Griffiti Magazine Issue 54

Inside

Issue 54

IE W ERV

RAY D’

Y INT C R A

Three Page Movie Special!

GRIFF FM Rundown

The foreigner’s Guide to surviving ST. Patrick’s Day in ireland

A letter from the Editor Issue 54 February 2013 Contributors Cover photo by Tiberio Ventura Aine Donegan Al Oliver Amy O Loughlin Ben Harper Bernard Moran Diarmuid Crowley Drew Peacock Grainne Kennedy James Dooely Jenny Elisabeth Graatrud John Enright Lance Kerrigan Malin Larsson Marie Landsverk Matthew Foyle Milda Endziulyte Oscar Finn Sandy Hazel Scott Anthony Kelly Stephen Donnery Theophane Dodeller

Getting involved in Griffiti Magazine

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elcome back, we missed you.

I honestly can’t believe it’s February already. There’s going to be people walking around in T-shirts soon! The year is moving far too quickly for my liking. Before you know it it’s going to be summer holidays. Which I used to like but once you hit college summer is the snore season.

Have you all seen the SU? Bitchin’ isn’t it?

The old, dreary, dank downstairs was finally given a makeover and to almost everyone’s surprise, the old gal turned out to be a fox.

More on that in SU News.

We’ve got Sexual Health, Awareness and Guidance (SHAG) Week coming up. It is first and foremost a party week but the SU would like you to keep safe sex in mind as well. Look out for SHAG Packs full of freebies floating around campus.

Sports and Socs are off to a flying start.

I attended the first drama society meeting myself and I must say it looks like it’s going to be a great laugh.

For this issue we got to interview the one and only Ray D’Arcy. Not a word of a lie, I’m still shaking after meeting the man. Have a look on page 10 for that chat.

I would really like to give a shout out to everyone who worked on the College Radio Station, Griff FM this year. I have never known it to be run with such dedication, passion and

Contents

professionalism.Very well done. Have a read of Al Oliver’s rundown of Griff FM on page 12.

There are a lot of good movies coming out soon, more than usual, in fact. So this issue has a THREE PAGE movie special. That’s a whole one more page than we usually have!

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to this month’s Genuine Article, in which Drew Peacock has kindly written us a Foreigner’s Guide to Surviving St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. As Griffith College is such a richly international house of teaching, I think this will prove an invaluable commodity.

Please continue being wonderful to each other and I’ll see you next time.

Ian Donegan

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State of the Union What have we been up to?

Anyone wishing to contribute to Griffiti magazine should email su.president@gcd.ie or visit Ian Donegan (Editor) in the SU Building or attend the weekly meetings, every Wednesday at 5:30pm in A010

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SU News What happened to the SU!?

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Sport Fencing, soccer and pool

Griffith College Students’ Union South Circular Road Dublin 8 Email: su.president@gcd.ie

16 Party People Can you see yourself?

Griffith Magazine is the Students’ Union Publication at Griffith College.It was established in 2004.

All contents copyright of Griffiti, reproduction of any part of the magazine without permission is prohibited.

The views expressed in Griffiti do not necessarily reflect that of the college or the SU

10 Ray D’Arcy Interview Under the Ray-dar 12 Griff FM Griffith’s own radio station

18 Reviews Movies, Music and Tech 26 The Genuine Article The Foreigner’s Guide to an Irish St. Patrick’s Day 28 Creative Writing Recurring Dream

Griffiti Meetings

Wednesdays at 5:30pm in A010 Get Involved!

state of the union Claire Aston Entertainments Officer

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i All,

Welcome to all our new students, and welcome back to everyone else. I hope that you refreshed for all the parties that are coming your way this semester.

We have already kicked off semester 2 with the Welcome to 2013 Party that took place on the 30th of January which has proved to me that you are all back in college not just to study but to party as well.

There was a great turn out and it was a really great night, and that is just the beginning.

For the rest of this year we have a lot of things coming up.

Starting off with the infamous SHAG (Sexual Health, Awareness and Guidance) Week, which will involve a whole week of partying along with important information about safe sex being given out in the form of SHAG Packs, which you will be able to get at the Students’ Union from Monday the 11th of February.

The week will kick off with a Chinese New Year Celebration which you can get information

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about in the SU, followed by SHAG Shack in Arthur’s Bar, parties that always go off with a bang (excuse the pun). Tickets for this event are only €2 with all money going to Crumlin Children’s Hospital. Tuesday 12th will give host to the Beer Pong Tournament, which will take place in the SU, it is only €10 per team and the beer will be provided. The night of Wednesday 13th will be the return of the SHAG Ball, taking place in Bojos 35 on Harcourt street, tickets are only €5 (free with gold/silver card).

The final event of the week is a Valentine’s Comedy Night on Thursday the 14th, this will take place in the Laughter Lounge and tickets are ONLY €10, which will include seeing 4 great comedians and a free beer or cocktail on arrival.

With such a strong start to the semester we promise to keep our events at this high a standard and I have no fear that this semester will be as great as the last, with the Discovery Trip sold out, and only 10 places left on the soon to be advertised Surf Trip, it is going to be a hectic but brilliant semester. We will also be having RAG Week from the 11th-14th of March, the Griffith Ball on the 19th of April, and many more surprise events to keep a look out for.

Last Semester was great but this semester will be even better. From the start of semester party and our Superbowl night with the American Student’s I am truly excited for this semester, but be sure to get your tickets early, as they are selling out faster than ever, and with the SHAG Week events being only available with wristbands from the SU, make sure you don’t miss out on getting yours.

Can’t wait to see you all!

Sean Alari Clubs & Societies Officer instructors have years and years of experience that they will share with a whopping 140 people who have signed up so far. It promises to be great fun.

Women’s Football Since the start of the second semester we’ve received numerous applications for the women’s football team who’s first training session was on Tuesday 5th of February on the Griffith College Football Pitch. The girls had great fun, and are going to meet every Tuesday from now on.

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ello Everyone, Welcome back to semester 2.

For 2013 we have loads of exciting new things coming your way. Especially new societies.

While our sports season will wind down towards midMarch, our societies will only get bigger and better!

Drama Society We are finally bringing a Drama Society to the College.

Meetings are held on Wednesday in V003 from 6.30pm to 8pm. It’s really great craic so we hope you’ll tag along.

Radio Society Radio will be up and running mid February. Our very own Claire Aston will run the society alongside the capable and passionate Diarmuid Crowley who has already helped out here and there in the Students’ Union.If you haven’t already, sign up now.

Yoga & Zumba We’ll have 6 week long Yoga and Zumba programmes that will run from February to March in our Auditorium. Our

Fifa & Nba Societies Our two most popular videogames in the Students’ Union are Fifa and Nba 13. We are going to organise monthly tournaments with great prizes and small entry fees for everyone to join. So if you think you have what it takes to win, sign up now at the Students’ Union.

Paintball, Poker & Go Karting These are some of the best societies we have to offer.

They are each entertaining in their own way, and provide everyone with a good dose of adrenaline. Whether you like the thrill of turning tight corners at a high speed, shooting at your classmates with paintballs or betting your weekly savings against all odds, these are the societies for you!

Photography Society Due to a few organizational difficulties the start of the Photography Society was postponed to February. We are happy to announce that it is now February… and it’s time for you to join our project. If you have any ideas for this soc, feel free to pop by and give us a piece of your mind.

See you next time.

Going to Griffith Ball?

Tux hire from ONLY €30 Dublin formal Wear will be in Griffith College to fit anyone who needs a Tux for the Ball.

We will: Measure you Drop the Tux to you & Collect it after All from the College Campus

With Tux hire starting from €30 you won’t get a better price in town

SU NEWS

What happened to the SU!?

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t got pimped out, that’s what! The whole downstairs change came about when SU Manager, Paul Walsh said he was “sick of looking at the place” and that he intended to make it look a cozy and welcoming place.

Certain members of the SU, who will not be named (Ian Donegan) assumed that Walsh was simply talking out of the wrong hole, but has since eaten his words.

The downstairs area of the SU is now a haven for those looking to kick back and chillax as apposed to the dungeon inhabited only by Table tennis players and the odd hunchback.

The chill out area now has two TV’s, one with innumerable channels and a DVD player (DVD’s, Wii and X box games can be borrowed from

Beer Pong 2013 Begins 6

the front desk) and another for X Box (Keep it on the DL, but Griffiti hears whispers of a PS3 in the works as well, ssssshhhhh) As the downstairs area is brand, spankin’ new and the SU would like to keep it that way for the foreseeable future, the strict rule of no food or drink has been put in place for the downstairs area.

But fear not! The dining area is not lost, merely relocated to the 1st floor of the SU. With better tables, more microwaves, more kettles and more funky pictures hanging from the wall this has been proved a vast improvement on the previous model.

As always the SU encourages everyone and anyone to come hang out and use the facilities, just do us a favour and don’t take the piss.

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he first Beer Pong Tournament of 2013 took place downstairs in the SU on Tues Feb 5th 16 teams were ready to get to the final and win. As always, the team names were somewhat interesting, they included from ‘Daddy’s Home’, ‘An Error Occurred’, ‘Two Guys Ten Cups’, ‘The Patriots’ ‘Prestige Worldwide’, ‘Balls So Hard’ and ‘Tangerine Dream Team’.

Everyone was anxious to see how the new comers would fare in the sport and they did not disappoint. The American’s

Above: A panaramic view of the new downstairs area in the Students’ Union

Below: The new dining area in the SU, now on the 1st floor

Tara Simms and Patrick Prendergast (Prestige Worldwide) seemed a particularly ominous team, serving their opponents beer after beer.

The final, however, came down to Stephen Donnery and Ian Donegan (An Error Occurred) and Dylan Purcell and Tinashe Nyakujara (The Patriots). This ended with the Patriots taking the win by a margin of 6 cup.

