Vol XXII - Issue 6 - OTwo

February 16th, 2016

OTwo

Issue VI

Featuring interviews with: Foals Mystery Jets Firehouse Film Contest

Plus:

Food, Fashion and the latest in Games

Contents

2 Letter from the Editors 3 What’s Hot and What’s Not 3 Mystic Mittens 3 Soapbox: Cats Won’t Love Me - Eva Griffin 4 Prudent Patrick 4 Hangin’ Wit Hil - Eva Griffin 5 Vietnam - Roisin Murray

Letter From The Editors

FOOD&DRINK 6 K Chido Review - Niamh O’Regan 6 Cooks Corner - Niamh O’Regan 7 Dine in Dublin Preview - Niamh O Regan 7 Why Wi-Fi - Mina Dawood

GAMES

8 Gaming Nostalgia - Eva Griffin 8 Game of Life - Adam Donnelly 9 Fortitude - Aaron Poole 9 IMSCARED - Aaron Poole

FILM&TV 10 #OscarsSoWhite - Andrew Carroll 11 Firehouse Film Contest - David Monaghan 12 Film Reviews 13 Making a Murderer - Owen Steinberger 13 Top 10 ‘Best Picture’ Films - Paul Igoldsby

CREATIVE WRITING 14 Shadow Town - Karl Quigley 15 Selection of Poetry

CENTRE 16 Foals Interview - Rebekah Rennick

MUSIC 18 Overhead, The Albatross - Adam Lawler 19 Album Reviews 20 Gig Guide 20 Radar: Carron - Owen Steinberger 21 Darkstar - Seán Hayes 22 Mystery Jets - Aisling Kraus 23 Women That Changed Music - Patrick Kelleher

FASHION&STYLE

24 Street Style 24 Fashion Week - Katie Devlin 25 Viva Glam - Lucy Coffey 25 Body Image and Fashion - Bilkis Ogunseye 26 Old School Shoot - Kiera Black

ARTS&LITERATURE 28 Poetry Ireland - Eva Griffin 29 Jan Carson - Megan Hickey 30 Ai Weiwei - Fergus Dunne 31 Fatal Fourway: Best Worst Cover Songs 32 Fotografie

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Good morning, day, afternoon, And any other time you may be reading at, this is the sixth issue of our lovely OTwo magazine. The semester is now well underway, so why not keep the stress and work at bay with a quick read of our majestic arts and culture supplement.

We’re joined by the terrific Prudent Patrick to give some hard-hitting life advice in his first OTwo column. In OTwo’s latest trip around the world, we take a visit to the often misunderstood world of Vietnam, and Eva “Girlfriend Jeans Are Just Jeans” discusses why cats refuse to love her.

In our Food section, Niamh “Nothing But Burritos” O Regan fills us in on K Chido and the Dine in Dublin event.

In Games, Adam “Mr. Tumnus” Donnelly includes a review of the scariest game to hit our screens since Slenderman.

Film opens with a feature on the race controversy in the Oscars and our own David “Mean to Interns” Monaghan interviews the founders of the Firehouse Film contest.

Creative Writing, as always run by our resident creative Roisin “R-Dawg” Murray, has a number of poems to please and a short story that will be bound to thrill.

Our centre interview this issue has been undertaken

by OTwo stalwart Rebekah “The DVR Worked. It Finally Worked” Rennick with Foals – not to be missed.

Music opens with an interview with Overhead, The Albatross and an interview with Darkstar. Among the album reviews are Lion Babe and Lontalius. Aisling “Why Won’t DVRs Work for Me” Kraus fills in this issue’s gig guide and on the radar this week is Carron.

In Fashion, Lucy “Miranda Priestly” Coffey tells us all about Viva Glam lipstick which is followed by a piece on the recent SAG awards. Take a look as well at our fantastic fashion shoot this issue.

Finally in Maebh “Please Don’t Steal My Books” Butler’s Arts and Literature section, Jan Carson and the head of Poetry Ireland are interviewed alongside an article on the Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei.

Finally at the sad end of our lovely magazine, revel in our Fatal Fourway of the Best Worst Cover Songs and some lovely photography of cats getting themselves into mischief.

Lots of Otwoy love, Eva and Karl

what’s hot & What’s not

Soapbox Cats won’t love me

Hot

Not Hot

Ryan Reynolds:

The College Tribune:

We’ve been waiting quite some time now for the release of Deadpool, and finally, it has graced our cinema screens. Now, we here at OTwo have always known that Ryan Reynolds is pretty hot, but for the last few years, poor Ryan hasn’t exactly been living the high life. His acting career hit a bit of a lull. He was in Green Lantern, which everyone has been working to forget now since it was released. So we’re pretty pleased to see that not only is Ryan Reynolds hot right now, but so is the heavily anticipated Deadpool. Go and see it.

Here at Observer towers, we’ve long since known that the College Tribune is not hot, but they are seriously bloody cold right now. After they ‘broke’ their ‘revenge porn’ scandal a couple of weeks ago, a UCD investigation found that the whole thing was unsubstantiated hearsay.

Awks to be them.

irish Cinema: The Irish are doing pretty damn well for themselves at the moment. From our very own sweetheart Saoirse Ronan to UCD alumnus Emma Donoghue, who wrote the novel that Room was based on (as well as the screenplay), things are going well for the Irish right now. With the Oscars not far off, perhaps a few trophies will be gracing mantelpieces across the country.

Hozier: It won’t come as any news to OTwo readers that Hozier is hot. In fact, he’s been hot for quite some time. Despite the obvious fact that he’s a bit of a ride, he’s just released his new music video for ‘Cherry Wine’, dealing with the incredibly important issue of domestic violence. On top of this, it features the lovely Saoirse Ronan too. Hozier is at the top of his game right now.

Lucinda Creighton: Lucinda has been not hot in our books ever since she kicked up such a fuss over women having the right to choose what they do with their own bodies. From the stupid name of her political party (Renua, for those of you not politically attuned) to her spouting claims about ‘smear campaigns’, nobody’s really feeling Lucinda’s nonsense right now. Go home Lucinda, we got bored of you about twenty minutes after you announced the unfortunate existence of Renua.

Week 4: Long gone are the distant memories of pints and RAG week; Week 4 is upon us already. UCD are mad for continuous assessment, so for most of us that means that we already have work to do. Even worse is that this work piles up just when our resolve to actually be normal, functioning people is failing. Does ‘I’m tired’ count as a good reason for an extension these days?

Mystic Mittens Aries

Libra

Breaking your ill-thought out Lenten promises a week after Pancake Tuesday might be bad, but it’ll feel so, so good. Stress from assignments will result in eating ten Dairy Milks.

You have been told countless times, and yet you continue to not save your work as you go along. This time your whole laptop will get up and disappear.

Taurus The bags of free Dolmio sauce you got during Freshers’ week are beginning to stink out your bedroom. Time for a spring clean.

Gemini The movement of the planets really has no impact on your actions. You should probably stop trusting horoscopes written by mystical cats.

Cancer You will stop using the discovery of gravitational waves as a chat up line. Nobody is physically or gravitationally attracted to you.

Leo Berocca does not count as one of your five a day. Stop lying to your mother.

Virgo Gradually replace the #NewSemesterNewYou promises you bragged about with #IAcceptMyFlaws mantras. Life will be easier this way and you won’t have to go to the gym.

Scorpio If you’re going to vomit anywhere along the Societies’ corridor, make it the L&H office. They won’t find it among the mess in there anyway.

Sagittarius What’s worse than being stuck on the loo for six hours straight? Being stuck on the loo for six hours straight with no toilet paper. Get some shopping.

Capricorn Don’t rely on YikYak for your gossip, and if you do, don’t print it in a college newspaper. Sorry, I meant to tell you this last time.

Aquarius The swans in the UCD lake are wakening from their winter slumber and swear their revenge on a university that has refused to engage with their demands to be constantly fed. Avoid them at all costs.

Pisces Following a week of takeaways from San Marino, your blood has become primarily composed of grease. You should probably see a doctor.

Happiness is fleeting. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years on this jaded planet, it’s that sometimes the things you love don’t love you back and any satisfaction gained from another hopeless presence on Earth is short-lived. Simple pleasures are just that – not terribly complex and pleasurable in the most transient of ways. Even if the object of desire is something concrete, say, a furry nugget with four stubby legs and a face full of hairy wisps and contempt, that doesn’t mean the little shit is easily locked into a stable, loving relationship.

No I’m not into bestiality, I’m just talking about some totally legal non-weird feline affection. Unfortunately, cats seemed genetically designed to reject my (seriously not sexual in any way) advances. Even more unfortunate is my tendency to crave love from those I know simply cannot reciprocate. I tried telling my beloved childhood Poochie that I loved him more than my little brother but he simply barked into nothingness and backed away in his cool, hard, mechanical way.

