically created to rid the world of monsters. Alas, you would be right. But that’s not where the relatability aspect comes into play. On Geralt’s epic quest to find his adopted daughter, you may stumble upon an island in Skellige that has an unusual curse on it. On this island, called Urriala, it never stops raining.

Sounds familiar right? The inhabitants of this place are understandably annoyed and hire you to abolish this curse, accredited to a mysterious tower that appeared out of nowhere. Thus, using Witcher logic there must be a mysterious tower in Cardiff that we need to destroy in order to get wonderful clear skies.

Game That Very Briefly Lifted Me from the Depressing Disappointment That is Life: Super Mario Maker It was very good of Travellers’ Tales to drop the stinker that is LEGO Worlds unceremoniously onto the Steam store at the same time as Valve released their refund option. Within two hours, I’d played enough to see that the game was really not worth wasting any more time on, even if it was still in early access. As it happens, that’s the maximum amount of time you can play a game before the refund option disappears. Seeing that tenner return to my account was extremely pleasing. If only all online stores had this function…

Lego Worlds (not to be confused with well-marketed and no doubt sizeably budgeted Lego Dimensions) released quietly onto Steam Early Access in June, with a full release expected for next year. Billed as Lego’s reply to Minecraft’s stealing of Lego’s blockgame thunder, it promised large scale creativity with powerful tools for shaping a rich open world.

However, there’s one problem- whilst Lego works great in real life, where you can accept the generally daft look of the blocks in exchange for functionality, there’s a reason that Minecraft uses straight up square blocks- it just works better on computers with a first person viewpoint. Everything about Lego Worlds is disappointingly done- it all seems so odd. Major thanks must go to TT for letting me test out that lovely new feature though; it’s almost as if the game was designed to make me want to return it.

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VIDEO GAMES

THE FINAL FRONTIER Alex Glazer looks to the stars and compares the three biggest space simulators ever conceptualized.

The return of the Space Sim is nearly complete. We have been witnessing the reincarnation of one of the oldest and most popular genres in the gaming industry. In Elite: Dangerous, No Man’s Sky and Star Citizen we have three similar yet completely different games. But are any of them going to be/are any good?

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VIDEO GAMES Let’s start with Elite: Dangerous. It has been around 20 years since we had the last entry in this franchise. The one thing that will hit you the first time you boot up the game is the size. This game is huge! Using some complex maths, Frontier Developments have managed to recreate our galaxy and put it into a game. In theory you can visit every single star system of which there are absolutely thousands. And all of them are light years apart. Yes that’s right, this game has accurate portrayals of distance. To get around you must use the hyper speed mechanic to go from system to system and there is super speed to get around those systems once you are there. This game, in essence, is Euro Truck Simulator 2 in space. Much of the focus is on the economy of the galaxy and the various trading routes and market prices. This does make the game somewhat of a grind though, as all of the jobs that you can take are randomly generated so it is simply luck of the draw when you arrive at any given spaceport.

The game takes a (relatively) realistic approach. You really do get the sense that this is a simulator. The ships handle in proportion to their size and one has to be really accurate when manoeuvring around spaceports and alike. Elite: Dangerous certainly stands out from the crowd but for how much longer.

It is completely fair to say that No Man’s Sky will go down as one of the most hyped titles in gaming history. Out of the three, this looks the most different from what we can tell from tech demos.

NMS is about exploration. The idea is that you go around the galaxy visiting the numerous planets and moons and discover new species of creature and plants. Yes, you genuinely visit the planets. You actually get to walk, swim and fly around fully-sized planets. This is where the first difference lies. In its current form Elite: Dangerous does not have this kind of mechanic (though there are rumours that this will be added in the first major piece of DLC).

NMS seems like it’s going to be a global ecology project.

As well as this, the developers have stated that the download will be 100GB on PC. To put this in perspective GTA V was 65 GB while Fallout 4 was 30 GB on PC. Elite: Dangerous was around 45GB. Star Citizen is quite literally the biggest game ever.

Unfortunately there is not much else to really go on. The information that has been revealed so far has been somewhat limited and the footage that has been revealed does not really give away much at all. The jury is still out on this game, it will take the official release before a real judgement can be made.

Everything is procedurally generated. Whilst there is an ultimate goal: reach the centre of the galaxy, the developers, Hello Games, really want to see how much of the galaxy can be discovered and catalogued. From what we can tell, there is a central computer called “Atlas” in which you can upload all of your findings throughout your journey. If you are the first person to discover something then you can name it and that name will forever be etched into the history books of NMS for everyone to see. That is pretty cool if you ask me.

Out of the three, we can only really draw a conclusion on Elite: Dangerous since it is the only one that has been released. All of these games are incredibly ambitious and will be testing the limits of what gaming can do. All three have been/will stretch technology due to their sheer size while NMS’levels of procedural generation seem to be in a completely different universe. One thing that can be said is that fans of the genre will eventually have a plethora of choices with each offering a completely different experience from the other. The time of the space sim has come again and we all must shoot for the stars.

Now we come to arguably the most ambiguous entry into this genre. Star Citizen has already placed itself into the pantheon of gaming and it’s not even out yet! At the time of writing the game has raised nearly $97 million! It has shattered all of the previous records for a crowd-funded game.

Alex Glazer

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VIDEO GAMES Words by: ELIS DOYLE

Design by: JASPER WILKINS

The Video Games Strike Back

It’s a trap! Not really, it’s actually Elis Doyle talking about some games with differing midi-chlorian counts.

When it comes to video games based on films, the main consensus is that they aren’t that spectacular. Such grandiose stories over the years have been reduced to unimaginative mayhem. How is this, you may ask? In a sentence, most are released on the eve of the movies success with little actual effort put into them. However, in the case of Star Wars, one of the largest film franchises on the planet, you’d think that the stakes would be a tad higher. Oh ho ho, my dear readers, bantha fodder by name, bantha fodder by nature...

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We begin our chronicle of digital atrocities a long time ago, in a games studio far, far away. Atari were at the forefront of gaming’s encapsulation into the minds of the youth, and what better way to tap into that than what was on every kid’s mind at that point?

Unfortunately, the first two games on the Atari, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back respectively, were repetitive, difficult to understand, and other than the cover art depicting an AT-AT firing at rebels you had no idea what was going on. This was the early eighties however, and some liberties were taken.

VIDEO GAMES Empire Strike Back (1982) Luckily, an early setback was not about to contend with the unstoppable weight of the franchise. Noticing the incredible potential in their own series, Lucasarts entered the fray: the company on whose namesake will either make you cry in gleeful nostalgia, or cry as if a lightsaber had been shoved somewhere unpleasant.