Across the room, Kristyna Spooner and Shireen Salehi (Balls so hard) won the shield.

Both teams received beer for their victories.

The Patriots

Griffith College Students’ Union Presents

Surf Trip Friday March 8th - 10th

ONLY â‚Ź50 Includes Transport, Accommodation and Surfing Lessons

Outstanding Performance Award Griffith College 2013

This has been created to acknowledge and reward staff on a quarterly basis for contributions over and above the normal call of duty to colleagues, students, residents, visitors and members of the general public.

If you, as a student, have been the recipient of outstanding service by a member of staff and wish to nominate said individual for the award, please do so by completing the form on the College website

www.gcd.ie/outstanding-performance-award/

Sport Photograph by Scott Anthony Kelly

tion,” Doug says. He describes the intervarsity competition in Irish fencing as “healthy, it promotes college pride”.

Griffith student Jack Lawes explains why he wanted to fence: “It’s a different sport, a lot more physical than it looks especially in the legs. I liked the way we got into it right away instead of waiting for four or five weeks before we stared using a sword.” Alesky Le Corfec, another Griffith student says “It’s a new sport for me and I like to fight with this weapon.”

“I fenced since I was 15 years old, it’s a physical sport and a mental sport; it builds your body. Most important for me is to get the touch, the point; so I like to attack,” explains student Romain Prigent. So guys and girls, get your guard on.

GriffIth Fencing Club I fenced since I was

by Sandy Hazel

“You can spend fifty years learning to begin to learn to beat your adversary at fencing.

After that you can start on mathematics, until it is time to learn to plough.”

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hese were instructions to a Once and Future King, the rest of us can probably start on the fencing right now with the Griffith College Fencing Club on Thursday evenings. If you are bored running around in circles in a gym, then fencing is the best stamina sport you can do for challenge, competition and strategy.

The Griffith College Fencing Club develops the skills of the epee fencer and the club provides all the protective gear, weapons, masks, gloves and space for a student to get started. Fencing Coach Doug Hazel brings fencers from all levels together to learn defence and offence (hence the term fence). “It is a challenging mental and physical discipline

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which develops high degrees of fitness, balance and agility, but it is also good fun,” says Doug.

The art of fencing is simple and complex at the same time; to hit your opponent without getting hit yourself as you touch your opponent with the point of your sword with lightness of ease and a minimum of force. A fencer with over twenty years’ experience, Doug trained as a coach with the Irish Fencing Federation and Coaching Ireland and has introduced fencing to hundreds of children and adults.

The Griffith College Fencing Club is only in its second year and is always looking for new members. Last season one of the Griffith team, Marco Immordino, received the best newcomer award at the DIT Novice Cup held at Maynooth. Doug encourages his students to enter some of the many competitions on the Irish fencing calendar.

“Fencing in third level colleges and universities is a very long and proud tradi-

“ 15 years old, it’s a

physical sport and a mental sport; it builds your body. Most important for me is to get the touch, the point, so I like to attack

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Griffith College Fencing Club Thursday 7.30pm training and 8:30pm – 10:00pm Basecamp at Pim Street Dublin 8 beside the Guinness Storehouse.

Contact Students’ Union: Sean Alari 085 862 6999 su.sports@gcd.ie Doug Hazel 085 112 0287

Sport Alexis Duchatel.

After 90 minutes of play the score remained equal at 3-3 and the players had to face extra time for a place in the final.

Both halves of extra time served both teams several chances to win, but the score remained 3-3.

Penalties

Griffith lose in semi finals of by Anne Melsom Third Division CUFL League Bjerke Griffith football Team lost against Carlow IT after semi-finals at the Iveagh Grounds, Crumlin on Tuesday February 5th

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fter only five minutes Carlow´s number nine David Walsh scored the first goal in the match. The Carlow centre-forward beat the Griffith defenders to the incoming ball from the right wing, to put it away behind the helpless

Kenny Osi. Griffith College’s Luke Hogan managed to equalize with a great free kick 35 yards out to make the score 1-1.

Carlow IT picked up the pace and managed to score two more goals before the break. The second goal came from David Cummings who smashed home from a poorly defended wandering ball in the Griffith box. Their third goal came from number ten, Aaron Broaders, who finshed a counter attacking move with a low drive into the right corner

Griffith compete in national Stephen pool intervarsities Donnery On the 1st of February 2013, the Griffith College Pool Team headed of down the M1 to Dundalk to compete in the Pool Intervarsities 2012/2013

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he opening night saw a disappointment for Ian ‘The Bomber’ Donegan, Sean ‘The Italian Stallion’ Alari and Thomas ‘Madagascar’ Bourhis, as they all fell at the feet of stronger opponents in the individual events. That left Jack ‘Randy

Andy’ Lawes and Stephen ‘Pride of the College’ Donnery through to the second day of the tournament via a bye.

However, their tournament was also short lived when they both exited to strong opponents. At nine o’clock on the Saturday morning the team events began. These didn’t go

Griffith missed their first three penalties and with Carlow having better luck and accuracy they went through.

of the goal having picked up a through ball on the left corner of the Griffith box.

Griffith played very well in the second half, and it did not take long for the first goal to arrive, this time by Nigel Kennedy who scored past the Carlow keeper with a low strike into the bottom left corner of the net. The score was then 2-3 to Carlow.

With little over five minutes remaining, Sam Thomas scored and equalized for Griffith from a set piece on the edge of the opposition box whipped in by

Coach Paul Walsh told his players that it would be a tough match and they would have to play very well to beat Carlow IT. Still he had to admit that losing during penalties was tough.

Penalties are a horrible way to go out. Looking at the results however, the players did very well. At the end of the second half it was a tie.

Coach Walsh also points out that he thinks the players should be proud to have reached the semi-finals.

The last time Griffith College were in the semi-finals was in 2003. We have to be proud to have come this far, he says.

according to plan either, with the lads making silly misstates which lost them match winning leads and the possibility of lasting until the last day of the tournament.

ITB ‘B’ and DIT ‘D’ were the two main teams who GCD could have and should have taken full points from. However, silly mistakes and bad decision making saw Paul ‘Zorro’ Walsh’s side fall to bottom place in the group standings.

“Given that four out of the five players were playing in their first championship, some adopted well. Some of them will come away thinking they need more practice and will be back again next year” said ‘Zorro.’

Although ‘The Bomber’ and ‘Pride of the College’ got off to the best possible start against DIT ‘B’ winning the first and second sets, they both slipped up big time in

conceding their chance of giving GCD the best chance of taking the game.

Frames were also picked up along the way from ‘The Italian Stallion,’ and ‘Madagascar’ but together it was not enough to pick up a single match victory.

“There were a lot of frames where we were way better than our opponents, we lost for stupid reasons. I think that with proper training Griffith could end up doing very well in the tournament next year.” said Captain Bomber.

The last match of our tournament saw group favourites University Ulster Coleraine beat Griffith 9-1 as the last finished of the tournament fighting. Captain Ian Donegan was the player that took the only set against the group favourites but unfortunayely it wasn’t enough the give the rest of the team the boost they needed to put up a fight.

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Do you like being interviewed?

RAY D'ARCY

Photograph by Theophane Dodeller

really odd thing when you’re interviewing a person, sometimes.You’ve a person you’ve never met before in the studio in front of you and within 20 seconds you’re in an intimate conversation with them and it’s completely unnatural and people are listening and you have to develop some sort of intimacy with this person which is false really and she was having none of it. I was just a middle aged balding, gray haired man who she had never met before. She had told her PR crowd that she didn’t want any questions about her husband asked and I went against that. It was very embarrassing, very cringe worthy, I broke out in a flop sweat. I wasn’t very nice.

Griffiti: Have your ever wanted to be anything other than a presenter?

Today FM Radio Presenter, Ray D’Arcy, speaks to Griffti Magazine about the big things, the little things, his ambitions before radio and his top tips for making it in the world of radio

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riffiti: Do you like being interviewed?

Ray: No. I just don’t. I think it’s because I’m not in control.You see, when you’re interviewing you’re sort of in control when you’re being interviewed you’re not really in control.

And sometimes when you’re being interviewed you have some idea of what is going to be said and you have answers prepared and then of course they go off on a tangent and you don’t get a chance to say what you really want to say.

Griffiti: What is the best thing about your life right now?

Ray: My family. I’m very lucky.

Second to that, my job. I do something that I love. I look forward to going to work, I look forward to going home.

So at the moment I’m a very

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lucky man.

Griffiti: What is your best tip for someone starting off in radio right now?

Ray: You have to persevere.

That’s important. Listen to all radio with a critical ear.

Griffiti: What was your worst interview?

Ray: There was a lady who was promoting something where if you bought a packet of nappies one euro went to UNICEF. We were asked if we would like to have her on the show and we said yes, if she’s willing to talk about herself because she had a very interesting story about being madly in love with her husband, both of them beautiful people and he died tragically at a very young age. She had spoken about it and she had written about it so we thought that’s a great story.

And she spoke so lovingly about him and how good there relationship was and how perfect they were for each other.

He was a doctor, she was an actress. So, the day arrives and she arrives and I’m planning to ask her about her husband and two minutes before she comes down to the studio I’m told that she won’t answer any questions about her husband, she would just talk about the nappies and UNICEF. So, I did something that I never did before and have never done since, I decided I’d go with it.

I would attempt to ask her about her husband. I started off by saying something like “I know you have had a terrible tragedy recently.” And she just looked down at the desk and said nothing. And there was a very long and uncomfortable silence. So then I said, “and of course”, her name was Natasha, “is here, she’s promoting the UNICEF nappies thing-a-magig, we’ll take a quick commercial break.” And she just said nothing. It was really embarrassing and awkward.