This emotional void between myself and the cuter, tinier members of the animal kingdom seems to have widened with age. When the opportunity presents itself to make a new bestial buddy, I become a nervous wreck because I am so eager to please and so desperate to love.

Now it seems the longer I go without a furry companion, the more suspicious neighbourhood pets seem to be of my attempts to coax them into an innocent hug.

One time I was sitting on the steps outside my building when the cute cat-next-door approached me. I wiped my sweaty paws on the concrete – possibly touching some bird poop as she sashayed towards my stoop. I repeated the refrain I had learned in primary school under my breath: ‘Just be cool and don’t snort when you laugh because that drives people away.’ Finally, she was before me in all her miniature leonine splendour. I reached out to her, trying to initiate some sinless ear fondling, but she turned her back to me. Suddenly, this total tease was rubbing her nasty street butt all over me as I sat there dumbfounded and possibly covered in the remnants of some cat poop. With one final glance thrown over her little cat butt, she was gone.

This story may seem like it has absolutely no point and I possibly don’t know where I’m going with this at all but here is some food for thought: this little kitty picked me out as a sexual deviant before even giving me a chance. She caught one look at me and thought, ‘Yep, this lady likes ass and ass is all she’s getting.’ Why can’t any of these puny creatures see me for the real me? All I want is a hug because I was neglected as a child and cats are so small I bet I could get one to stay with me forever. Please, I have lots of money for cat treats.

Words: Eva Griffin Illustration: Joanna O’Malley

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Prudent Patrick

OTwo’s new agony aunt is here to answer your questions. This issue, Prudent Patrick helps Need A Wingman with dating advice Dear Prudent Patrick, This weekend has been a disaster and I need your pleasing prose to fix it. First of all, as you may know, it was Valentine’s Day on Sunday. So being the single, hot blooded man that I am, I went to a speed dating brunch that morning on George’s Street hoping to pull and give the Daft Punk hit song some personal meaning. So I hit it off first time with this particular waffle-muncher (they were caramel waffles – and she shared) and we decided we’d meet up that afternoon for some of the couples’ activities that were set up.

We did the dance class and went bowling; we even won the main prize, a coupon for a free cocktail each over at a bar in Temple Bar. So after a quick dinner we went and got sauced… and saucy.

She was great and the night went really well, no problems there (if you get me). I really like her.

Ladies like her are rare, you know?

The problem is; well, I never thought I’d get anywhere with her, and she was talking all day about how much she loves flying, and how she wants to be a pilot someday and so of course, I did what anyone would do, and I lied. But I was smart, I didn’t tell her that I am a pilot, only that I used to be before an accident that half blinded me (I wear glasses so it was believable like). I really work as a security van driver. She loves planes, man.

I’ve never been one for dirty talk, but the terms “cockpit” and “tail” were thrown around like a plane in a hurricane that night.

So anyway, I’m meant to be seeing her again tonight and I have completely run out of flight

Photo Be safe, be seen.

Hangin’ wit Hill Hi Hillary,

Hi Hillary,

I’m having issues staying on top of my reading this semester. All of my classes require an insane amount of articles to read every week and I’m struggling to get even half of it done. I know it’s the final stretch but I’m closer than ever to dropping out. Do you have any advice for getting the most out of the time I have? I don’t think it’s possible to get everything done, but there must be some way to cut down on stress by getting more on top of things, right?

I’m a first year in UCD and after one whole semester I’m still having a hard time making friends. There are a few people I make small talk with in classes, but I don’t know how to take the next step towards hanging out with them outside of college. I don’t want to come across too needy but I am genuinely desperate to finally find a core group of friends – I think it would make my college experience a lot easier. I’m not really into sports so I don’t know what extra-curricular activities could help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Sarah

Thank you, Colin

Ay ma!

Ay boi, First of all, gurl, chill yourself. Get some avocado toast, a tasty can of coconut water and binge watch Girls – the holy trinity, amirite? Don’t forget the importance of #foodporn – get that avo looking fly and take a sneaky snap for your instafans! K, so, now your ass is calm and your mind is clear. Time for some nail art, fam! Gotta get those talons #onfleek before you can flick through those papers! Personally, I would recommend painting the logos of your favourite fast food restaurants so that everyone knows you’re an easy going gal who loves a burger as much as bikram yoga. After you’ve nailed that (puntastic!), tweet out in 3 emojis or less how craptacular your reading list makes you feel! Nothing like some emoji-therapy to soothe the soul.

As my friend Kanye (#squad) would say: Hillary Clinton? More like Hillary Hashtagbaefambae, amirite! I got your back honey, reading is for nerds like Sanders.

Peace out!

Hill Clinton xx

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Hill yes I can help you out! You down wit Facebook?

Just start adding anyone you see around campus or anyone you think is lit on Facebook! Next step – get your selfie game going, son! Double selfies are #key – this is when people take selfies with you at the same time from different angles! No selfie stick necessary!

Millenials love cats and John Cena so make sure to talk about those boss things as well. Yaaas queen!

I was with a group of my friends at a big event the other night, and we were dancing, and it was crazy.

Oh my gosh. It was dancing. Oh my God. So much fun. And you know, I sort of forgot that I had high heels on and I was jumpin’, jumpin’, jumpin’, and you know, jumpin’. Jumpin’ is great! Ayy fam!

Hillbae xx

jargon. We seem to connect over her love of planes and my stories about time on the flight deck. I just don’t know what to tell her, or if I should tell her at all.

Please Prudent Patrick, help me keep my Flightless Bird.

Signed, Need A Wingman Dear Need A Wingman, I’m so sorry that you’ve ended up in this predicament. I know exactly how you’re feeling right now. It’s hard when you’re ugly (I’ve been dealing with the same problem all my life!) It’s great that you managed to get around the ‘being shit’ problem, but you may have fucked it up when you told her such a massive lie.

At this point, the only thing you can do is continue the lie and aim to marry her before she finds out. If you can get a mortgage and three children into a good Catholic primary school before she finds out, even better.

As an Agony Aunt, I know that I should be telling you that honesty is the best policy. But honestly, we all know that’s just a total lie, especially for ugly people. So work on expanding the lie, and keep that flightless bird grounded.

Xoxo, Prudent Patrick

Got a problem you want Prudent Patrick’s help with? Email him now at prudentpatrick@ universityobserver.ie.

Visiting:

Photography & WORDS: Roisin murray WHEN people think of Vietnam, they often associate it with an outdated legacy centred around colonialism, communism, and the Vietnam War. Such memories of its past tend to overshadow its current reputation as a vibrant, diverse and refreshingly bizarre country. Most Westerners are unaware that Vietnam boasts one of the fastest growing economies in South-East Asia, and its breath-taking cities are proof of this. At the epicentre of booming Vietnam is its largest city: Ho Chi Minh City. But if you want to fit in with the locals, be sure to refer to it as its former name, Saigon.

What makes Ho Chi Minh particularly unique is the fusion of cosmopolitan modernity and traditional Vietnamese culture. The city is often referred to as the Vietnamese ‘New York’. And yes, it has a fast-paced vivacity to rival even the Big Apple.

You can explore the heart of Vietnamese culture without having to dish out any Vietnamese Dong.

One of the best ways to explore Ho Chi Minh is simply to wander the streets of the city, which are divided into ‘districts’ adorned with elegant French colonial architecture. Just be mindful of the oncoming mopeds which drive everywhere in wacky race style (including along the pavements).

This way, you will find yourself immersed in Vietnamese culture; stumbling upon local markets, communist posters and Vietnamese delicacies.

For the best experience of Vietnamese food, the old traveller gem of advice, ‘go where the locals go’ could not be more accurate. If feeling particularly adventurous, you should abandon the beaten track and experiment with local food at Vietnamese eateries; dishes you must try include Pho (a noodle soup) or Vietnamese fresh spring rolls (vegetables wrapped in rice paper). Just be prepared for an entire meal to set you back around an extortionate one euro. Another popular pastime for travellers in Ho Chi Minh is to look out for the most eccentric sights on mopeds. This can vary from a family of six balanced precariously on a single Vespa, or a pane of glass being transported by two adjacent mopeds. Road safety + Vietnam = non-existent.

But for those who prefer more structured sightseeing, the historical and cultural centre of Vietnam is also the ideal location. The horrors of colonialism and the Vietnam War have not been forgotten, and are commemorated at various tourist destinations around Ho Chi Minh. A particular must see is the War Remnants Museum in District 3. The museum is home to an extensive amount of military equipment deployed in the Vietnam War, including aircrafts, helicopters and unexploded weapons.

It hosts a diverse selection of exhibitions. These range from a photojournalism exhibit to a display dedicated to replicating the horror of the torture chambers. But one of the most harrowing aspects is the photography exhibition on the effects of Agent Orange and chemical warfare; filled with graphic images, this particular exhibition is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Another tourist destination worth visiting is the Cu Chi tunnels, situated on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh. These are a network of tunnels used especially during the Vietnam War as part of the North Vietnamese’s campaign of guerrilla warfare.