The sheer volume of games pumped out by this company is gargantuan, enough to rival the Death Star itself, and with the same destructive capacity. In fact, some of those that became critical successes like Grim Fandango and The Secret of Monkey Island had no relation to Star Wars whatsoever.

However, in 1993 X-Wing was released, a game which would become one of the many diamonds in the rough of the gaming empire. It drew heavy crowds in arcades and it was heavily praised for its impressive 3D models that most companies had only just began to experiment with. All in all, it was a solid game that allowed you to step into the boots of an X-Wing pilot from Red-Team and blast some TIE Fighters. Luke Skywalker, eat your heart out!

But the death knell had rung, and in 1999 the largely anticipated Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released. The era of the Dark Side of Star Wars videogames had begun. It was during this period that Star Wars video-games were being released at such a rate that the quantity viciously overcome the quality of titles. This was clear from the Phantom Menace game, which I am convinced to this day has the most vomit inducing camera angles and perspective known to man, more so than Sonic 06.... what else is there to be said?

X- Wing (1993)

Bombad Racing (2001)

There was also a rising focus on racing games. I have no idea why, but whereas Star Wars Episode I: Racer was an extremely faithful and energising homage to the Pod Racer scene in Episode I, Lucasarts managed to trash that gem with Bombad Racing.

I feel like Jar Jar managed to wrest control of the game development for a brief amount of time, meesa very disappointed.

This era of darkness was relatively short-lived, due to Bioware and Lucasarts collaborating in 2003 and subsequently releasing arguably the best Star Wars game ever made, Knights of The Old Republic. It was the first Star Wars game I ever played, and I had an absolute ball. An excellent role-playing game with a deep, engaging story, game-play that was unseen at the time, and graphics that would set the market standard. The Star Wars hype train continued to plough through, with Star Wars: Battlefront/Battlefront II which introduced a Battlefield-esque shooter on land combined with outrageously fun Space-Battles that made me feel like I was high on death-sticks... I need to go home and re-think my life.

However, with the collapse of Lucasarts and the absorption into Disney a few years ago, the fate of the Star Wars game franchise lay dormant for a while. But out of nowhere, Star Wars fans received a new hope. Electronic Arts and developers DICE announced the return of Star Wars: Battlefront (but this time with super fancy graphics). Critics gave it relatively positive reviews. Consumers on the other hand were left conflicted, with some thinking it’s the greatest Star Wars experience ever made and others being sceptical of Darth EA and their £40 “season pass”; making us all ask: has The Force truly awakened?

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2005)

Star Wars Battlefront (2015)

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VIDEO GAMES

Arachnophobia Saman makes a plea to games developers everywhere so that they can stop giving him mini heart attacks

Fear is an odd thing.

Especially a fear of something silly and tiny like a spider. I am one of these silly people with this silly fear of spiders. I’m not sure if I was arachnophobic before playing video games or if it developed after my many years of gaming but I don’t think the excessive and unwelcome appearance of the creepy buggers in games has helped.

The thing about spiders in video games is that they are rarely as tiny as their nondigital counterparts in the real world.

Video game spiders are usually about 60 feet tall, with the ability to shoot smaller minion spiders out of what I assume is their arse (spider anatomy is not my strong suit). They are ALWAYS angry and they ALWAYS charge straight at you, shrieking viciously with their razor-sharp fangs and their eight horrible hairy legs.

You can imagine my paranoia when I’m playing a game and suddenly I see cobwebs everywhere. If I’m aware that a game has oversized spiders in it then I become hesitant in buying it and no games developer wants to lose that sweet moola.

I didn’t experience true arachnophobia until I played Limbo. The antagonist, simply referred to as ‘The Spider’, is incomparable to anything else I’ve ever faced in the digital realm. A still image of The Spider isn’t scary at all. But when you play Limbo, you will realise why it’s so petrifying. The monochromatic tones, the film grain filter and the acousmatic music. The ambiance in Limbo is so peaceful, as you explore this spooky forest. It makes you develop a false sense of security as you think to yourself that no game with a little child as a protagonist can be scary or gruesome.

That is until you reach an odd-looking tree. A tree that somehow lunges one of its’ branches at you and penetrates your stomach. It’s not a tree. It’s how you’re first introduced to The Spider. It’s in that moment where I screamed a few words that are too profane to write down; whilst simultaneously appreciating the use of silhouettes as no other art style could’ve pulled this feat off. I hoped that it would stay in the tree. It didn’t. He disappears for a while, but unfortunately you walk straight into his lair.

The web slows you down as he

creeps up on you. This would actually be my worst nightmare in real life and it made me feel so sorry for the insects you see on nature documentaries that get immobilised in spiders’ webs. The Spider foolishly spares you and cocoons you to munch on at a later time. You free yourself and have to hop away still cocooned, Spider in chase. Eventually, after a few close calls, The Spider gets crushed by a boulder and all that remains of him is his body and one leg. He lunges at you for the final time and you catch his leg and pull it out of his body. Victory.

Giant spiders in video games aren’t a rare occurrence. Franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Devil May Cry, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Castlevania and even Sly Cooper all feature hideous arachnids.

They have been in their fair share of film and literature too (big shout out to Shelob in The Lord of the Rings) but arguably they aren’t as overused in these mediums. I don’t understand why games designers will go out of their way to fit huge spiders into their games. Surely a game that implements something as unrealistic as massive arachnids could easily have

just included another villain that has been constructed from the character designer’s imagination. Horror games use them because they are scary, but they could be unique and design another creature to use for their annoying boss battle instead. Crafting games (Don’t Starve and Minecraft etc.) use them as a means to drop valuable resources like silk but you could easily just replace them with cobwebs and just normal sized spiders…

I’m in the minority but there are still around 3-6% of the population that are classed as arachnophobic and there are a lot more people that are just afraid of spiders; not necessarily to the extent of full blown arachnophobia. I wish that designers would be more considerate because it is in fact a chunk of their audience, and by having spiders, they make the game a bit irritating and uncomfortable to play.

My tip to you if you unwillingly stumble across something you’re afraid of, whether that’s cockroaches or lizards: mute the game, it helps a lot. Spiders have been done, can we move on please?

Saman Izadyar

“Even after I had killed the Limbo spider, I spent the majority of the rest of the game thinking that his family would want revenge and come for me.”