When you think about it it’s a

Ray: I wanted to be a doctor.

Right up until leaving cert. In the old point system I was a point short of medicine at the time. There was no history of repeating in our school then. If you didn’t get what came first on your CAO you did what came second. So I ended up with my third choice. It was medicine first, them communications and I didn’t get that because you have to have an honour in English so then psychology was third so that’s what I ended up doing.

Griffiti: Has you degree in psychology helped in your career at all?

Ray: The reason I put psychology down was, firstly, I thought I was going to get one of my first choices. I remember a teacher said to me that I should do psychology because you’ve a great understanding of the human condition. But a lot of what you learn in psychology is basically putting jargonese onto common sense.

So there are a lot of people who are psychologists in every way but name because they have a great understanding of the human condition. But what I learned in three years was just jargonese. It’s not a great course to be honest.

Griffiti: What’s your favour-

ite day of the week?

Ray: I actually like Thursday because you just get a sense of the weekend and then O really enjoy going into work on Friday because I’ve been looking forward to Friday! I hate Tuesday though. At least you make an effort on Monday.

Griffiti: What thing do you do better than anyone else?

Ray: Being myself I suppose.

That’s important in working in radio though. I remember when I was moving from RTE to Today FM and a reporter asked me “who are you going to be? Are you going to be Jerry Ryan or Gay Byrne?” And I wasn’t being cheeky, I said I’m going to be Ray D’Arcy, it’s the only person I know how to be.

So, I’m the best in the world at being Ray D’Arcy.

Griffiti: Based on your reaction to what Danny Healy Rae said about legalising drink driving you seem to be passionate about road safety. Is that the case?

Ray: Well, there was all these people dying on the roads.

Over 400 hundred people a year at one point. It was an epidemic and everybody was talking about it and saying what should we be doing. Anyway, I heard one of the road safty adds at the time and it was terrible. It was just “Young people, don’t drink and drive”.

And I copped that at the time we had the ears of the people who really needed to hear the message and I also realized that in all the road safety debates I had heard, it had become a political football.

Justice were saying it’s not our problem, it’s Environment, and they were saying it’s sort of our problem but we don’t have enough money so it’s Finance’s.

And in every discussion it had degenerated into really picky little things like somebody would say that if we had more guards on the road it would be fine or if those little barriers weren’t in the middle of the road it would be fine. Nobody was seeing the big picture. So the first thing we did was make ads, real ads where people who had lost people because of car accidents and we recorded them in the studio.

Donnacha was the best of them. Donnacha’s brother got a lift off a drunk person on his 23rd birthday and was killed.

And Donnacha describes his mum just at home making sandwiches and more sandwiches and more sandwiches.

You could just see this old woman, broken hearted after losing her 23 year old son and all she could do was make sandwiches.

We put it out and we sought permission to use the ‘F’ word.

So at the end I go “Don’t be a fucking eejit, don’t drink and drive.” Just to hit home. It was very powerful.

Then we started following it.

We started inviting in politi-

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success.

So, fast-forward to Danny Healy Rae last week, he suggested that people should have permits to drink and drive. Jenny actually came into me the night before that saying that it’s on Twitter that Danny Healy Rae is suggesting permits for drinking and driving and I actually dismissed it offhand, I said that’s just somebody messing. I was cycling into work the next day and I hear that this man is for real. So we invited him on. I had no intention of hanging up on him, that wasn’t the plan and I probably was very rude to the man. To explain the position, firstly, it was ludicrous, we have a

I look forward to going to work, I look forward to going home. So at the moment I’m a very lucky man cians and we started asking questions and then the Road Safety Authority was set up and this guy, Noel Brett was put in place so we did research on his history on road safety.

He came from a health background. We got him in, quizzed him, asked him what his intention was. He seemed like a sound guy. He said he was going to develop a strategy and that he hoped he could reduce the deaths on the roads. And he said “you keep on my case, get me in whenever you want and I’ll answer your questions.”

And when the road safety strategy was introduced he came in and he went through it for us and he said this is what we’re going to do.

Now we have half the number of people who die on our roads. It’s been an amazing

”

history of road safety. Secondly, he was on the nine o clock news, I didn’t realize he was going to be. Then he comes on and I’m fuming at this point, even before he comes on, which isn’t good, I admit, not very professional, and I ask him where have you been when everybody was talking about road safety and the connection between alcohol and fatalities?

Then he says I don’t know where I was but I know where I am. Then he went on some cock and bull story that it would only be on back roads.

So I just went off on one and he tried to defend himself and I hung up on him.

Griffiti: Would you ever go back to hosting the Rose of Tralee?

Ray: No. I loved doing the Rose of Tralee. When I was about 20 there was a local equivalent, like a mini rose of Tralee and I was the local DJ and they asked me if I’d be the wannabe Gay Byrne and I did it and I remember really enjoying it and I was really surprised.

It was just local girls and up asking questions. Then over the years I did loads of things like that. Everything from the Queen of the Sea down in Castle Town Bere to The Queen of the Land in Athboy, loads of different things.

It was the kind of thing that I wanted to do so when the opportunity came up I did it. I thought 5 years doing it was enough though because it doesn’t develop. Once you do it that’s it. But that’s why it works, you don’t try and change it. Just leave it alone!

So when I got to the stage that I thought I couldn’t bring anything else to it I said that’s enough.

Griffiti: Do you prefer TV or Radio?

Ray: Radio by a country mile on a bad road! It’s a lot more intimate and you’re only a phone call away from any story in the world.You can do a lot more, there’s less between you and the people you’re talking to. A clever man said that television has a knack of reducing ideas to nothing.

I’ve sat in so many rooms with people pitching a TV idea say “It’s going to be this and it’s going to be that” and then as you go along the process of making a TV program there’s compromise and compromise and compromise.

Then the thing that goes out on air, inevitably, unfortunately, I am never happy with. Because you say “we could have talked to that person, we could have done it that way”. But that’s television for you.

Radio, on the other hand, you have a lot more control.

Also, you can’t campaign on TV, you can’t really. But on Radio you can. A lot of stuff that we’ve done has come from our listeners but there isn’t that same relationship between a viewer and a TV program and a listener and a radio show.

So there’s no competition, it’s radio all the way!

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Features Photograph by Oscar Finn

Griff FM

by Al Oliver

Griff FM was run by the second year and masters journalism students again this year, with help from some third years. It was, as expected, a complete success.

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t was launched on Monday 28th by Henry Mckean, presenter of under the covers on Newstalk and former Griffith student, Fergus O’Dowd, Minister of State at the Department of Communications, and Ray D’Arcy, anchor of the 9-12 slot on Today FM. Henry spoke of how he got his job from current lecturer in Griffith, John O’Donovan, by getting work experience in Newstalk and never leaving when the work experience was finished. Eventually, John gave in and offered him a job. A handy tip for any of the students wishing to further their careers in radio.

Fergus O’Dowd spoke at length, as any politician should be able to, about his brother in New York who publishes the Irish Voice newspaper in America, Niall O’Dowd. Ray D’Arcy then took to the stage and encouraged the students to do their research properly. “The three rules of research are Check it, Check it again and Check it again.” He said, quoting Gay Byrne.

He was also surprised that nobody was nervous about their first time on the airwaves. He then gave advice on how to get a job on radio in Ireland. It was to focus on the backroom team instead of wanting to

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go on air.

Broadcasting actually started on Griff FM on the 26th of January and the first student show that was on was ‘Team Talk’ between 2-6.The sports team consisted of Declan Burke, Conor Hurley, JJ Slevin, Thomas Harte, Robert Purcell, Bernard Moran and Tinashe Nyakujara, a mix between the Journalism and Visual Media (BAJVM) and Journalism (BAJO). The lads from that discussed everything to do with sports and continued on during the week

with the midday sport show at 12 and the Airtricity League show between 6.30-7.

They followed up their first weekend by being even better the next weekend.

The weekend review show went out between 6-7 on Saturdays and Sundays and reviewed what had happened in the previous week, be it hard hitting stories or light hearted stories.

Monday morning was when it really kicked in. The Breakfast show between 10-11 gave the stuff you needed in the

Features morning: Traffic updates, bit of music and the headlines of the days papers. This was followed by the world report for an hour.

Similar to the breakfast show but focused on the world instead of Ireland (as the title probably suggested).

The news team was run by masters students: Kealan McGuinness, Robert Higgins, Dorothy Hargaden, Jennifer Banaghan and Antonia Luehmann. They were assisted by the news editor, Viviane Stroede who also was the editor of the world report show.

The news went out twice a day, at 12.30 and 6 for a half hour each.

The lunchtime show was all about the Dublin 8 district done by Holly Lenny, Mary McFadden, Katie Morris and Brian Kelly. Another mix of BAJVM and BAJO. It was a tough task for them as nothing much really happens in Dublin 8 but they did extremely well and got some great interviews for their show. The editor for their show was Erica Doyle-Higgins from 3rd year BAJO who handled current

“

affairs. She also did the drivetime show between 4.30-6 Donna Rooney, Ashton Doyle and Shauna Duggan from BAJO and William Millet and Roya Miller from BAJVM had the two o’clock slot and it was all about student

3.30 and 4.30. It was a light entertainment show and was well worth tuning into. The drive time show between 4.30 and 6 was a real success. The work that Aisling, Alyson, James, Marco, Patrick and Mark from the masters course put in was quite incredible. they also did ‘Chatterbox’ at 8, which saw them more relaxed and put out a great show.

Over the course of the station, there were specialist music programmes from Vaida Balbieriute and Katie Morris. They played what they wanted to play and put out good shows.

One success story has been from the Airtricity League show, who have been contacted by the FAI to do podcasts for their website. A big congratulations to them and good luck with it.