As they are located a distance away from the centre of Ho Chi Minh, you will require some form of public transport to reach them. Sure, you could always sit on an overcrowded bus for an hour and sweat your sun cream off. But how about splashing out on a more exhilarating mode of transport? You can hitch a ride on a speedboat up the Mekong River to arrive in style (minus the windswept hair). There you will be accompanied by a personal tour guide, many of whom are related to Vietnamese that fought in combat in the Vietnam War. You will be shown replicas of the bamboo booby traps set to capture the enemy. This includes one aptly named ‘The Armpit Crusher’ (the clue is in the name).

And if you’re feeling daring enough, you are even permitted to venture down into the minuscule tunnels and army crawl around them underground.

Just pray that you don’t get stuck. There is also a shooting range on site which is ideal for anyone looking to showcase their prowess in firing assault rifles. The backdrop of gunshots as you tour the site sets a hauntingly realistic atmosphere, creating the illusion that you have stumbled straight into the middle of the Vietnam War. But if you’d prefer a little exhilaration alongside your culture, the Vespa tour around Ho Chi Minh City is an unmissable experience. You will be collected from your accommodation by a licensed Vespa driver, and together you will navigate the manic streets of Ho Chi Minh to embark upon an unforgettable restaurant/ bar crawl. Destinations include a seafood bar where your guide will undoubtedly try to convince you to eat frogs legs, a Vietnamese pancake house and a jazz bar. To round off the tour, you will be dropped off at a music bar complete with Vietnamese karaoke (one of the most treasured Vietnamese pastimes).

If you feel like exploring the city after hours on your own, Ho Chi Minh has no shortage of diverse nightlife. Rooftop bars are scattered around the city and overlook the lights of skyscrapers of Ho Chi Minh.

Be sure to arrive in time for sunset for a spectacular view to accompany your cocktail. Another must see venue is one of Ho Chi Minh’s most renowned Latino bars: Carmen Bar. To enter the venue, you must first navigate yourself through a fairy-sized door. You then emerge into a cave like room, dimly lit with a Latino meets Vietnamese vibe. Cue live music, numerous renditions of ‘Hotel California’ and a pinch of salsa.

Ho Chi Minh City is a vibrant city of life, culture and unorthodoxy. So instead of taking the well-travelled route straight to Hanoi and claiming to have ‘done’ Vietnam, why not visit its cosmopolitan cousin? After all, you’d be a fool to Miss Saigon.

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A Whole Lot of Mexico in a little Bit of Dublin Mexican food is slowly migrating across the nation and bringing with it discoveries of new eateries and flavours to excite the senses. Niamh O Regan follows her stomach to Mexico K Chido to sample Dublin’s own Mexican food truck

Photographs courtesy of Dublin Under­ ground

FOR A while it seemed that burritos were having a moment. Tolteca, Boojum, Burritos and Blues, they all started appearing everywhere. And for good reason: burritos are delicious. The development of the humble flour tortilla to a cylinder of joy, with meat, beans, rice salsa, guacamole, cheese and sour cream was one that took Dublin by storm.

What we order may not be the typical Mexican burrito, but that does not diminish the taste sensation that comes with every adaptation.

Chancery Street, while certainly not in the wilderness, might be considered to be slightly off the beaten track for the average UCD student. It’s in the city centre between the Luas stop of the Four Courts and Mary’s Abbey.

On it, in the entrance of Fegan’s Foodservice, is a blue and pink vintage Citroen HY van. Out of the van comes Mexican food.

Mexico K Chido is recognisable from it’s brightly graffitied exterior on 18 Chancery Street. The restaurant itself has an interesting layout. Orders are done by counter service up at the Citroen only, which can cause some diners confusion initially when their orders are not taken upon sitting. While the food is available for takeaway, eating on location is part of the experience. Pastel cushioned picnic

tables and large multi-coloured lights match the van and give a welcoming, friendly feel to the space. A number is assigned to your meal, which the friendly staff call out once it is ready. Because of the garage setting, the front of the restaurant opens out onto the street. While this lets the light and fresh air in, it does mean it can be a bit chilly on colder days although the space is heated.

Despite the ode to burritos, the menu is much more extensive than just the wraps and covers a whole range of Mexican cuisine.

There are two menus; one is for Monday to Friday and the other is for weekend brunch.

The pork burrito (€8) is made with pulled pork, beans, white cabbage, brown rice, cheese, and salsa. But the most famous option is the breakfast burrito (€6). These are what K Chido is known for, and there is even a vegan option. Very filling but without impeding movement, it’s a good meal to have anytime of the day despite what the name might suggest. Other items on the menu are pulled pork and vegetarian tacos (€8) as well as a range of quesadillas (€4.50 – €6).

The weekend menu sees what K Chido calls the “Mexican Bruncheria” and sees

a much more diverse menu. The breakfast burrito is smaller and there is only one on offer, but adjustments can be made resulting in near identical options. There are also huevos rancheros (€7.95) and tacos (€5.50 – €7) on offer. One interesting looking dish is the pollo con mole o pipian (€9); the first is chicken in a spicy chocolate sauce, while the latter is chicken breast in a spicy pumpkin seed sauce. There are also sides such as heavily topped nachos (€4) and guacamole con totopos (€3.50).

While the food is delicious, it is true that is not the most accessible for a UCD breakfast on the way in or lunch on the way home, particularly if the trip doesn’t involve going through the north side of town. However if in town wandering about looking for a good lunch or an alternative weekend brunch, K Chido is a good place to turn up to. Service can be slow at times but what is nice about K Chido is the relaxation it provides; the absence of WiFi and the mellow music means that it really is about you enjoying your food, lunch or breakfast with your company, even if it’s just your own.

Mexico K Chido is open Monday to Friday 8am-5pm and Saturday to Sunday 11am-6pm, payment is by cash only Mexico K Chido, 18 Chancery Street, Dublin 7

COOK’S CORNER

Jambalaya is a Creole dish originating in the French quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Traditional jambalaya has smoked sausage, however to create something more suitable for the Irish student, chicken will be used; but if budget permits smoked sausage and shrimp can be added for a more authentic feel. The spiciness of the dish can be quite mild or very spicy depending on your own preference. The recipe below serves between four and six people so it’s ideal if serving a crowd. Alternatively, spice often develops over time and so a next day dinner will be even more flavoursome. Be careful not to overseason as you’ll risk marring the flavours of the rest of the dish.

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Ingredients: 1 white onion 1 stalk celery 1 red, 1 green, bell pepper 2 cloves of garlic 1 jalapeno pepper (optional depending on spiciness required) 500 ml chicken or vegetable stock 1 tin chopped tomatoes 2 chicken breasts 1 tbsp paprika 1 tsp thyme 2 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp salt 2 tsp basil 2 tsp oregano 150g white or brown rice

Method: Dice the onions, peppers and jalapenos, mince garlic, chop celery.

Heat oil in a large pan over a medium heat and sauté chopped vegetables for 5 minutes until softened Add chicken and cook through until no longer pink Add stock, tinned tomatoes, rice, herbs, spices and cayenne pepper and stir to combine Reduce heat to low and simmer for about half an hour or until rice is cooked through, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve in warmed bowls with ice tea for a proper New Orleans feel or with lemonade.

Savoury and spicy, Niamh O Regan provides a recipe for a dish often overlooked in student cooking Photograph courtesy of Ali Ebright

Dine in Dublin Niamh O Regan looks at the return of the very successful Dine in Dublin Food Festival and what’s to be expected from this week of culinary delights EATING out in Dublin city centre can be a challenge for people on a budget, particular as tight a budget as students are on. Sometimes wanting to wine and dine yourself away from home ends up as a fancy burger and chips which, while delicious, can quickly become repetitive.

Dublin’s culinary scene has exploded in recent years with all appetites, cuisines and times catered for, but sometimes the price stops the foodie adventure into the unknown. Fortunately the end is not nigh, and while there are hidden gems around the city, for seven days even some of Dublin’s top quality restaurants may seem affordable for once. Dine in Dublin is back for the eighth year running with the first of their biannual week long festivals from the 22nd to the 28th of February.

Operated by We Are Dublin Town, the festival spans the city. Launched on the 6th of February in the Mansion House on Dawson Street, chefs included Temple Garner of San Lorenzo’s, David Balfe of The Church, Richie Wilson of Fire and Stephen Gibson of Pichet, all restaurants who are participating in the Festival. Clearly Dine in Dublin have been very successful in their campaign to enhance the cultural city experience. Every year the festival has gone from strength to strength, so much so that it now takes place twice a year.

One of the biggest highlights of the festival involves a 20 per cent discount from the á la Carte menu of over 65 Dublin restaurants.