JW

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FILM & TV

JOSS WHEDON This issue, Film & TV are turning away from the usual focus on film and taking a look at Joss Whedon, a director who, despite having several brilliant films under his belt, is more famous for his television shows. Whedon is a man who seems to be able to do everything, and has created, written, produced and directed an incredible amount of content. Each film and series occurs within its own original universe, its own distinct aesthetic mixed with an intricate and well thought out quirky back­ story. Usually, these series and films are established within the science fiction genre, with the occasional supernatural themed plotlines, especially within fan favourite show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whedon’s works have a magical way of somehow always gathering a cult following, regardless of focus and content. This is clearly apparent with shows like Buffy, which despite having ended thirteen years ago gains new fans every day, and how lovers of Firefly, which ended at the same time, are still bitterly heartbroken over their loss.

Film & TV are here to take you on a journey into some of Whedon’s wonderful worlds, as we discuss a selection of his best loved directional escapades.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997­ -2003) Two words come to mind when I think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Girl. Power. Joss Whedon and crew created a 90s feminist­fabulous show that managed to appeal to just about everyone who made it past the first season.

The main character, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), has been chosen to be the ‘slayer’. She moves to a new school, meets new friends and a mentor, and protects the world from the forces of evil. She fights vampires and demons with her ‘Scooby Gang’ (her group of friends), all whilst juggling school, college and family matters. Pretty badass. Buffy is more than just about killing creatures though. The show is a heart­ wrenching rollercoaster of emotions. There’s hardly a bad season, with great arching plot lines with multiple ‘big bads’ and dilemmas galore.

You may recognise her friend Willow, played by Alyson Hannigan who plays Lily in How I Met Your Mother, or the librarian Giles played by Anthony Stewart Head who plays Uther in Merlin.

It’s an absolutely fantastic cast.

Buffy is a show that’s able to laugh at itself. One of the best episodes of all time is the musical episode ‘Once More With Feeling’, where a demon comes to Sunnydale that makes everyone sing and dance involuntarily. The episode is an excellent example of the amazing humour and wit Buffy is known for, even making it to number thirteen of Channel 4’s ‘100 Best Musicals of All Time’ (as voted for by the public).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer laid the groundwork for portrayal of LGBT+ relationships on television, as well as proving that female­lead shows do work and can be popular. You’ll find Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix, and I thoroughly recommend that you give it a watch.

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Angel (1999­-2004) Angel is Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s spin off, first airing in 1999 when Buffywas entering its fourth season. Joss Whedon teamed up with co­creator David Greenwalt to give us an impressive five season run, featuring some of the characters from the original Buffy show: Angel (David Boreanaz), Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley Wyndam­-Pryce (Alexis Denisof).

Whereas in Buffy the major villains are generally vampires and evil demons from hell, Angel faces a far scarier foe: lawyers. Trust me, it works. Angel is a vampire with a soul, and seeks forgiveness for his crimes in his terrible past. He moved from Sunnydale to LA and set up a private investigations firm to help people with demon­ related problems. Angel explores areas that Buffy doesn’t. While Buffy is based around friends and family, Angel is far scarier, set blatantly within the horror genre.

In each season there’s always a visit from one of the characters from Buffy; Spike (James Marsters), Faith (Eliza Dushku) and Buffy herself (Sarah Michelle Gellar) make appearances and link the two shows together. You’ll have to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer before you watch Angel to understand what’s going on, but for any Buffy fan hungry for more, it’s a godsend.

The show gives Buffy’s less appreciated characters a second chance, such as Cordelia and Wesley, and gives added development to characters like Faith. We even get to see beyond Buffy’s finale with unanswered questions about the fates of characters finally answered.

Maria Mellor

FILM & TV

Firefly (2002-­2003) Firefly is a Science Fiction Space Western and it’s about as badass as it sounds. So, inevitably, it was cancelled after one fabulous season, eleven wonderful episodes, and four glorious months.

As you’ve probably established, I’ve generally got pretty positive feelings about Firefly. It’s fundamentally a nerds dream come true; space pirate’s committing crime across the universe, frequently stumbling upon conflict that normally involves guns, and basically just kicking ass. The overarching plot of the series really commences when the crew of the smuggler spaceship (Serenity) become embroiled in a shady government conspiracy involving human experimentation... Firefly is brilliant because it contains all the best elements of classic Joss Whedon. It’s a perfectly balanced combination of humour and drama.

Moments of emotional intensity are offset with snappy wit. All characters are captivating and complex in their own right, and every member of the Serenity crew is a beneficial and likeable part of the team. The cast is racially diverse and full of strong female characters who aren’t just depicted as tomboys. The biggest flaw within Firefly is that this story never really comes to a satisfactory conclusion but you can’t really blame Whedon for this; just the executives, whose only purpose is to drain all the happiness from our lives, like evil joy sucking vampires. After active campaigning from a fervent fan base, a film called Serenity was released in an attempt to tie up all those loose threads. Serenity really does make a valiant attempt at this and is absolutely worth a watch. The characters and formula are both true to the series and the plot is riveting, touching, and action packed. Despite this, it doesn’t bring everything to a completely satisfactory close.

Firefly will always leave you longing for more, but at least it didn’t run long enough to deteriorate into something less great than what it is.

Milly Goadby

The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Dr. Horrible’s Sing­ Along Blog (2008) Is it a film? Is it a TV show? No! It’s Dr. Horrible; a musical comedy­drama webseries! The series features Neil Patrick Harris, of How I Met Your Motherfame, as protagonist Dr. Horrible; an aspiring supervillian who makes various attempts at being accepted into the ‘Evil League of Evil’, as well as trying to win the heart of Penny (Felicia Day), a girl who occasionally does her laundry at the same time as him. The web series is filmed in the style of a vlog, as Dr. Horrible talks and sings to the camera/viewer about his schemes. This then cuts to scenes from his daily life, as he tries to juggle his villainous acts and his feelings for Penny, all of which are explored through song. Conflicts occur when Dr. Horrible’s archenemy Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) begins dating Penny, which leads to a showdown involving a Freeze Ray and a Death Ray. Dr. Horrible’s Sing­Along Blog is one of those quotable shows, full of hilarious and witty one­liners which occur throughout, making it a joy to watch. Originally released in three ‘acts’, the musical is now widely available around the internet in its entirety with a runtime of only forty­two minutes, making it a quick and easy watch.

Eleanor Parkyn

The Avengers. Earth’s mightiest heroes. Those guys who wear silly skin­tight costumes and punch aliens and robots for a living. Yeah, that’s them.

As a fan of all things Marvel you could say I was pretty hyped up about the fact that all my favourite super heroes (excluding Spider­Man, insert sad face here) were joining forces on the big screen.