As the station editor I just want to congratulate everybody that was involved in Griff FM for putting out the good shows that they did and hopefully it will help them in their careers. I also want to wish the first years good luck for next year.

The three rules of research are Check it, Check it again and Check it again life. It went off without a hitch and it was a good show. Their editor was Stephen Broderick, the entertainment editor. He also handled the travel show ‘Mind the Gap’ which was on for half an hour at 3, discussing all things to do with travel and holidays.

Afternoons on Griff fm was on between

”

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Features

Can we drink and drive?

No, you idiot!

by James Dooley

The unpleasant stereotype of the Drunk Irish is as well known throughout the world as it is here at home.

In recent weeks it has been amply reinforced thanks to Kerry County Council.

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hile safely here at home, we can dismiss the stereotype as mere ignorance.

It’s not something that affects us in any great way. Unfortunately, for many of us that will not always be the case. Our friends and family have had to emigrate since Ireland entered recession in the past few years and it is possible that we may have to follow them. Students are leaving college only to discover that their only prospect of work in their chosen career is to be found in the UK, Canada, Australia or America.

Those that emigrate are faced with the sobering reality of just how damaging stereotypes can be. The drunken Irish stereotype means that many hostels and landlords abroad now refuse to rent to Irish students. Prospective employers are not keen to employ the Irish student who they think will come in hung over several days a week.

Irish society’s relationship with alcohol, although not always a positive one, has been changing. For example,

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the legislator introduced random breath testing at Garda checkpoints in 2006 and drink-drive limits were reduced from 80mg per 100ml to 50mg/100ml and to 20mg/100ml for “specified” drivers in 2011.

These changes have permeated into societal attitudes towards drink driving in particular. Recent figures show 25 fewer people lost their lives on Irish roads in 2012 compared to 2011 and 51 less than 2010. The Road Safety Authority has said in recent weeks that “Drink driving has devastated communities throughout the country and has caused carnage on our roads. The vast majority of people say drink driving is not something we as a society will tolerate anymore.”

It is unsurprising then that there was public outcry in recent weeks when a County Kerry councilor made a proposal that Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority has described as “unthinkable” and “off-thewall”. Independent Councillor and publican Danny Healy-Rae proposed a motion to allow Gardai to issue permits to people in certain isolated parts of the country to allow them to drive home after ‘two or three’ drinks.

The story was picked up by several international media outlets no doubt further damaging the image of Irish emigrants and reinforcing the

stereotypes that preceded them. American ABC News network carried the internet headline: ‘Irish County Legalises Drunk Driving.’, The Toronto Star reported “Where else but in Ireland, where the pub life is woven into the country’s cultural fabric, would this happen?.” and in Australia News.com.au reported on the proposal. Euronews also carried the story which was, at one point, the fourth most read article on the BBC news website.

The motion was passed by the council with 12 councillors absent and seven abstaining from the vote. The five Councillors who voted in favor are according to “The Irish Times” all publicans or connected to the pub trade.

The proposal has raised several important issues apart from those surrounding drink driving. Many commentators are at a loss to understand where the 12 councillors could have been when they should have been present in the chambers doing the job for which they were elected and which they are paid to do. Seven abstained from taking any vote at all. How they could justify not taking a stance against the proposal is also unfathomable.

In defense of the motion Mr. Healy-Rae claimed that the current drink driving laws were leaving many elderly people in rural Ireland isolated and were a factor in suicide.

“It’s just that these people like their bit of independence.”

In response, Communications officer with Alcohol Action Ireland, Conor Cullen stated “It should be noted that the link between alcohol use and suicide has been well established and alcohol will exacerbate, not alleviate any mental health difficulties that a person may be struggling with, such as depression or anxiety… Almost one in three crash deaths in Ireland is alcohol related. Even in small amounts, alcohol impairs driving ability - any amount of alcohol increases the risk of involvement in a fatal crash,” he said.

The proposal was publically backed by Independent Galway Councillor Michael Fahy. Mr. Fahy said “We don’t want to see people drunk, we’re only talking about up to three pints. This would have to be monitored, maybe by the publican or through some sort of stamped card system.”

However, Mr. Fahy failed to draw attention to the fact that even one drink can impair an individual’s ability to react to dangers while driving. Many elderly people are already impaired physically whether it is through poorer eye sight, slower reactions or arthritis. Adding alcohol to those impairments is a recipe for disaster.

Councillor Healy-Rae said: “That law was put in place and there was no debate.

It’s unfair that the same rule applies to someone driving a tractor as someone driving a coach or a lorry carrying a 30-ton load.” To propose that an elderly person should be allowed drive a tractor while under the influence of alcohol shows a complete disregard for the community at large. He claimed that permit holders would have to stick to infrequently used roads. One has to ask who they are infrequently used by. Nobody living in a rural area should be put at risk of having a loved one hit by a drunk driver just because the road they live on is infrequently used by the general population. In fact many of these roads are frequented by walkers who are extremely

Features vulnerable where roads may leave a driver blind to their presence until the last minute.

Rural roads have been fast deteriorating in recent years as cash strapped councils simply don’t have the money to maintain them. They are riddled with deep and dangerous pot holes and are hard to navigate sober never mind under the influence of “two or three pints”. Councillor Healy-Rae has clearly side stepped any thought for the safety of his community at large. There is no mention of the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters living in these remote areas that would be put at risk by his proposal. Which begs the question, who does it benefit the most? Not the local residents, who are put at risk, not the isolated elderly persons who would be permitted to put themselves in danger. The rural pubs however would no doubt see an increase in their profits. Conor Cullen said: “Those in rural areas who may be suffering from isolation will not benefit from putting their lives and the lives of the other members of their community at risk by drinking and driving… We need constructive solutions to help those people, such as greater investment in community resources, and socialising is an important part of this, but alcohol does not have to be.”

The proposal has been met by shock and anger among road safety campaigners.

Meghann Scully of M:A.R.S (Marcus: Awareness in Road Safety campaign) who lost her brother in 2005 invited Danny Healy Rae “to visit the homes of families who have lost someone on the road, look into the eyes of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and justify this!”

Thankfully, despite the questionable politics that led to the proposal Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan firmly dismissed the Kerry County Council proposal on January 24th.

Mr. Shatter stated: “No one in public life should encourage intoxicated individuals over the alcohol limit to drive and place their lives and the lives

of others at risk.” And Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said: “If you drink, don’t drive and if you drive, don’t drink.”

The statements were made following a meeting of EU traffic police officers at Dublin Castle. Ireland’s success in reducing the death toll for the seventh successive year was noted by some European colleagues at the meeting and it was noted that there were currently more fatalities on Irish rural roads than in urban areas.

“

would undermine so much of that achievement.” The minister said: “I do understand and appreciate that isolation can certainly exacerbate existing mental-health problems… but for the State to encourage the consumption of alcohol as a remedy for complex health issues, would be irresponsible in the extreme… Indeed, alcohol is a factor in a large number of suicides. Issues relating to the health of rural communities require a multifaceted approach by Government.”

To propose that an elderly person should be allowed to drive a tractor while under the influence of alcohol shows a complete disregard for the community at large Despite these forthright statements and the tide of public opposition to the proposal Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae tabled a Dail request five days later asking Transport Minister Leo Varadkar “if he will introduce legislation to allow Gardai to issue permits to persons living in rural isolated areas to allow them to drive home from their nearest pub, after having two or three drinks, on little-used roads, driving at very low speeds” claiming “This would greatly benefit people living alone looking at four walls and restore some bit of social activity in local pubs and may also help prevent depression and suicide.”

But the Transport Minister has said “Given the unprecedented progress in road safety in recent years, I find it difficult to respond to a proposal that

”

A Department of Transport spokesperson also issued a statement saying “We need to be looking at how to make our roads safer, particularly in rural areas, instead of trying to reverse existing measures which are clearly working.”

And Noel Brett was quoted in the Irish Independent on Tuesday January 22nd as having said “We have made substantial progress in Ireland in reducing deaths and injuries on our roads, particularly in rural areas which are hardest hit by road fatalities and injuries…

I think we need to proceed with that and continue with the life-saving policies that we have in place.” Conor Cullen also stated that “Alcohol Action Ireland would like to see increased, sustained and visible enforcement of mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints by Gardaí in order to reduce the

number of deaths and injuries on roads. Greater enforcement will increase the risk of drivers being caught drink driving, shift attitudes and behavior, and save lives.”

However Chief executive of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland Padraig Cribben said he hopes Mr. Healy-Rae’s proposal will start an active discussion on issues facing rural Ireland. “Successive governments have failed to recognise the plight of people living in rural communities. Indeed they have compounded this situation by closing rural post offices and Garda stations…

Hopefully, Healy-Rae’s actions will at least succeed in getting people talking and debating the issues that face rural Ireland on a daily basis – issues that many in government and at administrative level seem blissfully unaware of.” Age Action’s senior information officer Gerard Scully has called for increased investment in rural public transport.

As the saying goes, ‘muck sticks’. The damage to our international reputation and to the perceptions of those abroad has been done. However, If there is any silver lining to this embarrassing affair it is that hopefully it will finally draw attention to the plight of Irelands forgotten rural communities, communities where the vast sparsely populated landscape acts as a prison for older and infirm people, communities where suicide has been claiming the lives of young and old for decades with little discourse or empathy from political authories in urban centres. These communities have no bus service, no train, no broadband, no Garda station, no post office, no social outlet apart from a pub and patchy mobile reception at best. These are areas where people can go years without ever seeing a Garda car in their areas and where roads have been left to crumble in recent years.

Let us hope we can turn a negative into a positive and switch the political focus and discussion that has been drawn on Healy Rae’s proposal onto the urgent issue of decades of rural abandonment.