Others have a specific set menu for a reduced price and some even come with complimentary champagne. One place in particular to consider is La Ruelle on Joshua Lane (hiding just off Dawson Street), where a sumptuous four course meal is on offer for €29.50. Restaurants participating

Photograph courtesy of Dine In Dublin ''oNE PLACE TO CONSIDER IS La Ruelle on Joshua Lane (hiding just off Dawson Street), where a sumptuous four course meal is on offer for 29.50.''

''For seven days even some of Dublin's top quality restaurants may seem affordable for oncE.''

With WiFi and mobile data omnipresent, Mina Dawood looks at how the intense need to be connected has changed how and where we eat out

in the festival include Taste at Rustic by Dylan McGrath, Fallon and Byrne, Le Bon Crubeen, Marcel’s and Soder & Ko. There are restaurants one might not dream of going to normally and others which have never been mentioned before, but now is an opportunity to experience both.

Dine in Dublin themselves have a list of six dishes they recommend not missing out on, all of which featured at the launch dinner: spinach and goats cheese filo from Zaragoza, grilled jumbo shrimp from Fire, slow roast pork belly from San Lorenzo’s, Higgins brisket beef from The Church, venison with lentil and sweet potato from 101 Talbot Street and flourless chocolate cake from Pichet. The festival will also feature a “Dine Pavilion”, where those

simply wandering around the city centre may get to sample some of the city’s most sought-after food by virtue of live cooking demonstrations. Last year saw top chefs from Saba and the White Friar Grill cooking outside Clery’s on O’Connell Street, before book signings across the road in Eason.

Despite a decline in the restaurant trade during the downturn, more and more quality restaurants are appearing all over Dublin, and when there’s a whole week dedicated to experiencing them, it would be a shame to miss out.

For full details of dates, times and participating restaurants, see ww.dineindublin.ie or visit their Facebook page; Dine in Dublin.

Why WI-FI is a daily necessity for many in the year 2016, as technology and its devices have become one of our central organs that help us to function. We use the Wi-Fi provided to us on public transport systems while we make our commute to work or college. Today, in the workplace or lecture theatre, Wi-Fi is a pivotal tool that keeps a business running and students connected to their learning materials.

However, surely there are still places where we shouldn’t need Wi-Fi to fully function?

While drinking a cup of coffee and indulging in a brownie or piece of carrot cake in one of the country’s thousand coffee shops, there is obviously no need for Wi-Fi. Similarly, while having dinner out in a restaurant, there shouldn’t be a pressing need to be connected to a world of interconnected networks. But Wi-Fi is like a religion and there is no escaping its pathway to the online universe.

Cafés, restaurants and bars are increasingly under pressure to provide a free Wi-Fi service.

A 2015 survey indicated that in Dublin, 90 per cent of café and bar customers expect free Wi-Fi, with 67 per cent of people basing their decision of café or bar on free Wi-Fi being available or not. It is becoming a rare sight to find a bar, café or restaurant that doesn’t offer a wireless internet connection, probably because it’s an easy method to attract new customers.

A survey conducted by O2 in 2013 showed that 53 per cent of people in the UK would happily sit alone in a café provided there was a wireless service. 6 out of 10 people said they felt more comfortable spending time in public on their own since free Wi-Fi became widely available. Wi-Fi networks often require you to enter some details to connect. This is a very clever way to collect customer data and is a highly valuable market data gathering method.

It allows the business to connect with their customers on a personal basis. The same

2015 survey showed that 61 per cent were willing to give out basic personal information just to connect to the Internet.

As people are increasingly craving the need to stay ‘connected’, eateries have latched onto this hunger and are all too happy to provide free Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi hotspots keep customers in-store for longer, and increase footfall and customer satisfaction.

By failing to offer free Wi-Fi businesses are at risk of losing out on a cheap and effortless opportunity to attract and maintain customers.

Long gone are the days where you hid behind a book or stared into the distance if you found yourself drinking or eating alone.

There is no longer an awkward wait if your dinner date is running late, as you can now occupy yourself online or ‘Whatsapp’ them the whole time until their arrival.

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re

Fo ve r

Reunions, reboots, reissues: entertainment has fallen prey to the unending demands of nostalgia. The video games industry is often rooted in this longing for the past; one only has to look at the list of re-makes and re-releases bombarding the shelves. These are often used as a portal to our childhood or simply a time preferable to the present.

This is vital to the gaming experience, and the time is ripe for a well-needed trip down memory lane.

For those of us who grew up in the 90s, there are countless opportunities for video gaming nostalgia. These are most often seen recently in remakes and reboots, which allow us to idealise the past and to distort it. In our quest for restoration we fall prey to our own self-deception. This restoration often takes the form of increased spending, and marketers rely on nostalgia to sell us rehashes every year. This year alone, we have already been subjected to Resident Evil Zero HD and the possibility of an unnecessary remastered Assassin’s Creed trilogy, all because we just want to return to childhood.

While nostalgia can bring us back to the games that shaped our childhood, it also poses the frightening possibility that the games just won’t be as good as we remember.

Blinded by a rose-tinted vision in our quest to salvage the magic of Sunday afternoons in front of the N64, we pay out to buy the same old version on a new system via Nintendo’s Virtual Console service. Replaying such classics can often end with that strange sense of loss, as if you permanently tainted a memory. So, why do we intentionally set out to recreate something already experienced?

Unfortunately, the answer lies in sadness.

Students in particular can easily fall prey to a

With new game releases becoming increasingly interspersed with remakes and rereleases, Eva Griffin muses on the psychology and marketing of gaming nostalgia

shackles imposed on us by the everyday. We’re free to revel in whatever we please and not even the sky’s the limit... but sometimes the developer has to say “nope, not programming that.” And that’s where invisible walls come in; barriers of nothing to mark you’ve struck the edge of the world and can go no further. Invisible walls have a completely justified existence however, as there is only so much that can be put into a single game, and if you could truly go anywhere at all, you’d probably end up lost and bored.

Art imitates life, they say. Well, video games don’t so much imitate life as they do their best impression of it. Fiction always implores that we suspend our disbelief for a spell for the sake of our own enjoyment. So today, OTwo invite you to reminisce over those instances where the laws of gaming don’t quite stack up with their real world counterparts.

1) Eating Food Off The Ground Will Improve Your Health Uh oh! This fight isn’t going well at all.

The health bar is blinking! Time is running out! But wait, what’s this? Across the goon-straddled horizon, an entire chicken is waiting to be plucked from the streets and devoured. It doesn’t even have to be “eaten”, so to speak; one just needs to sort of walk into it and everything’s good as new. Final Fight was notorious for its devil may care approach to culinary preparation, but Castlevania on the NES took it a twisted step further by having players dig out chicken wings from the walls. Enjoy the temporary health boost while you can, because it’s only a matter of time before you’re at the mercy of a serious case of food poisoning.

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bad mood induced by stress. Revelling in a fond gaming memory can be a short-lived antidote to sadness. In the run up to exams or in the midst of crawling through a heavy workload, it’s not uncommon to download a ROM of your favourite Pokémon version and delve into happy childhood memories of Pikachu and friends. Immersing yourself in a rehash of an old experience encourages you to share your nostalgia trip with those close to you and strike up a conversation of days gone by. Thanks to video games, this conversation starter comes neatly packaged and readily consumable.

However in remembering the games of yesteryear, perhaps it’s safer to go for remakes rather than actually playing the originals, the graphics of which can ruin our joyful childhood memories. Recently, imgur user IamMurloc uploaded screenshots to the site of his hefty project – remaking PlayStation 1 classic Spyro using Unreal Engine 4. This counteracts issues of outdated graphics when the urge to replay an old favourite comes calling. With the originals, your nostalgia trip can take a turn for the worse when you’re faced with slugging through the pixelated mess of childhood only to be left with feelings of dissatisfaction.

Time and again nostalgia proves an easy money grab despite any tweets or think-pieces that crop up in opposition to the obvious marketing ploys. Between the ever-decreasing quality of franchises like Assassin’s Creed and the lack of original content, maybe gamers are right to look to their own perceived golden age of gaming for a satisfying experience. With industry talk long focused on the upcoming remake of Final Fantasy VII and the next instalment of Kingdom Hearts, it seems nostalgia still dictates what we’ll see on the shelves for now, and many gamers seem happy enough to embrace it.

Games are growing to be incredibly realistic. Adam Donnelly takes a step back to look at the silly tropes found in so many virtual worlds 2) Falling A Hundred Feet Is No Problem Since the dawn of time, man has sought to come up with increasingly creative ways to mangle our fleshy skeleton carrier bags to pieces. Alas, there’s no better bone breaker than gravity itself. As a rule of thumb, the size of your hospital bill is usually directly proportionate to how far and fast you plummet from your appointed summit – unless you’re a videogame character, in which

case you’re probably fine. At least in a series like Assassin’s Creed, the swelling economic climate in agriculture ensures there’s always an earnest bundle of hay to cushion your crash landing, but what’s Super Mario’s excuse?