The first Avengers film was great, although it had a pretty slow first half with not much actually going on, it was still great seeing Tony Stark making witty comments to the other super hero pals. There is a long build­up of the heroes facing their differences and overcoming them slowly, but the finale made every second of boring dialogue and filler perfectly justifiable. The ‘money­shot’ of all the Avengers standing defensively in a circle in their heroic poses always brings a smile to my face. Avengers: Age of Ultron had a lot to live up to.

The second Avengers film that came out last year was another attempt at bringing all the original Avengers back together whilst introducing some new ones (although not at first). I can’t say that Age of Ultron was a bad film, it was definitely pretty epic, though it felt a little too much of the same.

It was like Whedon discovered the secret formula to making amazing fight sequences and decided to make an entire film from it. From start to finish there are just scenes after scenes of our heroes beating everything into a pulp. It was great the first couple of times, but it gets tired further down the line. Hopefully things improve in time for Marvel’s Civil War. Alexander Jones

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FILM & TV Don’t get me wrong, Robert De Niro is not only one of the finest actors of the last fifty years in terms of awards, gravitas and the sheer volume of outstanding work he has done, but this is also one of my own favourite actors. In Taxi Driver, his portrayal of Travis Bickle, the downtrodden cabbie turned amateur assassin, is played with such charisma and conviction that his image defined a whole decade of filmmaking. In Raging Bull, his commitment to method acting saw him gain 60 pounds to portray once­great boxer Jake La Motta in his later years, a move which would be considered almost commonplace today (think Christian Bale in The Machinist), but was completely ground­breaking at the time. And in my own personal favourite, Goodfellas... well, he just steals the show (as well as large amounts of money, drugs and power) in a stunning performance. So, where did it all go wrong?

The level of utter shite has been unrelenting.

After The Intern, where he played assistant to Anne Hathaway’s self­made businesswoman, we now have Dirty Grandpa, the plot of which sees Robert’s character, newly widowed, dragging his

Many of his fellow graduates from the School of Method Acting, founded by the great Lee Strasbourg (Godfather II), have also effectively sold out recently. Harvey Keitel, De Niro’s Mean Streets co­star, is now a fixture on British TV screens thanks to him re­hashing his Winston Wolfe character from Pulp Fiction in adverts for insurance company Direct Line. Al Pacino sold out in agreeing to appear in Adam Sandler’s critical bomb Jack and Jill. Gene Hackman appeared in Welcome to Mooseport in 2003­ and hasn’t made a film since. Robert Duvall, meanwhile, teamed up with Tom Cruise inJack Reacher, a big­budget, low- return action flick many chose to simply flick past instead. Yet De Niro actually appears to have a genuine reason for joining his old acting buddies in making such films ­giving back to a once­great area of the city he grew up in.

In 2002, the Tribeca Film Festival was co­founded, again, by De Niro, reportedly in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, and the consequential loss of vitality in the Tribeca neighbourhood.

ARE YOU STILL LOOKIN’ AT ME? the changing faces of Robert De Niro

As Dirty Grampa is slated by critics, Dan Heard looks at why it’s all been going so wrong for the acting great on screen, but so right off of it. grandson (Zac Efron) along to spring break for “one last thrill” ­something of a recurring theme in his recent movies, but something they never deliver on. Perhaps his reasoning behind taking roles in these awful films outweighs the hit to his credibility. In 1989, De Niro co­founded Tribeca Productions, a film and television production company in the lower Manhattan neighbourhood of Tribeca. The company was founded at the beginning of a revival of interest in filming within New York City, which continued to grow throughout the 1990’s. In fact, since its founding, other production facilities have moved into various neighbourhoods in the city. Filming around and in the streets has again become commonplace, as it was back in De Niro’s glory days working with the likes of the legendary Martin Scorsese.

Robert has helped to make these once ‘mean streets’ a thriving place for filmmaking once again. 1989, coincidentally, was around the time he ventured away from the well­written, beautifully directed films, and wandered towards the more mediocre efforts we’ve now become accustomed to. And he’s not alone in his career choices either.

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The mission of the festival is, as Robert said “to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience” and to contribute to the long- term recovery of lower Manhattan. On screen, his only redeeming roles lately have been those given to him by David O. Russell, director of films such as The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and now Joy. Like Christopher Nolan did for Michael Caine in the Batman trilogy, through these roles, Robert has revitalised himself and his esteemed career. Yet, in truth, it doesn’t really matter how many more bad films De Niro makes. Not only is his legacy as one of the finest actors in history all but secured, he may also can continue as he pleases, safe in the knowledge that these poor films are for a much greater cause.

FILM & TV

POWER HOUR

With nine superhero shows set to air next year, Scott Place discusses the rise of superhero TV and if it’s really as super as it sounds.

Superhero shows are not a new phenomenon. They’ve been on our screens since the 50s and have remained a constant on television ever since. Though the popularity of these shows has fluctuated over time, there has been a recent boom in success for the genre, with nine individual superhero shows set to air in 2016. Why has this sudden change happened and is it likely to last for long?

The large number of superhero shows means that it is often difficult to keep track of them. From the feel good Supergirl to the gritty Jessica Jones, there is a huge amount of variety. Though quality can be questionable at times, it’s likely that there is a show for everyone.

This variety of superhero shows has become much more apparent in recent years as creators have begun to experiment with the genre. For instance, Marvel’s deal with Netflix has allowed them to create Jessica Jones and Daredevil, which are very dark and starkly different to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it was a gamble for Marvel to break the mould and make grittier shows it has certainly paid off for them, as they have become critically acclaimed and popular with

audiences, showing that superheroes don’t have to be optimistic and child­friendly to succeed.

Similarly, The Flash has succeeded as it was allowed to fully embrace its weird and wonderful source material.

Developments in CGI have meant that The Flash can do things that would previously have been impossible to translate to the screen such as using the villainous telepathic gorilla, Grodd. In the past, shows like Smallville needed to remain grounded due to CGI and budgeting limitations but now these issues have largely disappeared and the superhero genre is all the better for it.

The development of the shared universe has also helped cause the rise of the superhero show. In the wake of The Avengers, companies began trying to emulate Marvel’s success in making a cinematic universe and though it has taken time for these other properties to take shape, it has become vital for a show to maintain links with others to be successful. Perhaps the most successful shared universe is that of Arrow and The Flash as both have benefited immensely from being able to interact and crossover with each other. In fact, this success is

so strong that this year an entirely new show with a cast consisting solely of side characters from the two original series is set to be released called Legends of Tomorrow. Nowadays, a superhero series is only as good as its counterparts and audiences now need to be able to immerse themselves in their heroes’ universes to become satisfied. The desire for new shows only continues to grow.