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y t r a P e l p o e P

Photography by Theophane Dodeller

Reviews

Two Tech pages This month we are Rounding up CES 2013, looking to the future post HMV and replacing DVD with DNA.

by Lance Kerrigan

CES 2013 The Consumer Electronics Show

CES 2013, the world’s largest electronics showcase kicked off last month showing the latest and greatest in new tech. What dominated the event this year was wearable and health tech.

Is wearable technology the next big thing?

Our technology is becoming more and more mobile, and this year we are seeing more focus on wearable technology.

It’s no secret that Google have smart glasses in the pipeline which is likely to role out in the next year or so, however, there are other gadgets available now which start a new era of wearable gadgets.

CES displayed gadgets like the ‘I’m Watch’, ‘the Cookoo’ and ‘the Pebble’.

Funded through ‘kick-starter’ Pebble was the most promising Smart watch at the event. The device works in sync with your Smartphone using an App. Just some of the cool features (along with telling the time) include control of music, notifications and a fitness tracker. Pebble is now available to pre-order for over €100 online. Shipping started on January 23rd for those who pledged to Pebble on Kick-starter and some have already received theirs by now.

Pebble is available for iPhone and Android.

Other health tech included the Fitbit and Mio Alpha Sports watch.

Both gadgets are wrist bands which you wear all the time and helps keep track of your fitness. The Mio Alpha Sports watch can monitor your heart rate using two sensors built into the back monitoring your blood flow. And of course you can keep track of your data using its app for iPhone or Android.

One health gadget that really stole the show was the Hapifork. The Hapifork is a revolutionary electronic fork that monitors your eating habits. The fork is supposed to help you eat at the right pace and vibrates if you begin to eat too fast.

There is even a light indicator letting you know you’re eating too fast, and like everything else, it can sync back to your smartphone to monitor your progress.

One exciting display at CES was Cnets Torture test of the iPad by presenters Molly Wood (Always on) and Brian Tong (Apple Byte) Cnet ‘Always On’ is famous for putting gadgets through extensive

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testing to see can they tackle every day use, except this presentation took it to a whole new level.

Many devices were tested including the iPhone 5, iPad Mini, Google Nexus tablet & Smartphone, Windows Surface Kindle fire and more. But it was the 3rd generation iPad that conquered the show after a surprising survival from the ultimate torture test.

The iPad was given a cold test, by been placed into a bucket of Ice for 20 minutes. Of course it didn’t stay icy for long. The Ice melted, turning it into a water test. 20 minutes later the iPad still managed to turn on despite water flowing in around the screen.

As if that wasn’t torture enough, it was then dipped into Liquid Nitrogen, freezing even the trapped water in the screen. Still working! Next a drop test from the top of a ladder and to everyone’s amazement, even after a smash from a height of over 6 foot and the front cover smashing into pieces, the iPad still booted up. It was certainly amazing.

HMV’s future in Ireland may be uncertain, but the future of music and movies isn’t. Here is a look at just some of Irelands top digital download and streaming services.

Music Streaming iTunes

iTunes by Apple provides music, videos and more. iTunes is the world’s biggest online music store with over 20 million tracks to choose from. You can buy individual tracks ranging from 0.69c to €1.29. Movies can be purchased or rented.

Television shows are currently not available in the Irish store. Music and movies you buy from iTunes will also be stored in their ‘cloud’ allowing you to re-download that track at any time if you loose it or change device.

Netflix

Netflix is an on demand movie streaming service, which gives registered users unlimited access to thousands of movies and TV shows any time on multiple devices from internet enabled TV’s to game consoles, mobile devices and computers. They offer a monthly subscription of just €6.99 for unlimited access.

Storage using DNA on PC or Mac for free with adverts. Spotify also offers subscription packages from 4.99 for unlimited uninterrupted music while a further 9.99 will get you unlimited uninterrupted on any device including mobile.

This is perhaps the best music streaming service available to Irish customers.

What if the future of data storage was biological?

Well, scientists at Harvard and Cambridge have successfully stored data in DNA and such experiments conclude that DNA can hold a considerable amount of data and in time could prove more cost effective than the current methods of digital storage like magnetic disks.

So far Information like Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I had a dream’ speech, and Shakespeare sonnets have been stored on DNA. Data that can be stored includes text, images even audio and the data retrieval is 99.9% accurate.

Its been suggested that in theory a cup of DNA could store about 100 million hours of HD movies.

By replacing the chemical bases A C G &T, found in DNA with those electronic ones and zeros, scientists find that data storage in DNA is very efficient as you can store a vast amount of data on such a small medium and there isn’t a high cost value in storing it.

However, it’s not likely to be a viable mainstream data storage device for sale to consumers any time soon.

Valentine’s Day app 7Digital.com

7Digital is a web store which also sell music tracks individually and they have over 17 million tracks to choose from, between €1.29-1.49. They also provide an App for iOS, Android and Blackberry. They also store the songs in a cloud locker where you can re-download purchased tracks.

Spotify

One of the world’s largest music streaming service finally arrived to Ireland last year. Spotify offers registered users a collection of over 20 million songs, to stream for rree. This service allows users to stream music using its desktop application

Between

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his is love’s answer to Facebook. It is a social network site where you only have one friend; your lovely lovely.

You can highlight important dates such as your anniversary and Valentine’s Day and put up pictures and messages into the Precious Moments section. If you are shamelessly cheesy about your relationship then this is your one-stopshop for communicating with your special someone.

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griffiti at the Movies

Cert: 18 Release date: Out Now! Running time: 180 mins “How do you like the bounty hunting business?”

“Kill white folks and get paid for it.

What’s not to like?”

H

ow it took this long for Quentin Tarantino to make a western is beyond us all.

The movie is managed with superb provocation and audacity, and a whiplash of cruelty and swagger of scorn come as standard. His unique style splatters us all red and moves moods along the spectrum of the rainbow.

Django Unchained is a loose reworking of Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti-western Django from 1966, starring Franco Nero, who at 71 returns in a brief cameo here. But it is more obviously inspired by Richard Fleischer’s exploitation cult item Mandingo (1975) about a slave trained to fight other slaves, an outrageous movie which Tarantino has often praised, his gleeful support only increased by the critics’ nose-wrinkling disapproval.

We are introduced to a cavalier bounty hunter with a heart of gold called Doctor King Shultz (Christoph Waltz).

After taking a slave (Jamie Foxx) under his wing for work purposes, the two eventually end up setting out on a mission to retrieve Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) who is also enslaved. To accomplish this, Django goes under the pretence of a Mandingo (man fighting) expert, with Doc Shultz, the money man, looking to purchase. The relationship between Doc Shultz and

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Django serves as a comedic double act, with the friendship incredibly realistic. The added comedy here is that the foreigner is so much more articulate than the tobacco-stained, scraggly-assed Americans he meets everywhere.

Samuel L Jackson also gives a superb performance, creating a masterpiece with his chilling character Stephen, the grey, stooping servant-elder to DiCaprio’s unspeakable slave-owner Calvin Candie.

Also worth a mention is the more then frequent dropping of the ‘N’ word. Part faithful reporting, part audience provocation, and also dramatic emphasis, there’s something gleeful and opportunistic about his slinging around a word that now offends all but the congenital racists. However, by the end of the movie, the ‘N’ word loses its didactic value as a sign of racism.

Tarantino uses the camera to his fullest advantage, crash zooms are prevalent in drawing attention to characters emotions in full swing and some neat camera work fully captures the blood and gore in all its glory. Music fires at pitch perfect moments, ensuring flow while modernising the scene.

The film features that meaningless excitement Tarantino delivers so well. Despite the length Django unchained holds a good balance which helps audience engagement fit the film’s long form.

Matthew Foyle

Cert: 12A Release Date: Out Now! Running time: 157 mins “Do you hear the people sing?”

L

es Miserables offers us a new and refreshing view of the Broadway musical transformed into a movie. Set in 19th Century France, a prisoner, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), is released but forced to serve a life of cruelty as he is seen as a dangerous man and as a result cannot find work. He learns that the only way to make a new life for himself is to forget the past and the man he once was. He sets up a factory and hires large group of women to work there. Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a beautiful and conservative woman is one of these workers.

Due to jealousy from the other women, she loses her job and is forced to become a prostitute to make ends meet and take care of her daughter who has to live with cruel innkeepers while her mother works. By the time Jean Valjean finds her she is riddled with disease and is lying in her deathbed. Determined to right his wrong, he finds her daughter Cosette and vows to raise her as his own. All is not a fairy tale with this story as Jean Valjean must run from the law and his past that is fated to catch up with him.

This musical offers us some very intense scenes that show the harshness of life during the French Revolution.

Social issues are addressed including how different classes can behave in a certain way, the cruelty that jealousy can

inspire in a person, unbreakable love and the inability to forget who you were and the past that follows you. The intense music and singing has the power to take over and make you feel every emotion in the world at once.

It has all the elements of a an Oscar Nominee and unsurprisingly is up for a number of awards including Best Picture.

We see so many different lives and how upbringing can differ extremely from person to person.

Director Tom Hoooper (The King’s Speech) did an amazing job with this movie.

Getting actors to sing live on the set adds a new and refreshing feel to a movie. This allows the audience to believe everything that the actor is singing to us. The A-list actors present (including a cameo appearance of Colm Wilkinson who played the original Jan Valjean on Broadway) in this movie show how important and celebrated musical Les Miserables is. Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway work extremely well together and their voices come together as one outstanding performance.

Incredible pieces from Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as well as many others.

I would recommend this movie to any musical lover as it would leave anyone absolutely speechless and tearing up from the opening scene all the way to the credits.