3) Thin Air Is Denser Than You Think Videogames are so much more than the mere manipulation of computer generated images. They allow us to transcend the

4) Breaking And Entering Is Socially Acceptable When it comes to home security, Americans have the right to bear arms, Russians have the right to arm bears and nudists have the right to bare arms. Why can’t we be more like RPGs where everybody is alarmingly complacent about strangers walking into their homes? The beauty of open world games is that little is off limits to you, including domestic dwellings. There might even be an equipable item or useless audio log in it for you. However, games like Skyrim and Fallout feature NPCs are accommodating of your presence at first but will turn aggressive if you start stealing or breaking their bits. But then there are instances like the Legend of Zelda in which characters are either abnormally tolerant, or weak and submissive towards the reckless shenanigans of a mute Peter Pan cosplayer.

IMSCARED Words by Aaron Poole

LET’S begin with a caveat: IMSCARED is, without doubt, one of the scariest gaming experiences you could possibly endure. In a world where horror games rely on the build up of tension and cheap jump scares to justify the genre, IMSCARED has created an augmented reality experience that completely flips the genre on its head. Based on a much smaller and more amateur version of the game released in 2012 by the same developer, IMSCARED is the product of indie studio Ivan Zanotti’s MyMadness Works. The initial iteration of the game gained notoriety online for causing hilarious reactions with the scares it provoked.

IMSCARED’s core gameplay idea is one that is so clever and bold that it already deserves a game of the year award in its category. The game itself will attempt to alter the way your computer operates, causing it to refuse commands you might try to input or attack and, ultimately, scare the pants off of you. Essentially, the game acts in the same manner that a virus would.

From the get go, it comes across as a strange, pixelated environment

Release: 3rd February Developer: Ivan Zanotti’s MyMadness Works

à la Minecraft’s graphic style. But the game soon begins to talk to the player via in-game messages before displaying a “Check Desktop” message, which points you to a folder the program has materialised on your desktop. The events that follow are both hair-raising and seemingly impossible. The events that transpire throughout the game require the player to think fast and outside the box as the game becomes more and more creative in the way it uses the player’s computer and its content against them. It’s a genius mechanic, and fits into the genre perfectly.

The controls are fairly basic; the core gameplay obviously takes place inside the game’s window as you control your character from a first person perspective. Much of the gameplay consists of a string of puzzles that tie into the game’s narrative, requiring one to solve situational puzzles presented through the game’s alternate reality integration. A lot of these puzzles require some degree of backtracking, but the pixelated graphics style is haunting and unsettling, making

the surrounding environments harder to discern and keeping the player on edge.

These graphics also make it extremely hard to find small objects such as keys when you’re attempting to solve a puzzle, but this seems to be fully intentional, leading to heightened stress and anxiety levels that the horror genre has been lacking since the days of Silent Hill. And that’s without the constant reminder that the computer is under siege by an ethereal entity.

For horror fans, IMSCARED is one of the freshest gaming experiences to come about since the release of The Stanley Parable. The game’s story development and conclusion lead to one of the best narratives present in a horror game in years. If anything, IMSCARED is a testament to the notion that indie games allow for far more creative writing and story development than the likes of AAA releases, requiring only a simple concept and low-key graphic style that ultimately aided in the creation of the game’s atmosphere.

At a low cost of €3.99 on Steam, the game is a steal. This is one that shouldn’t be missed.

Fortified

Games are growing to be incredibly realRelease Date: 3rd February Developer: Clapfoot Publisher: Clapfoot

ANYBODY who is an avid Steam user will agree that you will never find yourself in a situation where there is a lack of content to indulge yourself in. The platform is littered with games of all genres to ensure that each trip is a fresh one. The challenge these games carry is the need to consistently revitalise themselves in order to keep this freshness an enjoyable expirence. Fortified, from developer Clapfoot, is a game that attempts to tackle this issue with great ambition. Putting a unique spin on the tower defence genre, the multiplayercentric title takes a basic idea and builds on it to create a largely unique experience.

The game features little in terms of storytelling; robotic martians invade Earth and begin to destroy everything in their path. Leaving it is up to four heroes (translating to four in-game classes to choose from) to stop them. Apart from a small video package at the start of

each match following the selected character’s role in the story, Clapfoot developed this to be entirely multiplayer focused, following the same format as a traditional wave-based shooter. In terms of gameplay, we are presented with a modified version of a tower defence game that is intentionally created so you can jump into it without any prior experience. The game is built like a Team Fortress-styled third person shooter, complete with its colourful cartoony graphics and easy to pick up controls.

In terms of the game’s structure, we are presented with a pseudo wave-based shooter, with the core gameplay following that genre’s style; you can choose to band together with up to four other players, or you can choose to play solo in the single player ‘campaign’ (a gameplay mode featuring all 12 maps shuffled with minor

storytelling elements). The tower defence elements come into play parallel to this wave-based style. As well as withstanding the onslaught of repeated attacks, you can also use any XP you have earned to fortify your defences against the invaders.

The classes themselves - the Captain, the Spaceman, the Rocket Scientist and the Agent – each have their own abilities that they can display for a brief time upon filling a meter that add a bit of spice to the gameplay.

The Rocket Scientist can fly around the map with endless clips of ammo and invulnerability, while the Spaceman has a freeze ray to keep enemies at bay for a short while. These are designed to work best when used together in a multiplayer scenario, as abilities such as the freeze ray require the quick rotation of weapons to gain

any sort of use while playing solo.

Ultimately, Fortified is a fun game to play, but requires the addition of other players to fully extrapolate the experience that the developers wanted us to engage with. As a tower defence game, it is easy to appreciate the somewhat unique take that Clapfoot have brought to the table as the third person perspective adds to the experience. And while the martians are sometimes walking targets, they do eventually become somewhat overwhelming and difficult to control, leading to a satisfying sigh of relief, albeit brief, before the next round starts.

In a single player setting, it’s hard to play for more than an hour and as such it is difficult to recommend such a game to a single player audience. If you’re going to buy Fortified, do so with some likeminded friends.

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#OscarsSoWhite and the Problem of Diversity in Hollywood Andrew Carroll looks at the history of Hollywood’s diversity problem and how it has led to contemporary controversies FOR AS long as it has existed Hollywood has had a history of racist exclusion, from the problem of Black Face in the early 20th century to the virtual lack of any leading roles throughout the 60s and 70s. It is a complex issue that has caused a massive amount of controversy and inspired thousands of tweets, articles and blog posts around the world. Most recently, the Oscars made global headlines for all of their acting awards nominees being white.

While the most recent controversy has made headlines, this is in no way a new issue.

Early cinema in America was segregated much like everything else. There were cinemas marked “White” and others marked “Coloured”. Black actors, directors and screenwriters could only find work for black production companies. These companies produced some true classics such as Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates, while a mostly white Hollywood was obsessed with black people as comedy figures and clumsy clowns to laugh at.

Black characters were often portrayed by white actors in black face make up. The most famous examples are D.W. Griffith’s bigoted epic Birth of a Nation and Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer. Hollywood eventually moved away from this technique reminiscent of racist minstrel shows but maintained a set of characters designed to typecast black people.

As Hollywood cinema matured and improved, so too did the roles for African-American actors, but not as quickly as they did for white actors. Hattie McDaniel became the first black actor in history to win an Oscar in 1939 for her supporting role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind. The Mammy character was not just a single character but an archetype that many black women would go on to play. Other typical characters included the Uncle Tom, the Tragic Mulatto, the Coon, and the Spiritual Negro characters.

This typecasting was eventually broken by Sidney Poitier who was nominated for Best Actor in 1958 for The Defiant Ones and eventually won the award in 1963 for Lilies of the Field. Racial typecasting soon returned to Hollywood throughout the late 60s and 70s meaning many black actors and actresses were relegated to Blaxploitation films such as Shaft which were written, directed and produced independent of Hollywood by black people. It was only when African-American stars such as Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Will Smith broke out that Hollywood and the Academy began to take notice.

Denzel Washington is the most nominated black actor in the Academy’s 89 year history with six nominations and two wins to his name. Proportionately however white men and women have garnered more nominations throughout history than there have been nominations for black actors or actresses. Meryl Streep has fifteen Best Actress nominations – more than the amount of black women nominated for the award in the history of the Oscars.

Jack Nicholson has the most nominations of any male actor with 12, double that of Washington’s, and three wins to his name. The number of nominations for black actors, directors and technical personnel has increased in the 21st century but not nearly enough for it to be fittingly representative of the black population in Hollywood. Many attempts by African-American activists have been made over the years to make Hollywood and the Oscars more inclusive of black people.

People Magazine published a piece in 1996 titled ‘Hollywood Blackout’ accusing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of a lack of representation. A campaign by activist Jesse Jackson followed that endeavoured to recognise Hollywood’s lack

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''This is ultimately more than just a protest. It is a call for real change by real people, and with a large percentage of social media users behind them it seems like change is possible.'' of representation. Dismissed by the Oscars committee, the public and popular shows like Saturday Night Live, the moment faded into history and little mention was made of it again. Almost 20 years later the issue was raised again on social media platforms, especially Twitter where the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite gained traction in 2015 and now in 2016 leading to a call for a boycott of the Oscars ceremony.