Overall, it is clear that superhero shows are rapidly rising in popularity and that the variety and increasing quality of these shows has greatly contributed to this success. While some would condemn this rise, one can also see that today’s audiences are far more receptive to other series that would previously have been impossible to translate to television, with The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones being arguably the two most popular shows out right now.

With nine series on television in 2016 and at least eight more in development, it doesn’t look like the superhero juggernaut is going to be slowing down any time soon and as long as it continues to grow and try out new formulas, it may not stop at all.

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FILM & TV

Experimental Cinema

Most people have preconceived ideas about what experimental cinema is. That avant­ garde films are unwatchable, self­ indulgent, incomprehensible and a waste of time. Culture editor Beau Beakhouse and Film & TV editor Sadia Pineda Hameed ask what, at its basic level, an experimental film is.

It might be argued that conventional narrative cinema, the popular cinema of any particular time, is at one end of a scale. It is what audiences have come to expect and understand from the language of film. If this is the case then on the other side of this scale is the avantgarde, the experimental film. These are films that do not conform to expectations, may not use the techniques of narrative cinema and that may need to be watched in unconventional ways. The methods of production, the artistic intention behind the film and its reception may be so far outside of what is expected by a collective audience that the film becomes an outlier, at the edge of what the word ‘cinema’ can represent. Between these two lies the rest of the spectrum of cinema, from narrative films that push boundaries of content and production, to films with the semblance of a narrative, films more akin to poetry, that use some of narrative cinema’s techniques but with distinctive methods of their own. Experimental film is often far more popular than people are aware of, and films of the past, deemed experimental, even avant­-garde at the time, come to be accepted by the canon of cinematic history and influence the directors that come after them. At any period in the history of film, what is acceptable to an audience has been different. What can be shown, what can be made, has appeared differently to the filmmakers confronted with the decision to make a film and how to go about creating it.

Experimental films were being made around the beginning of cinema, in the silent era. Visual storytelling had its roots in theatre, and with the technical developments around the turn of the 20th century this new art form was created by combining moving images, acting and music. As cinema developed it led to the creation of what are now perceived to be the classics of the silent era, works by Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Fritz Lang, D.W. Griffith and F.W. Murnau.

Silent cinema told stories through action, through the grammatical elements of film – editing, cinematography, music and mise en scène, among others – often with

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title cards to convey dialogue. But within this era there were artists and filmmakers who wanted to express something outside of the ‘rules’ of cinema that were developing, rules that were, and still are, often linked to commercial success.

An early film considered to be experimental in this way, even by its director, was Dziga Vertov’s 1929 documentary Man with a Movie Camera. It was a conscious move towards ‘the creation of a truly international absolute language of cinema’, one that would be universal. It would use the techniques of cinema to express its point, without dialogue in the form of title cards and without actors. It follows a cameraman as he explores and films Soviet cities, and captures the changing state of the city in a period of new technology and expansion; as well as the divide between machinery, social progress and natural human physicality. By showing the filming process itself, in all its stages and intercut with his own footage, Vertov also conveys the actual process of making a film and the relationship between a film and the world. This style of filmmaking has had many influences, including documentaries such as the Qatsi trilogy directed by Godfrey Reggio, Sans Soleil directed by Chris Marker and Chronos, Baraka and Samsara directed by Ron Fricke – all of which use scenes without actors and without dialogue to convey their point.

Another film from the silent era considered avant­-garde, though for other reasons, was An Adalusian Dog from 1928 directed by Luis Buñuel, with the screenplay co­ written with Salvador Dali. It is a surreal short film most famous for its initial sequence in which what looks like a real eyeball is sliced with a razor. The events of the film are often absurd, shocking, funny and unsettling, and they are always left unexplained. But the film’s effect is compounded because of its use of cinematic technique.

To an extent it follows the ‘rules’ of cinema; it has a continuous logic and uses these techniques to engage the audience. But, like the surrealist paintings of Dali, it is a logic that involves unusual themes, images and

connections. These connections seem to express latent themes of sexuality and violence. But equally its impact may come from a lack of meaning, as Buñuel argued that there was no meaning, that ‘no idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted...Nothing, in the film, symbolizes anything.’

From these beginnings of avant­-garde cinema, the genre has been developed upon, taken in various directions much more complex than that of absurdist elements and subversions of traditional cinema. One such direction can be seen in the art films of various eras, where experimentation with the visual form can reach extremities that are arguably unwatchable. Kurt Kren’s 16/67 September 20th, dubbed the ‘Eating Drinking Shitting Pissing Film’ involves clips of exactly what the title suggests, and seems to exist to shock its audience purely by portraying this human cycle. But one reading is that it also makes a comment on cinema and the more graphic processes that are often sacrificed for a ‘prettier’ film. Jørgen Leth’s 1982 film, 66 Scenes From America, features a painfully long static shot of Andy Warhol eating a Whopper from Burger King. The scene scrutinises Warhol, his arbitrary actions and the gaze upon him as a pop culture figure of the time, just as much as his own art did; according to Leth, ‘it’s a pure homage to Warhol.’

Films such as these are often screened in a gallery setting, clearly imperative to its reception and to an understanding of the film’s impact for the audience. In these cases the film is durational, only being exhibited for a set time. Patrons stand and watch the looped film beginning at any point, and watch for as long as they please. Viewing experiences such as this invite a different consideration of the piece, and ask the audience to ask questions of its meaning and possible interpretations that are unlike those encouraged in a traditional cinema setting. At this end of the experimental spectrum, the film is far closer to visual art, with each technical choice being like the purposeful

FILM & TV

avant­-garde cinema where its experimentation comes from a manipulation of the traditional language and expectations of film screen that is entertaining, but that is also a genuine work of art. This blurring of the distinction between cinema and art can also work in reverse. Curators may choose to displace experimental art film , taking it from the art gallery to the cinema screen.

In the past, the BFI have screened the works of Jonas Mekas and Nathaniel Dorsky within avant­garde seasons. Mekas’ Diaries, Notes & Sketches a.k.a. Walden (1964–9), owned by and exhibited at the Tate Modern, was screened less than a mile away at the BFI Southbank cinema. The 16mm film is focused largely on aesthetics, with no narrative, and is a tender collection of footage over six years thoughtfully compiled into a 180 minute long piece of moving poetry. When viewed at the Tate Modern, the piece is rarely watched in its entirety and the experimental sequence of moments is lost in this non­cinematic environment. In the cinema however, it is watched to be appreciated in its entirety; and it is also made accessible to potential audiences who would not have experienced the film in its original environment.