Aine Donegan

griffiti at the Movies

Cert: 12A Release date: Out Now! Running time: 150 mins “You’re going to tell one of your stories! I can’t stand to hear another one of your stories!”

D

aniel Day Lewis has played many interesting roles in his career, yet his most recent role nearly didn’t happen.

The actor refused the role of US President Abraham Lincoln believing that it would be impossible to revive this character on screen. However, after some reconsidering, he spent time studying every mannerism of the president.

The result of Day Lewis’ study can be seen in Steven Spielberg’s latest film Lincoln.

Lincoln looks at the final days of the president and his challenge of ending the American Civil War while trying to pass a new amendment abolishing slavery. With the help of his Secretary of State, (David Strathairn) and politician Thaddeus Stephens (Tommy Lee Jones), they are trying to secure the right number to pass this law. However, like every person, Lincoln also has to deal with family issues from his wife (Sally Field) still mourning the loss of one of their sons to another (Joseph Gordon Levitt) wishing to fight in the war.

Day Lewis looks startingly like the 16th President of the USA. We see a man trying to make the world a better place in rough times. The supporting cast has a strong presence, especially Field and Jones, providing some of their best material in years. Lincoln also deals with problems including

slavery, child mortality, war, politics and man’s struggle to balance work issues with family ones.

Some scenes could have been cut out as they not only slowed the film down but they distracted from the major plots. That time could have been allocated to the conclusion which was far too brief.

Audiences who hate repetition may dislike the way that Lincoln tells a story in certain scenes to humour his men.

This writer’s opinion is that this film will lead Day-Lewis to a record breaking third Oscar for Best Actor. From the log cabin accent to the facial expressions and body language, it really is astonishing how lifelike the actor made him.

Despite this constant praise for the protagonist, the thing that makes Lincoln so unique is the way the film is directed.

With its simplistic styling, it’s as if you are watching a play on stage rather than a motion picture. There are no over the top battle scenes or glamorous scenery. Just some impressive acting and cleverly used devices.

Anyone looking for something unique or who enjoys history would love Lincoln.

A quality soundtrack, correct contrast of lighting and the return of the word “nincompoop” to the English language have left us in no doubt that Day Lewis, Spielberg and company have studied up well for this project.

Diarmuid Crowley

Cert: PG Release Date: Out Now! Running time: 93 mins “We’re going to be singing” “We better get some folks who can sing then”

S

ong for Marion is a music based film, set in a small urban community in England. It is directed and written

by Paul Andrew Williams. Terence Stamp stars as pensioner Arthur Harris, Vanessa Redgrave as his ill but determined wife, Marion. Gemma Arterton supports as Elizabeth, the local musical society choral teacher.

This touchingly poignant story opens up with the 1973 country song The most beautiful girl, in which we see Harris going about his weekly routine; part of which is bringing his wife Marion to her choir practice in the local community hall. Harris is a cantankerous pessimistic pensioner, who seems dissatisfied with all in life, with one exception - his wife. On polar opposites, his ailing wife Marion, sees nothing but joy and wishes to spend her days being immersed in all that she loves doing - which is to sing away to her hearts content, with her camaraderie’s at the local choir. Unknown to the choir, their youthful music teacher Elizabeth, enters the “OAPZ” into a singing competition, in true glee style for the elderly.

What follows is a hilarious musical mix up of heavy metal, rap and body popping given the ‘old style’ treatment.

We glimpse into the world of two people who have spent their lives together, shared so many experiences; a love that is so true, despite the fact

they are two very different people. Frustrated at his wife, who is the heart of the choir, as she insists on being involved in singing, despite her illness. He finds he has little choice but to begrudgingly accompany her, while she attends the choir practice sessions.

From the very start, this movie will have you reaching for the tissues, it gives insight into the workings of an elderly couple dealing with what life has thrown at them. It becomes apparent that Harris is shut off emotionally and his only real link to the outside world is through his wife.

This movie offers plenty of light relief from the sombre moments, dishing out little gems, making you laugh throughout. Watching a group of older men and women harmoniously belt out the 80s classic Salt-n-Pepa rap song, let’s talk about sex, is not something you would expect to listen to, or see.

This is a beautifully written, heartfelt story, that is placed in a very simple backdrop of urban everyday life. The slight dark feel in this movie gives an edge that complements the light. It makes you spill a tear one moment and smile the next. The casting, settings and story work well together with the comedic timing and tearjerker moments. Redgrave and Stamp give believable performances. A story about life, laughter and perseverance.

Grainne Kennedy

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griffiti at the Movies

Cert: 12A Release date: Out Now! Running time: 150 mins

“You had me at “fuck you””

S

ylvester Stallone continues trying to bring that 80’s style of action movie back (shoot first, blow shit up second and then ask questions if there’s time left in a feature length film) in Director Walter Hill’s (Alien) new film Bullet to the Head.

The film is so-called due to the number of people that are shot in the face throughout the film, this number is about ten, but does not bear any more significance to the plotline of the feature.

He may be the most type casted actor who has ever lived but that is for a very good reason. The guy just screams tough. Decades of playing the same character have made calling upon that ‘I’m gonna rip off your head and shove it down your throat’ look seem like the simplest thing in the world.

Having seen both their partners killed, Hitman Jimmy Bobo (Stallone) and determined but rookie cop Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang) partner up to bring down the guys responsible.

The chemistry between Stallone and Kang on screen is exceptional. Their odd couple charm results in hilarious back and forths and Stallone flexing his sarcasm muscle like we’ve never seen before. Good acting and great writing are to thank for these sidesplitting scenes.

Angry and world weary

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Bobo sets out to avenge his partner himself rather than do the responsible thing and contact the police. But have no fear, Kwon tags along to insist upon the correct use of ethics and proper procedure.

Although it is generic to the extent of the word, the action is nothing short of what we would expect from the aging star. Any audience will be diminished to a cringing wreck when they hear the crunching of neck bones and spattering of face on the floor after a point blank squeeze of the trigger.

We also see the first ever (to this writer’s knowledge) axe fight at the end of the film which is just as awesome as it sounds.

Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) may be new to the big screen but is superb as Keegan, who is an honorable mercenary of sorts and is the certain piece of many of the better action sequences.

The story line isn’t quite intense enough to maintain an adult’s attention for 181 minutes but it does have all the makings of a great, albeit run of the mill and cheesy action movie with lots of guns, provided you leave you brain at the door and allow yourself to enjoy the explosions and axe fighting in peace. Rest assured as well that the dialogue between the two main characters is so well written that you will laugh out loud every time.

Ben Harper

Cert: 12A Release date: Out Now! Running time: 98 mins

“You may call me Hitch. Hold the Cock”

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love story of sorts, Hitchcock follows the making of Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal film Psycho, colored with marital tension, Hitch’s roaming eye and his haunting nightmares. This is Sacha Gervasi’s second directive endeavor. The film features a strong cast, with Anthony Hopkins playing Alfred Hitchcock, Helen Mirren as his wife Alma, and Scarlet Johansson as his leading lady Janet Leigh.

Following the release of his film North by Northwest in 1959, Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma are searching for his next big film idea.

Believed to be at the pinnacle of his career, Hitch suffers disquieting suggestions from the public that it may be time to retire. Upon deciding to adapt the gruesome horror novel Psycho, he loses financial support from Paramount and artistic faith from everyone else. As Hitch labors through production and self-finances the whole film, the novel’s murderer, Norman Bates, haunts him. This ominous presence complements the trouble in his own marriage, as Alma begins collaboration on another screenplay because she has become fed up with his wandering eye and controlling ways with his leading ladies.

Anthony Hopkins plays a very convincing Alfred Hitchcock, as he is very suitable for macabre personalities

having personal issues. The film’s strongest aspect is the parallelization of Hitch’s nightmares with the affect of Alma’s flirtations, which only come to full light when Norman Bates makes an appearance in Hitch’s mind.

There is no strong dialogue between Hitch and Alma to address their issues until nearly the end, and the separated scenes building up to confrontation leave much of the suffering to the imagination.

Using split scenes and psychological turmoil does much for tying the making of Psycho to the director’s own life circumstances, and it strengthens the macabre sense as Hitch is so affected by his obsession with the film and with his leading ladies.

However, the conflict between husband and wife was sacrificed by these innuendos and any character build-up was weakened by the cuts back and forth between the goings-on of Hitch and Alma.

This film’s success rests on the shoulders of the ever-convincing Hopkins, master of creepiness and oozing Hitch’s self-doubt. If audiences can read into and appreciate Hitch’s nightmares as a framing device for his life and the film production, they will get more out of the film than those resting on overt dialogue.

Hitchcock is a nostalgic visit of one of film’s greats that attempts to stay true to form to its gorily iconic title character.

Rebecca Johnson

Music DO YOU

STEAL MUSIC? Matthew Foyle While happily pirating one of my favourite artist’s (Sonny Moore) songs the other day, I took a little while (there were a lot of songs to download) to consider the morality of essentially stealing from the man I look up to and whose music I enjoy.

A

fter a swift network search, my idol sonny came in at a cool 2.5 million dollars. I sat back and have gone happily about my pirating ways since.

However, unlike me, your favourite musicians may not be riding the mainstream wave, so let’s address that.

Artists are not oblivious to pirating music, they know they have to adapt, and are doing so quite well. In the case of Sonny, he is part of a new frontier in purchasing electronic music.

His record label has recently launched a subscription service called “The Nest”. Sort of like a digital fan club, users pay a monthly fee (12 dollars) in return for pre sales to events, early access to releases and bundled in alongside (importantly not the main draw), is the music.

We can expect this sort of bundling services to become more popular in the coming years.

24

However, with the music retailer HMV going into receivership recently it is also time we reassess the scope of who we affect when we illegally download. Should we consider more than the artists themselves? Did we, the downloading, pirating public, collectively cause the good people of HMV to lose their jobs? I say no, and this is why.