The #OscarsSoWhite tag largely escaped the notice of the Academy and many media outlets in 2015, being relegated as it was to Twitter, Facebook and various micro-blogging sites. In 2016 people started to take notice. Prominent figures within the black community in Hollywood such as director Spike Lee, actress Jada Pinkett Smith and her husband Will Smith called for a boycott of the 2016 Oscars ceremony. This is ultimately more than just a protest. It is a call for real change by real people, and with a large percentage of social media users behind them it seems like change is possible.

Out of the 25 people nominated for three of the Academy’s biggest awards - Actor, Actress and Director - only one is non-white.

Alejandro G. Inarritu is the Oscar winning Mexican director of Birdman and is nominated in 2016 for The Revenant. The other 24, while not all American, are all white.

The path to diversity is a long and winding one full of road blocks. The banding together of the black Hollywood community is perhaps the best way to demand representation across the board.

Representation should not just be focused on having more black nominees but nominees of all races and ethnicities. For instance only one Asian woman, Merle Oberon in the 1935 film The Dark Angel, has been nominated for Best Actress and two Asian men for Best Actor; Yul Brynner and Ben Kingsley, both of whom won for The King and I in 1956 and Gandhi in 1982 respectively. Even fewer Hispanic men and women have been nominated let alone won any major awards.

Ultimately the wider Hollywood community should band together in a push for better representation. Even with Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs promising a review of the Academy’s current system, it is the wider community’s responsibility to ensure fair and proportional representation of all people at the Oscars and throughout Hollywood.

David Monaghan speaks to content creators at the 18th Firehouse Film Contest in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin SHORT films are often overlooked. Despite being arguably the most accessible and immediate form of film-making, audiences tend to focus more on the short’s longer, star-studded cousin: the feature film. With the Oscars airing at the end of the month, ardent viewers will undoubtedly be making the journey to their local picture houses to catch most of what’s been nominated at the prestigious ceremony, without considering too much the potential of short films. The Firehouse Film Contest is an event that highlights this potential, with much of its content exhibiting creativity, humour and talent.

Developed by former OTwo stalwarts Conor O’Toole and Conor Barry, alongside their friend Simon Mulholland, Firehouse is an “almost monthly” contest in which creators are encouraged to make short films that are five minutes or less. This appears to be the event’s one restriction, as each and every film produced for it varies in tone and production quality. “We started the Firehouse Film Contest because we had loads of friends who were great film-makers but had no deadlines to encourage them to make things,” says O’Toole. “And so we set an arbitrary one once a month, with the hopes that they would make more films.” Although the contest is open to all genres, Conor Barry notes that the submissions they receive are geared more towards comedy, due to the short film format. “But we’re always very happy when we have dramas, and experimental films,” O’Toole chimes in.

Although normally located in A4 Sounds off Dorset Street, the 18th and most recent contest took place in the Irish Museum of Modern Art. One of the contest’s most frequently featured directors is Séamus Hanly, whose frantically-edited, ‘Tim and Eric-style’ videos have made him a recognisable creator at the monthly event. For its 18th iteration he produced an intentionally clumsy video which lampoons the style of bad video bloggers. Titled ‘2016 (So Far),’ it is indicative of his self-aware, parodic style, featuring awkward cutaways, poor sound quality, and a stilted delivery. “What they said from the beginning was any variety of production quality [is welcome],” he says.

“You get some very nicely shot, very nicely sound recorded stuff. Then you get videos by me.” Though he creates content for a film festival, he is hesitant to say he makes short films. “I wouldn’t call them short films, and that’s a complete technicality. I see them as videos; YouTube videos or sketches… When you don’t see it as a short film but as a video, there’s a lot of freedom, and you can mess around and stuff. When it’s called a short film it’s almost as limited as a feature.”

As has been said, there is a great freedom in creating content for Firehouse. Counter to Hanly’s humorous videos are items like ‘White Fluffs,’ a short film that intermittently follows tiny bits of fluff as they blow in the wind, or ‘Creep,’ a music video. “You do get the odd artsy short, and the audience goes quiet, doesn’t laugh, and takes it for what it is.” He also credits part of contest’s draw to its welcoming environment. “It’s genuinely friendly. A lot of people don’t want to say this, but for Dublin that’s kind of special. There are a lot of good, niche things in Dublin, but it really means something when it’s not commercial. There’s no surface level ‘oh, we welcome all kinds of films,’ then you realise they don’t. Here, they really do.”

Each month, special prizes are handed out to certain videos at the contest. The categories are Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Production/Technical Prize, and a Judges’ Prize, which in the past has been decided by the likes of Tara Flynn, director Mark Doherty, and Republic of Telly host Kevin McGahern. The winner of the most recent Best Picture award was ‘Bigger Cats’ by Donnacha and Diarmuid O’Brien of Dangerfarm, the latter of whom has worked on RTÉ productions in the past and has produced Tara Flynn’s videos. A comedy writer like many others at Firehouse, he edits videos as a day job. He is critical of ‘mainstream’ Irish film-making for stifling creativity. “To make any sort of feature, it’s still someone else’s money. So you always

have to answer to all these people and you have to deliver on what they’re investing in, with little freedom to do what you want.”

He continues: “For an actual ‘Irish new wave’ to come about, there needs to be major changes, especially in the dismissive attitude towards screen-writing… New writers need to be properly developed and paid for their apprenticeship by the industry.”

He praises the monthly contest as an outlet for up-and-coming creatives who may be struggling against such a system: “‘Official’ Irish film-making takes itself very seriously. Festivals, academia and funding are focused on arty [and] important endeavours. The Firehouse is a godsend for frustrated comedy-makers like myself. RTÉ’s remit is kind of broad stuff, so here you can pursue quirky odd things.” O’Brien gives particular praise to the people behind Dreamgun whose short feature, titled ‘The Crush List,’ won the Technical Prize at the 18th Firehouse. “They normally make really high production stuff. They didn’t have time this month so they took out a phone and they did it through Snapchat. That shows how good they are because it was a stylistic choice and it was really funny… I think they make the finest videos in the country.”

Running a little over two years, the Firehouse Film Contest has, in that time, drawn a large following. Its 18th contest was filled to audience capacity and drew a record total of thirty short films. Despite not proving as popular with wider audiences as the feature film, events like Firehouse, with its abundance of talent, show that there is life in the short film yet.

The next Firehouse Film Contest is on March 6th in A4 Sounds.

Photo: Historical townships by tom rowley

Photo: back in town by dreamgun

SHORTAND SWEET

''I think a lot of it is about creating relationships with people and showing that you're trustworthy and can do the job that they're looking for and they'll remember that.''

Photo: world of the animal kingdom by conor o’toole

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THE WEST was won on a tide of Native American blood. Nowhere is this clearer than in Bone Tomahawk. Directed by S. Craig Zahler and starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Fox, Bone Tomahawk tells the tale of a frontier kidnapping and the rescue mission that follows.

Zahler follows in the style of the great Western auteur Sergio Leone director of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon A Time in the West. Picturesque cinematography, robust sound design and realistic set design are juxtaposed with short bursts of brutal violence and an atmospheric feeling of isolation. The dialogue is done in the classic Western style of passive-aggressive formality where every verbal barb stings as much as an Indian’s arrow. Despite

Director: S. Craig Zahler.

Starring: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins.

Release date: February 19th

A Bigger Splash WHAT three things best sum up Luca Guadagnino’s new erotic thriller A Bigger Splash? It would probably have to be beautiful landscapes, disappointment, and a lot of full frontal nudity.

Set against the beautiful backdrop of the rocky Italian island of Pantelleria, the film follows Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton), an English rock star who is unable to speak as she recovers from an operation on her vocal chords, and her partner Paul (Richard Schoenaerts). Tensions arise when Marianne’s former partner and producer, the energetic and often inappropriate Harry (Ralph Fiennes), arrives on short notice with his bored, 22 year-old daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson), with whom he has only recently been acquainted.

Director: Michel Franco Starring: Tim Roth, Bitsie Tulloch, David Dastmalchian, Sarah Sutherland Release Date: February 19th at the IFI

Clearly not over Marianne, Ralph’s main agenda is to cause problems in her relationship with Paul, taking every possible opportunity to be alone with her, leaving Paul with Penelope. The results are doubt, betrayal, and strong sexual tension.

This sexual tension is what carries the film for the most part, getting stronger and stronger as the story progresses.

While this is entertaining, it often seems like the only thing that is going on, and by the end grows a little bit tiresome.

This quite long and often intense build up would suggest that something huge is going to happen, however the climax is comparatively small, and culminates in a conclusion that is rather disappointing. The film is littered with flashbacks to a

being a first time director, Zahler maintains control of the film and ensures every character is given their moment in the sun.