By screening these types of films, often with a short talk beforehand explaining aspects or the impacts of the piece, conversation around the piece is started and this can achieve a greater public understanding of the ‘incoherent’ world of experimental film. The accessibility of these films also can determine whether or not they are thought of as avant­garde. For instance, none of Nathaniel Dorsky’s films have been released on DVD or been exhibited in UK galleries, and they are not even available to stream online. In this regard, screenings from places such as independent cinemas, for example Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff – which featured a short introduction before their showing of Man With a Movie Camera in November and a live score – have been helping to make experimental film more ‘watchable’ in both a literal and figurative sense of the word.

However, the gap between avant­garde and traditional

narrative cinema is unclear. As cinema developed and new directors were influenced by the old, the features and the techniques of previously experimental films became accepted parts of cinematic language and style.

As such, avant­garde cinema began to find a strangely comfortable place among more popular films. David Lynch, the director of Blue Velvet, Inland Empire and the television series Twin Peaks, has been labelled ‘the first popular Surrealist’ due to his combination of avant­ garde aesthetics within his subversive yet mainstream works. His style of expression resembles filmmakers Buñuel, Jean Cocteau and Bruce Baille, whilst also being influenced by more ordinary dramas and soap operas.

His films have absurdist visuals, appear incoherent and have ambiguous meanings that do not necessarily subvert mainstream films but push the limits of what is acceptable and capable of being understood by the audience.

At other points in history many filmmakers and auteur directors have been considered experimental to varying degrees. Even Alfred Hitchcock, the ‘master of suspense’ now considered to be one of the most famous and popular directors of all time, innovated in production, filming techniques and in the content of his films. Rope’s long takes, and Psycho’s shocking midpoint change of genre, are examples of a master filmmaker pushing the limits of what was acceptable to a mainstream audience.

Other directors, such as Nicholas Roeg, director of Don’t Look Now, Performance, The Man Who Fell to Earth and Walkabout, experimented particularly with editing, using cross­cutting to disrupt and to create a linear narrative. Stanley Kubrick’s films (including 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining) were technically inventive in their production methods and in the actions and themes that they showed on screen, whilst also having had a massive impact on mainstream culture.

Today types of experimental cinema are perhaps at their most popular. Films by an array of auteur directors, such as Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Terence

Malick, Gaspar Noe, and Nicolas Winding Refn, all experiment in their own diverse and stylistic ways, making narrative films that are often well received by popular and critical audiences. Some explore violence, sexuality and other previously censored themes. Others, for example Malick’s The Tree of Life, explore topics and create narratives less through plot and action and more through poetic style.

The 2015 Oscars are a clear example of the popularity of experimental cinema, with Birdman directed by Alejandro Iñárritu, and Boyhood directed by Richard Linklater, as the central runners for best picture, both experimenting with theme, production and style. The rise of independent cinema, particularly in the 1990’s (of which Linklater was a part), is another way in which filmmakers were able to experiment away from the commercial strictures of Hollywood. This has led to a huge increase in independent films, and even the creation of major Hollywood studios such as Sony, Fox and Paramount developing independent distribution arms to cater for and release these types of films. In fact the line between independent and mainstream is now practically non­existent, with famous A­list actors often working in independent films where expression, ideas and great filmmaking are put first and commercial success second. Even with mainstream cinema being at a peak in terms of mass cultural influence, with huge sums of financial investment, advertising, and worldwide releases, there has also been a rise in cinema as an art form in its own right, and on making films with integrity and quality.

Experimental cinema, at first a term that might evoke something unknown and abstract, actually becomes a term almost synonymous with great filmmaking in which the filmmakers, actors and production team bring something to the screen that is entertaining, but is ultimately a great work of art.

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FILM + TV

F R A N C H I S E FIL Is bringing classic film franchises back from the vaults of our fond memories a good thing, or a simple cash-grab that plays on our nostalgia? Amandeep Turna discusses.

H

ollywood is churning out ideas from decades ago and we are all falling for it. The number one grossing film this year is a remade version of a trilogy that came out twenty-two years ago. You guessed it, it’s Jurassic World. But it’s number one for a reason: it’s a brilliant film. The Jurassic Park films are classic in their own right, a status that will never change. However, it’s refreshing to see a new take on the series. Technology has advanced so much over such a short space of time and it is almost unfair to leave some films in the past purely for this reason. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the special effects are dreadful, but seeing as all sorts of new technological things are available now, surely it makes sense to redo something with dinosaurs in it? Nowadays, films now have much bigger budgets than when the originals came out.

Filmmakers are able to make them more elaborate, and introduce elements that they may not have had the money or means to do the first time round. The James Bond films are a perfect example of this. In a recent interview with Graham Norton, Daniel Craig said that Spectre is the most expensive 007 film to date. Craig comments on how Skyfall made a lot of money, and so Spectre had to top that, it had to be better. It features locations in five different countries, and includes a live helicopter scene over the very real Zócalo in Mexico City, employing 1,520 extras for the scene. Although the James Bond series has been incredibly popular from the word go, Daniel Craig’s reboot has done it some good. Despite these changes, I think that the sequels

stick fairly closely to the original films. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set thirty years on from the last one.

My countless re-watching of the trailer has led me to believe that many of the locations will remain the same, thus making hard-core Star Wars fans feel comfortable.

Although the film hasn’t been released yet, I am quite confident when I say that I’m sure it will stick quite closely to the previous films. Yes, the characters and storylines have changed, (which sounds like pretty much the whole film but bear with me here), however the feel of the film seems to have remained the same. Harrison Ford’s appearance in it is just one example of this. By identifying with the past characters and locations, the film disregards both the belief that it is not authentic, and itself as a stand-alone film.

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“Filmmakers

are

able

to

make them more elaborate, and

introduce

that

they

may

elements not

have

had the money or means to do the first time round.”

FILM + TV

MS

That is always the major problem with contemporary sequels: the decision of whether to stick to the plot and risk being boring, or change the plot and risk pissing off fans. Filmmakers have the difficulty of trying to retain links with the past so that fans don’t feel alienated, while also keeping up with changes in society.

I have never watched an episode of Star Trek in my life and yet I consider the 21st Century Star Trek films to be one of my favourite contemporary sequels. Perhaps this is because they are stand-alone films. You don’t need to have been interested in the programme to be able to enjoy the films because they are not the next step, they are the beginning.

The characters are the same and some of the storylines may even be the same, but the films explain everything. They do not make the audience have to find out what happened in the third episode of the first season to understand something that Spock said, or a joke that Kirk made. They are their own thing, and perhaps that is what makes these sequels so successful.