American Assembly’s ‘Copy Culture Survey’ that it intends to publish in the near future.

Despite amassing much larger music collections than users who do not use p2p (point to point) file sharing networks, self-confessed p2p sharers appear to be purchasing more music legally than individuals who do not pirate content at all. It seems the ripping of CDs borrowed from friends and family adds up to almost as much music piracy as online file sharing, which is an interesting discovery. This is something that has been rife since before online music piracy became a mainstream activity.

These findings directly contradict the Recording Industry Association of America’s arguments that online music piracy costs the industry, and its artists, billions of dollars in lost revenue. The RIAA stated that: “While downloading one song may not feel that serious a crime, the accumulative impact of millions of songs downloaded illegally – and without any compensation to all the people who helped to create that song and bring it to fans – is devastating.”

The fact of the matter is

Artists are not “ oblivious to pirating, they know they have to adapt

”

The American Assembly, a Columbia University affiliated public policy forum, has posted some surprising results about online music purchases by internet file-sharers. Their studies have found that US and German file-sharers spend around 30 per cent more on legitimate online music purchases than users who do not pirate music via the internet.

The results are part of the

people have always found ways to copy music for their own personal use. Whether it was by cassette tape, mini disc (remember those?), CD or MP3 files, but that doesn’t mean people do not wish to pay for music legally. In the past it was easier to download albums illegally than it was to purchase them through online services. Now that services like iTunes, Amazon MP3 and

Google Music have made the process of buying music legally even easier than sourcing it through p2p file sharing networks, users are buying more music through legitimate channels than ever before.

Larger music collections, whether acquired legally or illegally, arguably help to drum up more interest in artists and their music than smaller music collections. As friends share music collections between themselves, they introduce each other to new artists, which in turn raises the profile of the musicians and inevitably leads to more fans, music sales, ticket purchases and overall public exposure.

This study aside, we must also consider our place in the evolution of technology and marketplaces. This I fear is where the fate of HMV lies, right in the path of the steamroller that is information technology. This is bigger then us people, we may serve as a feedback mechanism and developers but once we turned the key in that steamroller, it seems to have stuck. So don’t feel guilty folks, we are a cog that is driven by a greater energy, and right beside us, interlocked, is technology.

As a faithful user of Spotify, I have chosen to contribute by way of paying a monthly subscription to upgrade my features on the program and enable offline listening. While I am not sure how much this benefits the artists themselves, we are assured that each song played via Spotify makes the musician money and so my reasoning is thus. By supporting the company, we support the music industry as a whole.

Aside from this, Spotify is probably the most efficient, complete package for a music lover out there. The Swedish are bloody smart.

It’s only drawback being the limited number of songs available, don’t get me wrong, there are millions, but recent releases seem to take time to become available and for this reason you may wish to use the exclusively online Soundcloud in conjunction to listen and download. So paint over your moral gray area and listen to your hearts content.

Music Review

O

n the 24th of October 2012 Blink 182 left their Label Interscope records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, the major label to which Blink had been signed to since its mainstream breakthrough in 1997. This was viewed as being a bold move by the music industry as the success rate of bands that leave a major label to become independent is not very high. Blink, however, thought differently, they thanked UMG for the fifteen great years but felt that now they were both financially stable and creatively mature to become an Independent band. Mark Hoppus stated “It’s been a long, amazing journey but the time has come to move on, I feel like our band is in the best place it’s been in a long time I mean just look at my hair.”

The split from the label did not slow down the musical juggernaut that is Blink 182.

Less than a week later they were back in Marks studio in Los Angeles working on their first independent release since the infamous Fly Swatter from way back in 1993. The band were very excited about the upcoming project as they would be both writing and recording together in the same

studio, which differed from the process they used for the 2011 release neighbourhoods. The new material in the form of a five song EP that resulted from this became their most accomplished work to date.

The EP opens with the classic Blink theme of youth in the form of the song ‘When I was Young’ but this is no song about parties, skateboarding and youthful romance, no this is a deep song about the trials and tribulations of being an adolescent. The chorus is a

beautifully done back and forth between Delonge and Hoppus over the significance of a young person’s problems, “It’s the worst damn day (It doesn’t hurt that much) Of my life, I made a mess today (It doesn’t hurt that much) but I’m alright.” This coupled with the furious pace and catchy tone of the song make a good first impression of what’s to come.

‘Dogs Eating Dogs’ which also happens to be the title of the EP is somewhat of a social commentary which at one time may have been foreign to Blink 182 but since returning from Hiatus in 2009 it has been gradually creeping into their music. Hoppus suggests that “Your only hope is burning down the chapel, all getting washed out with the tide, we need to find some middle ground. It’s always sex or suicide”. Those really are strong words coming from a man who is more comfortable writing about having difficulties with girls. Once again the upbeat nature of the EP is obvious in this song hinting that although these lyrics may be more sombre the purpose of Blink182’s musical style will primarily to get you out of your seat.

Speaking of sombre, we now move on to ‘Disaster’, of course you may be-

come completely oblivious to the lyrics of this song due to the infectious drum beat which epitomises the immense talent that is Travis Barker, it feels like something that could be heard in a nightclub rather than an alternative rock album.

In an attempt to balance the album, an acoustic track named ‘Boxing Day’ (probably due to the fact that Mark has spent the last two years living in London) is what greets us next. This folksy ballad takes us on a journey to the emptiness some people may feel during the Christmas season.

The final song ‘pretty little girl’ is both the most quintessentially Blink and the biggest departure for the band, the familiar part is the theme of the song which is a relationship between a guy and girl, the departure comes three minutes into the song in the form of an appearance from the rapper Yelawolf, yes you heard me, rap in a Blink song. Yelawolf, a close friend of Barker provides the retort to Delonge’s verses heard throughout the song with an angry yet eloquent verse to help bring this song and EP to a close.

If this is the genesis of Blink 182 as an independent band I say keep the tracks coming!

John Enright

25

THE GENUINE ARTICLE

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It was with you.

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Drew Peacock’s Guide to surviving St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland

I

t has come to The Genuine Article’s attention that there are many foreigners running about Griffith, eagerly anticipating the day that many Irish people dread.

So because for many of you this is your first Paddy’s day on Irish soil with actual Irish people, here are a few things you would be wise to remember on that the day of green.

This is not a day to enjoy casually. It requires several weeks of planning and organising so for god sakes fool, as soon as you have finished reading these guidelines stick them to your fridge and start preparing NOW.

PREPARATION

The day after is key to the day before, and so on.

Be sure to have absolutely NO commitments for the following day, you will be in un-

26

conditional agony should you have celebrated correctly.

Be assured to have certain items on standby and in close vicinity of your bed: luck willing this is where you will end up.

Bottle of water (2 litre) or my personal choice lucozade and a bucket, in case anything you ingested the night before cares to do an encore performance.

Should you be sharing your bed with someone (every night or just that night) do the decent thing and have mouth wash in your house, lest you want your partner to demand a distance barrier.

For those of you who have a smart phone drop a pin on your home, at 4am 5 minutes from the pub and 5 miles can look alarmingly similar.

Have your fridge stocked with stomach lining goodies; you know the drill; bread, milk and at least 3 family sized bars of Cadbury chocolate.

With all these necessaries

in place you can now go about this dreadful day as though money was raining from the sky – hands ready for grabbing and running about like an idiot.

The morning of, start off the day on a high and by high I mean high cholesterol, eat a full Irish breakfast, the greasiest, largest one you can get your mitts on.

THE PARADE

Be warned, your drinking should have well started by now if not at breakfast.

If you are not over 5’9” then by all means bring a step ladder because other wise you will not see a single thing of the parade, but know every detail of the head of the person standing in front of you…all day. And no, it is not acceptable to climb on the shoulders of nearby strangers, no matter how cute you think you are.

St. Patrick’s day, while a day devoted to precious drinking, is also an excuse to cover any exposed flesh with some form of green tackiness that cost 2c to make and €15 to buy. You are in an economically drowning country, you might as well boost our economy. So buy it up people.

AT THE BAR

Once the entertainment portion of the day is over, proceed swiftly to your closest pub, to be squished within an inch of organ failure while undertaking a favored pastime (drinking) that really requires that bit of extra personal space.

St. Patrick’s Day for a bartender is like Armageddon, people are screaming at them, their pulse races and they are over come with rushes of emotions ranging from anger, to very angry, to really quite pissed off.

So follow these guidelines and maybe, just maybe you’ll get served.

Know what you want, and never start a drink order with ‘emmmm’ a bartender will just walk away and that’s if you’re lucky.

NEVER order a glass of Guinness, don’t be a sissy, man up and order a pint! And, unless you want to be devoured with death stares don’t order anything that takes more than 30 seconds to serve. An Irish coffee or hot whiskey or god forbid a cocktail, with a queue of 50 behind you. It’s just not one bit worth it.

So while you are in this country, it is important to make conversation and be sociable. But, beware. While we are known for our hospitable nature, this

is not our first time at the rodeo. So if we have taken the time to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, don’t bug us with tales of your heritage.

A special note to any American readers, while the fact that your aunt’s, cousin’s, sister’s, brother-in-law’s (twice-removed), dog was Irish, may be fascinating to you but no full blooded Irish person cares in the slightest and I am here to tell you now and for all time, IT DOES NOT MAKE YOU IRISH! Also, please don’t tell us over and over how much you love Guinness and most certainly, don’t steal our costumes… it is in no way cute, appealing or a substitute for a chat up line – Ladies I’m looking at you, don’t bring up St. Patrick’s welsh ori-

NEWS IN BRIEF

SU Surf Trip sells out before SU decides to have Surf Trip Beer Pong replaces Soccer as Most Watched Sport Law-bots designed by Computing Faculty make Law Faculty obsolete Discovery Trip is going to Clare (A county in Ireland, not the SU Entertainments Officer) Lecturer sacked for spraying ‘smelly’ student with air freshener Marijuana Society Appoints Joint Committee Recent study shows that 75% of Griffith Students make up three quarters of the College’s student body

gins especially if you are Welsh, he’s Irish, we claimed him, get over it!