The characters all fall into the classic tropes of the Western. Kurt Russell plays Sheriff Franklin Hunt, the tough-as-nails lawman. Patrick Wilson plays Arthur O’Dwyer, the hard-done-by hero.

Richard Jenkins plays Chicory, the rambling elderly deputy, while Matthew Fox plays John Brooder, the ‘civilised’ Indian hunter. This cast of archetypes could easily fall into self-seriousness or fail to bring anything new to roles that have been played time and again. Instead every actor puts their all into each role with Jenkins’ bringing some much needed comic relief and Russell doing what he’s always done: kick ass.

CHRONIC, Michel Franco’s latest film since After Lucia (2012) is a film of patience, which revolves around the life and interactions of a male nurse, David (Tim Roth). His job is to care for and look after terminally ill patients, which is a role that David dutifully fulfils with a great compassion and respect. In certain cases, his attachment to his patients is considered to be disturbingly close by relatives of the patients and causes problems for David throughout.

It is a film revolving around human interactions which viewers are not normally accustomed to seeing.

It is through these interactions, though often awkward and uncomfortable for viewers, that Roth’s talent is most noticeable. He becomes endeared to his patients and clearly struggles to detach himself from them emotionally when not working.

Franco has, interestingly, done away with the use of non-diegetic sound altogether in terms of

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effect on the viewers more than any fake waves ever could, but there is also great tension in the unforgettable, vertiginous portrayal of the split-oil tanker’s last moments and the attempts by crew to try to keep it from sinking. It’s a fast paced affair that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Everything that takes place on the ocean waves is visually breathtaking, with exceptional camera work and visuals helping to create this effect. This is especially apparent when the film depicts the process of sending down directions through the chambers of the ship to the captain. The decision to alternate between the two boats is also to be commended, as it helps to build upon the sense of tension during the dramatic rescue mission.

In a Nutshell: The Finest Hours is a highly tense, beautifully scored, and nicely satisfying movie - bar the clichéd ending.

clay smeared Indians compounded by the isolation of the sweeping plains and plunging valleys is far worse to endure than any brutal dismemberment.

In a nutshell: A beautiful and horrifying Western that may not be for everyone. If grotesque violence and bristling tension is what you desire then Bone Tomahawk will not disappoint.

Andrew Carroll

Director: Luca Guadagnino Starring: Tilda Swinton, Richard Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson.

Release Date: February 12th

WORDS: FERGUS DUNNE

music, which works well in capturing the authenticity and intensity of particular scenes, although the notion of sound as an emotional trigger is missed in parts. Another well adapted technique is the use of extended shots, allowing the camera to run for long periods without cuts, which highlights Roth’s ease behind the lens as well as creating a slightly unnerving effect.

Despite these endearing relationships, the film remains quite bleak. The outcome of David’s relationships with these patients is already decided.

The closing shot of the film is another aspect which may frustrate viewers and leave them dissatisfied.

Relationships outside of the workplace are not thoroughly investigated and characters such as his daughter Nadia (Sarah Sutherland) are left rather underdeveloped. The sense that David is running away from some inner personal issues is evident

The music by Carter Burwell is also very effective, helping to shape the memorable tone of the film. However every time the movie reaches a climax, we are brought back to shore where we follow Bernie’s girlfriend, who is desperate to help. These scenes add little to the story, and disturb the flow of the narrative.

SAFA ZAIANI

Bone Tomahawk demands a strong stomach from its viewers. The violence, while coming in short bursts, is always blood-soaked and extreme. Westerns have always been known for their brutal portrayals of frontier life. This film goes above and beyond in terms of brutality; limbs are hacked, skulls are split and stomachs are opened. To die of a gunshot in Bone Tomahawk should be considered a blessing. This violence gives the film’s third act an atmosphere of undeniable horror. The threat of the cannibalistic,

Bowie-esque version of Marianne performing at a stadium, which, despite being somewhat relevant to the plot, seem like they were just thrown in at random intervals without much consideration.

In spite of these setbacks, the film does benefit from two great performances. Johnson and Schoenaerts are good, but are totally outshone by Swinton and Fiennes. Swinton, with just a few lines, really makes the character her own. Only able to speak in a coarse whisper, the few lines she delivers are given additional gravitas. Fiennes is both brilliantly irritating and funny, providing comic relief for the dramatic storyline, being perhaps the better of the two. These performances, along with the stunning panoramas of the incredibly deep blue sea and arid, rocky cliffs, and the clever use of light to reflect mood save the film from completely crashing and burning.

In A Nutshell: Strong performances and beautiful imagery can’t fully make up for a weak storyline.

The Finest Hours BERNIE Webber once said, “in the coast guard they say you go out; they don’t say you gotta come back.” The Finest Hours is an exhilarating story that promotes old-fashioned values in its portrayal of good men going above and beyond for the call of duty. Directed by Craig Gillespie, and with a cast led by Chris Pine, Casey Affleck and Eric Bana, the film tells the story of the real-life rescue of the SS Pendleton, an oil tanker that gets ripped in half by the merciless seas, off the coast of Cape Cod. It starts out as a romance before steering into a rescue-at-sea adventure during one the biggest storms to ever hit the east coast of the United States in 1952.

Not only do the actors have a visceral

Bone Tomahawk

Chronic through his hobby of jogging but even this does not help him, as the close of the film suggests, and the issue is never truly resolved.

IN A NUTSHELL: Chronic succeeds through Roth’s interactions with various patients, but without these the film lacks character development and engagement. The lack of a musical soundtrack and static camerawork, although serving an important role, will more than likely mean the film will struggle to maintain the interest of many viewers.

James Holohan

Director: Craig Gillespie Starring: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Eric Bana Release Date: February 19th

Fact or Fiction: Making a Murderer

Top Ten ‘Best Picture’ Films

Kevin Murphy looks at the intersection between reality and drama with reference to Netflix’s Making a Murderer MAKING a Murderer, for those of you living under a rock, is a thought-provoking documentary series that aired on Netflix before Christmas. The show has been incredibly popular and led to many discussions about justice, innocence and the blurred lines between reality and drama.

The show, through skilful direction and editing, follows the trials of Wisconsin resident Steve Avery and his family following the murder of Teresa Halbach. It would be more accurate to say this show is about the American justice system and the different interpretations of ‘justice’ than the actual murder.

The protagonist (or antagonist, depending on your perspective) is from the small town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He is wrongly convicted of rape as a young man, and is sentenced to jail for 18 years as a result. His family is disliked in the community, and it is suggested that this plays a part in his arrest and trial. After advancements in DNA research occur, he is released and is about to receive compensation from governing bodies. That is, until Teresa goes missing. She was last seen at Steve’s trailer, which as you can guess does not bode well for our ‘hero’.

All ten episodes are comprised entirely of real life footage, which is presented to us in engrossing fragments. The style used is reminiscent of the ‘new journalism’ movement made popular by authors such as Hunter S. Thompson in the 60s. Creative licence is used by the creators and despite the fact that it’s a real life case, a literary spin is unfolding; each

episode ends on a cliffhanger. The makers of the show cleverly use the glut of information at their disposal: footage of Avery’s family going about their lives, an interview with his sister, a phone call between Manitowoc police police officers, interrogation video footage, news reports, court room testimonies, attorney text messages and everything in between is presented in a terrific, twisted mesh of addictive information. Yet there is method to the madness: despite being real life, it’s almost as if we are watching a crime drama unfold – albeit a far-fetched one.

The evidence against Avery is too much: the victim’s body is found in his junk yard, his blood is found in her jeep, her keys are in his bedroom. Weeks into the case his sixteen year old nephew confesses to authorities that Avery did it and he helped him. We the audience know this, but through the creative editing, we are left with a nagging belief that he is innocent.

Flashes are shown of questionable police behaviour and as you go deeper into the series it becomes apparent that unethical activities are carried out by lawyers, law enforcement, and lab technicians. While watching you will begin to question the justice system and how a person’s fate is decided once they are accused.

That dreaded word ‘accused’ as one of Steve’s lawyers, Dean Strang, points out is enough. You are guilty and must prove your innocence.

The show has similarities to other documentaries such as the The Imposter. Both are set up with same sense of foreshadowing.

This film centres on the disappearance of a

young man and his reappearance some time later. He was welcomed back by his family despite the fact the returning man was a different nationality, had different hair, eye colour and was older. It is a story almost too strange to be true, but it is.

In Making a Murderer you cheer for Avery’s lawyers. They are the knights in shining armour, while the State are the bad guys. Everyone interviewed looks suspicious, and you become paranoid too. Can the people trusted to protect us really have our best interests at heart? Is the justice system that unfair and unforgiving? Do first opinions stick, can hard evidence change a stubborn person? You will get more questions than answers from this series.