They manage to create double the viewership. Primarily they attract the old audience, and then by making it more contemporary they have attracted a younger audience; an audience that just might not be interested in watching the 1966 version of a man with elf-ears running around a spaceship.

“That is always the major problem with contemporary sequels: whether

the to

decision

stick

to

of the

plot and risk being boring, or change the plot and risk pissing off fans.”

It is no secret that Hollywood seems to be running out of ideas. More and more films are based on literature, people who have made a recent impact in the news and, of course, past successful films. However, is this necessarily a bad thing? We obviously enjoy watching them otherwise we wouldn’t pay money to go and see them. We all know that Hollywood see them as a money-making scheme but, for the fans, that doesn’t matter. I didn’t grow up on Disney films or cartoons, I grew up on Star Wars and Jurassic Park so for me it is the nostalgia that makes me want to watch the revamped films. I personally couldn’t care less if Hollywood thinks I’m playing into their hands or not because, for me, watching the new Star Wars and Jurassic World is fun. I have a great time, and I can honestly say that I hope they continue to revamp franchise films so I can watch something decent, unlike the rest of the rom-com drivel they produce these days.

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FOOD + DRINK

GREEK CHIC Food & Drink held their first Quench Food Evening of the academic year in October. For this installment, we decided to go Greek with The Hellenic Eatery on Crwys Road.

Ellie Philpotts: If you’re into sampling the foods of the world, Cardiff doesn’t fare too badly. A number of Indian; Chinese; Lebanese; Italian and Polish eateries, to name just a few, are dotted around our wonderful city. Perhaps no suburb is greater for this than Cathays, the area the vast majority of us call home.

But right now the focus is on Greek. The Diff has a couple of restaurants stemming from this area of the Mediterranean, counting The Hellenic Eatery among them. The menu spoilt me for choice. But in the end I decided on the rather ironically named ‘I love Cyprus’, which, in other words, is a halloumi pitta wrap featuring other bits and pieces like tomatoes and onions, of course with some tzatziki chucked in for good measure (not to mention a cheeky chip or two).

After all, this is Cardiff, home to the notorious Chippy Lane.

It was small but sweet – I was forced to admire from afar the others’ huge platters, vibrant rainbows of what looked like every veg under the sun, plus authentic pork and chicken skewers and patties. Yep, the only downside to this traditional little eatery is that you’ll forever be jealous of everyone else’s orders despite your own tasting pretty fantastic. Oh, and you’ll waddle out 20 stone heavier. Luckily, it’s only down Crwys Road, so isn’t too far to struggle home.

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Emily Fisher and Megan Jones: Any student at Cardiff University knows that Crwys Road offers an abundance of food from every corner of the world, and the newly opened ‘Hellenic Eatery’ fits in perfectly, serving up some classic Greek dishes that do not disappoint.

Whilst perhaps a little more expensive than nearby student food outlets (a meal and drink will set you back about £10), the prices are worth it when you taste the deliciousness of the freshly made Greek food. The restaurant is small but cosy and the staff are eager to impress.

If you’re new to Greek food, the best main to go for would be the Hellenic Platter – sample some Greek patties and sausages, pork gyros and some truly tasty tzatziki. If you’d rather play it a bit safer, then why not choose the chicken skewers served with chips and homemade pitta.

Simple, yet flavoursome. You won’t be waiting very long for the food, although the menu isn’t very descriptive in terms of what each item is, so it can feel a little like pot luck – anyone know what a galaktoboureko is?!

Overall, a lovely little restaurant with tasty food and the perfect atmosphere for a relaxing meal with friends.

FOOD + DRINK Zenn Wong: Before arriving, I’d heard about the Hellenic Eatery as Crwys Road’s most value-for-money restaurant – no mean feat for a street known as Cathays’ Restaurant Central. Adding to my excitement, I had just been to Greece over the summer and couldn’t get enough of the souvlaki and yoghurt, heightening my expectations of this humble establishment.

With its calm blue walls and light wood furniture, the cosy restaurant immediately took me back to my Greek holiday. I was greeted by cheerful waitstaff and chefs with noticeably Greek accents, and noted that the other patrons of the restaurant were conversing with them in Greek – brownie points for authenticity.

I ordered the “The Hellenic Eatery” Platter, an outrageous plate of pork and chicken skewers, Greek sausage, Bifteki (Greek beef patties) and pork gyros (pork meat roasted on a vertical split a la doner kebabs), served alongside salad, chips, pita bread and three dips – hummus, tirokafteri (blended feta cheese and yogurt, red peppers, chillies, paprika and vinegar) and tzatziki (yoghurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil and vinegar). A mouthful, literally.

The skewers was seasoned to perfection, spicy but not overwhelming the meat’s natural flavour, while the Greek sausage was a balance of salty and spicy, going well with the refreshing tzatziki. The Pork gyros was like an upgraded version of of doner kebabs, with better meat and more flavourful seasoning. (I haven’t eaten a doner kebab anywhere else since – it just wouldn’t compare.) As for the patties, they were decent but somewhat forgettable, overshadowed by the other components of the dish.

Even the pita bread and chips did not disappoint. Fresh and aromatic (not tasteless and rubbery like we're used to), the pita served as the perfect way to wipe up the dips. The hummus was moreish and fresh with the full, nutty flavour of chickpeas, a step up from store-bought variety, while the tzatziki was refreshing and light, the perfect accompaniment to the more savoury and spicy meats. As for the tirokafteri. it packed a punch – tart, savoury and spicy all at the same time – enjoy in moderation.

I washed all this down with a Loux soft drink (apparently the biggest Greek juice and soft drink company). I went for the sour cherry flavour which was very lightly carbonated, making it easy to drink after the heavy meal.

At the end of it, I was stuffed but satisfied.

The relaxed atmosphere at The Hellenic Eatery, along with its affable staff and more-thansubstantial portions makes it perfect for when your group of friends are craving something different from the usual Nandos or Italian fare.

As I paid for my meal at the counter, I spied a large case of baklava on display – definitely one to try when I’m not overstuffed.

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FOOD + DRINK

A DIFFERENT KIND OF EXAM PREP BREAKFAST: Smoothies If you’re not a morning person, then this is the perfect pick-me-up for you. With this quick and easy, delicious and nutritious breakfast smoothie, you’ll be ready to face the day! Simply blend a lowfat natural yoghurt, skimmed milk and granola with blueberries, raspberries and/or strawberries and sweeten with honey. What could be easier? And you’re guaranteed to get the nutrients you need.