LEAVING THE PUB

It is not acceptable to leave any earlier than EVERYWHERE else is closed. For transport a taxi is preferable seeing as you shouldn’t be able to hold a straight face let alone straight legs to walk. Just don’t call the taxi driver Mr. Taxi driver man especially if it’s a woman. Have money set aside for the taxi somewhere on your body, best to write directions to this place on your arm before you leave in the morning.

And on behalf of every taxi driver there ever was and will ever be, PLEASE for the love of

god don’t sing, they don’t care if your Mariah freaking Carey just shut the hell up and give the man his money.

And one more and possibly the most important piece of advice for celebrating this St. Patricks’ day is if in doubt, DRINK MORE. You see leprechauns running down the bar, drink!

You see St. Patrick in the flesh looking for snakes, drink!

You see blood oozing from your body, DRINK! Guinness has been known to have healing qualities after all, and as the Irish saying goes ‘If it doesn’t kill you, it will cure you.’

Keep in mind, St. Patricks’ Day is a sprint not a marathon.

You want to drink as much as you can as fast as you.

Happy Paddy’s, Peeps!

Under the

Spotlight

Robbie McKenna Occupation: Librarian/moderatly evil scientist Greatest Ambition: Take over all the libraries in the world Hobbies: Pretending to read in bars until a girls asks him what he’s reading. “The very best way of hooking up” Says Rob Likes: Knowing EVERYTHING Dislikes: Not being asked what he’s reading Interesting fact: Holds the world record for most pogo stick jumps, while blindfolded on a self assembled raft: 2 27

Creative Writing

Recurri ng Dream

By Bernard Moran

I

n a small house, on the edge of a small town, sandwiched between a busy main road and a lake, sometime in the early hours, a young family of three are asleep in their home. Inside, a storm is brewing; though you wouldn’t know it. Were you to open the back door, you would find yourself in a small, homely kitchen. Dotting the walls are the drawings of a child, and beams of moonlight stream through the blinds.

A glass of water sits in the centre of the kitchen’s wooden table, poured at bedtime, but forgotten in a haze of sleep-lust. It’s a short wide glass, like an upside-down snow globe. Its waters, filled a little way from the brim, are calm - to the naked eye, at least.

But at a microscopic level, a storm is raging on the water’s surface, in the home of the young family of three.

The sky is invisible through the machine-gun deluge. Great, hulking waves toss the galley ship, no minnow itself, like a puppy on a bustling trampoline. Rain beats down on the sailors; they are featureless shadows, frenzied studies of movement battling for the life of their vessel. On the boat are a young family of three. The parents stand huddled together; tears invisible through the rain, merely implied

28

by the anguish on their features. The little boy stands apart from them, fascinated by the sailors running to and fro and sliding across the ships boards. He is oddly balanced in the tumult, quivering slightly, only partly from the cold. Like him, his parents are too absorbed in their misery to be affected by the ships tantrum. There are no tears hidden on the boys rain marred face, but his eyes are as wide, either with worry or confusion. The ship fights on through its battering - perhaps it has a destination in mind.

Out of the distance, a darker black rises up through the murk. A giant rock formation, looming over all it surveys. The ship anchors by the outermost of its jagged rocks, and three figures disembark onto a tall, slender pillar, detached from the main colossus. At this point the rain has died down, enough so the couple’s tears have become visible. The boy is still apart from them, and appears to have found something to narrow his eyes. His gaze stretches across to the main bulk of rock; its scaly cliff face rising out of the depths like an awakening sea monster. A perfect connecting walkway has eroded naturally over millions of years, joining the pillar to its parent. The boys eyes are drawn across

it as if by hypnosis; on the other side the darkness thickens again; a single orifice in the cliff – a cave – like a black hole, sucking the darkness into itself; a hungry wolf spider, belly rumbling as she consumes her young.

At its centre though, the darkness breaks, silhouettes congeal to form figures and the boy starts to grasp the only thing he has brought with him; his family. For him, it is a choice. For his parents, he fears, it is merely to witness his decision, and go back. To where they will go back, he doesn’t know. Where had they come from?

Halfway across the land bridge now, he doesn’t even remember walking this far, it is as though he is in a film and there has been a cut from one scene to another.

He turns to look back at his parents; they are huddled together still, lost in their grief, presumably over him. But if that is the case, why do they not go to him? Not once have they so much as glanced in his direction, they seem resigned to whatever it is they’re so worried about - he turns once again.

The figures have stepped forward from the mouth of the cave so that he can make them out. He is shocked when he sees who they are, not so much by their

identities but by his own disinterest in them. Characters from his imagination stand beckoning him to join them; They range from a well-built hunch-back, to a man in an orange martial arts kit, with hair of fire, to a blonde boy his own age, clad in a green tunic and wielding a short sword.

These, he idly supposes, must be his childhood role models. The terms – ‘childhood’, and ‘role model’, seem vacuous in this context; though he knows of no other. He only briefly wonders why they are there, or where he knows them from. What is there to know of - only stormy sky and sea, the ship and its featureless sailors, himself and his parents, and now this rock with its out of place ‘superheroes’?

He looks to his parents - they need him.

The new crowd; they look too welcoming, too desperate for his company. They are familiar alright; too familiar. Behind them though, the cave beckons. Yes, the boy’s parents need him, but the boy needs the cave. Whatever is lurking inside the giant

Two lighthouse-beacon yellow eyes slowly escalate to the top of the cavern, casting just enough light to illuminate the shadow of the behemoth upon which they are mounted. The boy gasps – stumbling in his hurry to step back. The others appear to have been expecting this; they shoot out in all directions to mount their attack.

The features of the creature on hand are thrown into sharper relief by an energy blast from the martial artist with the fiery hair. It is as though the beast - albeit lizard like in the detail of its scales and its head - is a gigantic caterpillar, and the cavern is its perfectly tailored cocoon. It is not long either, before the extent of its power is also revealed. Though the heroes battle furiously, swarming around the cavern; landing one hit after another; their efforts are in vain. The hunchback hurls a stalagmite straight for the beast’s eye; but it crumbles uselessly on impact, ineffective as everything else so far. It is all the heroes can do to avoid being swatted.

the green tunic is tossed aside and impaled on his own sword, the martial artist’s flame is extinguished and his body consumed, the hunch-back is left so badly broken that he no longer even looks crippled. All the others follow suit. The boy curls himself into an ever tighter ball, perhaps hoping to fold himself into such a tiny position that he becomes invisible, or simply ceases to exist.

Facing the wall, he awaits his death; by hunger, or hypothermia, or by the beast, which, having defended its territory has descended back into the depths, for now.

The boy trembles; but the chill of this barren, oceanic outpost is nothing to the chill that has descended on his heart. His parents have left him to fend for himself, his role models have proved nothing more than cardboard cut-outs of the values that they represent, and he is alone in a world that would be no clearer to him even if the sun did finally come up. Dawn would only dispel the visible darkness. Why had

He clamps his teeth together, clenches his fists, and turns away from what he knows rock formation, he has to confront it. He clamps his teeth together, clenches his fists, and turns away from what he knows; he tells himself to be brave. Striding toward his destination, he ignores the over-the-top celebrations of his ‘heroes’ at his decision, and glances back one more time - though it is hard to see through the darkness and rain, he is certain that the ship has already disembarked, and his parents with it.

In such an unfathomable world, with so few things he understands, the little boy suddenly feels just that; a little boy – incapable of fending for himself. It is the heroes now who are stone faced, their eyes dead set on the void. The boy pads after them into the gloom, lagging behind.

The inside of the cavern is almost completely hollowed out; an naturally formed, gigantic round tower. Around a central abyss that descends probably to the bottom of the world, runs an alcove just wide enough to walk on. Stillness clings to everything inside; the kind of stillness that begins to stir as soon as it’s perceived.

He senses a faint quivering in the air, and just as he notices that his new companions have assumed fighting stances, the quivering becomes a rumbling, and a groan shakes from the belly of the world to the apex of its skies. Out of the depths slides a barely perceptible, but huge, movement.

The boy watches on helplessly, crawling into the most secluded niche he can find to escape the monster’s destructive thrashing. Occasionally one of the heroes will meet the boy’s gaze with pleading eyes – as if he could do something about their impending deaths, as if they expected more. One by one, each of them is sent crashing into the cavern walls; the boy in

he made this decision? Why had he left the people who loved him; who he loved?

Already soaked to the bone and shaking violently - there is no visible difference as the boy begins to sob.

In a small house, on the edge of a small town, sandwiched between a busy main road and a lake, sometime in the early hours, a young family of three are asleep in their home. A little boy is snuggled between his parents. Like shifting tides, their sleeping forms rise and fall in the faint light from the cars outside.

A little later, the boy gets up again.

Thirsty, he goes to the kitchen in search of a drink. Luckily, there is a glass of water waiting, already poured on the table. It is in one of the semi-spherical glasses, as he calls them - the snow globes. He sometimes wonders if, like snow globes, they contain little worlds of their own; maybe he and his family really live in an upside-down snow globe? Such thoughts warm him - as he gets older, the world seems to get less interesting. Dreams it seems, have shorter lifespans than their humans.

Remembering what he’s gotten up for, he takes a sip from the glass, and totters back to bed. Soon the rise and fall of the shifting tides will recommence. They are calm – to the naked eye.

29

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