Consuming your daily portions of fruit can be tricky but by blending a couple of servings into a smoothie, you’re almost halfway there! Including blueberries in your morning drink is also a great addition as they are a superfood. They’re low in calories and high in nutrients. Tip: buying frozen berries from the supermarket is a cheaper alternative. They also last much longer, are equally as healthy as fresh berries, and give you an instantly chilled smoothie to kickstart your day. Choosing a nice and nutty granola will provide you with ‘good’ fats and omega-3 fatty acids that are essential for heart health. Granola can be quite high in sugars so try to choose one with a lower sugar content. Nevertheless, granola is a great energy source and can even increase cognitive activity to help you smash those exams!

Megan Sylvester

With exams and deadlines threatening to knock you back to the harsh reality of all-nighters and last-minute regrets, it’s important to eat well and stay healthy. Here’s some advice from our contributors on what they eat to keep them going this time of year.

LUNCH: Pomegranate Rocket Salad If you’re looking for a quick, yet tasty light lunch then a pomegranate rocket salad is the perfect meal for you. Pomegranate is a great source of fibre and contains vitamins A, C, E, iron and other antioxidants. Along side the rocket, which is one of the most nutritious green-leafy vegetables of Mediterranean origin, it is ideal to add some feta cheese into the salad. The sweet flavor of pomegranate and the bold tangy flavor of feta cheese make up a beautiful combination of flavors in your mouth! To top off this dish you can add a few pieces of finely sliced red onion, which also contain plenty of vitamins and minerals, and sprinkle a handful of pine nuts. This is ideal to eat during the exam period because pine nuts suppress your appetite and contain nutrients that help boost your energy!

Albina Govic

DINNER: Red Onion, Feta. and Sweet Potato Bake A really simple all-in-one oven-baked dish, this is great for evenings when you don’t want to stand around the stove for hours to keep an eye on your cooking. It’s low-GI to avoid mid-work carb crashes, full of fibre, deeply satisfying, and the feta is a good source of affordable protein. One serving of sweet potato provides more than 70% of your daily Vitamin C recommendation, whilst red onions are packed with enough minerals to make your body sing. Serving the dish with fresh rocket or wilted spinach will give your body a healthy dose of iron, as well as the immune-boosting vitamins A, C and K. An hour before you want to eat, bang a tray of peeled and roughly chopped sweet potato chunks in the oven with a drizzle of oil. Half an hour later, give them a shuffle and add chunky red onion slices (about half the quantity of the sweet potatoes).

Give these a further twenty minutes, then roughly crumble some feta cheese on top and return to the oven for a final ten minutes of cooking. It’s great served with dressed fresh rocket or wilted spinach.

Anna Highfield

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FOOD + DRINK

FUTUREFOODS FOODS FUTURE New year, new trends! Food & Drink take you through a few of their most-anticipated trends for 2016 ranging from sweet to savoury, local to international.

Artisan ice cream Keep a look out for house-made artisan ice cream which is bound to become a new craze come 2016. Finally bringing a taste of Italy to the UK, the quality of ice cream available here is continually improving. What’s more, ‘Science cream’ tucked in the Castle Arcade in Cardiff city centre has famously become Wales first liquid nitrogen parlour. This particular method means that the Ice cream is made to order and is like no other in texture. The customer is treated with an especially creamy and fluffy taste on their pallet after enjoying an exciting spectacle documenting the process of making. The parlour gets even more inventive with their creations as they offer a selection of toppings to accompany their ice cream, my favourite one being their ‘Salted Caramel Snickadoodle’ -Sea salted caramel ice cream with salted peanut brittle and rich warm chocolate sauce.

Science Cream (@ScienceCream) – 28 Castle Arcade, CF10 1BY

Locally produced drinks Up next in the predictions come locally produced drinks, which everyone seems to be getting on the bandwagon with. Craft beer is everywhere, and in Cardiff, Crafty Devil is where it’s happening, promising to be ‘devilishly good’. People seem to put confidence into home brews and why shouldn’t they when they taste so great? Another brand to try is Pipes Craft Beer, offering an intriguing range of handcrafted ales and lagers including their “Spiced Punkn’ Ale”, blending together aromas of pumpkin-pie spices for wonderful winter warmer. Other interesting beers include their very own ‘Expresso’, a drink compound of beer and coffee, and also ‘Midnight IPA’, an after dinner treat with 6.4% ABV and a liquorice aroma, producing a “medicine cabinet” tang... Fascinating.

Crafty Devil – available at Riverside Markets (check twitter @craftydevilbrew), as well as Crafty Devil Cellar Shop (16 Llandaff Road, Canton).

Pipes – stocked at several local pubs, more information at http://www.pipesbeer.co.uk.

Brazilian flavours With the 2016 Rio Olympics approaching faster than you can say ‘caipirinhas’ (mild exaggeration), Brazilian food is bound to spark interest this year. Of course, we can’t mention Brazilian food without thinking of barbecued meat. With fierce competition coming from Argentina as to who does the best barbecue, this has become as much an issue of national pride as it has cuisine. Here in Cardiff, Viva Brazil offers its inspired take on churrasco charcoal-roasted barbecue. For £24.50 per head, ‘passadores’ walk around the restaurant with huge skewers of meat, and will serve you a slice of whatever meat you want, however much you want. For the less carnivorous of us, there is also a bar menu with tapas-style dishes like ‘Pasteizinhos de Vagetais’ (£3.05), consisting of short crust pastry filled with vegetables and served with avocado cream.

Of course, their drinks menu includes a variety of Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail, made with Cachaça sugarcane rum, fresh lime and sugar.

Viva Brazil – St Mary Street, CF10 1GD

Artisan soft drinks One of the biggest brands that has burst into Britain’s drink scene over the past few years is Fentimans, a beverage brewery based in Northumberland. With a lofty description of “superior soft drinks, botanically brewed for a thirst quenching flavour”, this brand is set to take the country by storm. They have drinks ranging from old classics like ginger beer and dandelion and burdock, to more interesting takes like ‘Curiosity Cola’ and ‘Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger’. Each drink contains less than 0.5% ABV, proving that you don’t always need alcohol for an interesting drink. Though if you’re looking for a bit of liquid courage, Fentimans makes a stellar tonic water with sophisticated zesty and floral flavours, ideal for use in gin & tonics.

With the Talybont Social serving these drinks for a reduced £1.90 a bottle, and its increasing availability in bars and restaurants across Cardiff, there’s no excuse not to indulge your curiosity and try something different from the old faithful Diet Cokes.

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