The State who fought to prosecute Avery have since come out after the airing of the show to complain that the series contains bias against them and withholds some blatant evidence. This is interesting because it sheds another light on such documentaries: what if there were other motives at play, like making riveting TV? Would they let the truth get in the way of making a good narrative? A skilled director can subtly shape our opinions to do so. Watch these shows with a more objective eye and things become even more difficult. What we are prone to forget is that this is real life: Teresa Halbach was really killed and Steve Avery was really accused.

Through dexterous direction we almost forget this and get caught up in the drama of it all.

''What if there were other motives at play, like making riveting TV? Would they let the truth get in the way of making a good narrative? A skilled director can subtly shape our opinions to do so.''

10 9 8 7

12 Years a Slave (2013) Steve McQueen’s unflinching and brutal retelling of the real life capture and enslavement of Solomon Northup in 1850s America features stellar performances from a cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael

Fassbender.

Schindler’s List (1993)

Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a German factory owner who becomes an unlikely ally of his Jewish workforce after witnessing their barbaric persecution at the hands of the Nazis. He must juggle steadfast support of the Reich while providing refuge for its victims.

The Godfather (1970) Marginally stronger than the equally sprawling and lengthy Godfather Part II (1974), Part I chronicles the struggles of an eminent mob family, the decline of its aging boss (Marlon Brando), and the ascension of his reluctant son.

American Beauty (1999) Sam Mendes’ directorial debut is

a determinedly different kind of Hollywood film. It stars Kevin Spacey in a career-best performance as Lester Burnham, a father living with his family in the soulless suburbs of middle class America.

He undergoes something of a midlife crisis when he develops an infatuation with his teenage daughter’s friend.

Unpredictable and utterly compelling.

6 5 4 3 2 1

On The Waterfront (1954)

Dockworker Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), whose promising boxing career was effectively ended at a mob boss’ insistence, decides to take on the mob’s control of the docklands, but is conflicted due to his own familial ties within the organisation.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Jodie Foster’s FBI agent Clarice Starling must consult Dr. Hannibal Lector, an imprisoned cannibalistic serial killer, in a bid to get inside his mind. This is in order to put an end to the murder spree of the mysterious Buffalo Bill. However, it is Hannibal who enters the FBI agent’s mind, endangering the entire operation.

The Apartment (1960)

Propelled by Billy Wilder’s sparkling script and direction, The Apartment follows a struggling insurance employee (Jack Lemmon) who reluctantly allows his apartment to be used for clandestine trysts by his superiors, in the hopes that their promises of promotions will materialise. One such affair, involving his licentious boss and a vulnerable employee, proves particularly troublesome.

Ben Hur (1959) Charlton Heston’s Jewish prince is betrayed and sold into slavery by his friend, before returning to exact revenge. A colossal production featuring ground-breaking set pieces, it is overblown, overlong – like all great epics – but worth seeing for the legendary chariot race alone.

All About Eve (1950) The rise of an aspiring actress comes at

the expense of her former idol and mentor, who had charitably taken her under her wing only to realise an increasingly insidious ambition latent within her seemingly innocent protégé. A whip smart and darkly humorous dissection of showbiz.

Casablanca (1942)

A somewhat inevitable inclusion, though nonetheless deserved. This is the WWII love story of Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and apathetic American bar owner Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who has lost none of his charm in the years since its release. Perhaps a little dated, but employs such a winning formula that it is difficult to resist being swept up in it.

Words: Paul Ingoldsby

13

When the plague first took hold, my father was on the cusp of manhood. He left my mother some years later, like many men did.

Armed with any weapons that could be created, bought, or stolen; they embarked on their quest to seek a cure for the city. To this day I have never met my father. And on this day I, and my classmates, begin our journeys as Seekers.

Many now live off the mainland of The Town, on small islands, scraping together a living like our ancestors. Some still remain, in bastions of hope, standing strong against the darkness. I look around me, at the darkness that surrounds us. And the lamps that fight off the inky blackness that threatens to engulf the ship. The waters are so calm and the stars so bright that it seems we travel between the star-lights themselves.

We have been told by several of our new tutors that to keep a journal will be useful. A tool to use when the training pushes us.

They refuse to speak any more on what this entails, but the rumours are shaking some of the younger ones. Their resolve is still fragile. I have just seen my thirteenth year, perhaps my will is stronger?

None but the Seekers know what awaits us at our new home.

My mother wept as they took me, clutching my sister, who is a year shy for the Seekers. She clung to my mother’s skirts as I looked upon their faces for the last time. Some way through the journey across the Narrows, one Seeker remarked to his friends that my father had been among the weakest of men. A fool to attempt the task that had been presented to him. I had rushed him in an attempt to knock him down and, as I write this, the bruise on my face grows worse. I must push him from my mind. Such petty remarks do nothing but distract from my true purpose. The journey will take another day at least, the tutors tell us. I must sleep, for tomorrow we are no longer children. We have no sex, or race, or home. We are Seekers. * It has been several months since my last entry. We have had no moment to ourselves since we first set foot onto the mainland. The Town is nothing like I expected.

There is no hope here. The light that surrounds and fills the compound does nothing for the spirits of those who dwell here.

Attacks are constant, and we are locked away in our quarters.

To await whoever finds us, or... whatever finds us. Each time our tutors return, their numbers have dropped. Sometimes by one or two.

Sometimes a score do not return, and the rest slump back. But there

14

Shadow Town

is no rest, for us or for the tutors.

They are fully trained Seekers, men and women of The Town.

A team is being sent out in the coming months, another attempt to find The First, the source of all this. We have spent these last months learning the discipline of a Seeker, but we have spent days in the lecture hall.

“Know and understand your enemy young fires,” was Seeker Garritt’s motto. Those back home wouldn’t know what the plague truly is, they simply believe it to be a monstrous transformation.

This plague spreads through wounds, like many are wont to do. But it does not simply infect and transform, it begins first with the shadow. Upon this discovery, my classmates and I looked around the compound. The lights weren’t for hope, or a beacon for those lost. They were the early warning signs. A man walking about, with half a shadow. The lights cast your shadow, and your shadow shows your true self.

They say the beasts in the street have no shadow, people that have been consumed by their shadow.

They showed us The Solution today, an unusual liquid in a small vial. Each Seeker seemed to carry a number of these vials with them. We have been told it is a last ditch effort that allows a Seeker to consume part of their own shadow. It doesn’t cause a transformation immediately they say, but one who consumes their shadow will never be the same.

Our class watch the Seekers’ shadows more often now, noticing holes, patches where their shadow is incomplete. Those who ventured into the streets and returned. Alive but changed.

We have been training tirelessly since the day we arrived, and despite this I feel stronger. I notice more Seekers watching me and a handful of others during training. It appears they fancy us the best of the class. I must survive. I must get better, stronger. For my family.

Our class was finally deemed ready to take The Trial. ‘First consumption of The Solution was always the worst’, they said.

‘Not all survive’, we were told.

Our class of fifty-two, is now just shy of forty. None of the other favoured candidates survived

bar me. The Head Seeker tells me I am now a senior member of the group. If my class fails, I am punished. It drives us to work together, in teams, in pairs, in groups. The numbers never matter but we are instilled with a desire to cooperate. Beasts are inhumanely strong and quick we have learned.

We watch shaky moving pictures from a new device they describe as an eye that remembers what it sees and can be viewed later. We watch as the eye peers from behind some rubble at a hulking figure.

“An average beast,” the Seeker in control grunted, clicking to the next picture. From picture to picture it moved with a lumbering gait. Far larger than a human, its extremeties are malformed and have grown in size. Its body has several protrusions, erupting from several places on its body. Like a fungus, it engulfs most of the creature’s original body giving it an unnerving mass.

We are told they are faster, stronger, and often larger than us. And we are told not to treat them like mindless beasts. They retain an animalistic sense of intelligence. We left the lecture hall that day with a sober sense of what will face us when we venture outside. * I had forgotten about this journal.

My surroundings are quite different than where I remember writing that last entry. I have ventured outside with a group of nine other Seekers. My previous home, that bastion of light, is no longer visible. We light torches as we move, leaving behind us a path of light. The beasts will snuff them out soon after we leave, but at least it gives us comfort. We have killed maybe a dozen beasts so far, it has been a day into our journey.

Two died at my blade. We have been armed with prototypes of the newest armaments, weapons that do not dull. Pistols that are easier to reload and hold more than a single shot. Armour that is lighter but more durable. We can move faster, fight harder and for longer.

We are moving towards the centre of the city, in search of the source of the plague. The First has been seen in the centre, and must be stopped. Rumour has it if we kill

it, the plague will stop.

They’re all dead. We were ambushed by Hunters. Seekers who had fallen, succumbed to the shadow. They had our training, our tactics but had the speed and strength of the beasts. They tore my comrades apart. I escaped; they are relentless. The only reason I am still writing is in a desparate hope that someone finds this.

Perhaps someone will remember me? It’s been... some time since my last entry. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. Days seem to pass differently, the air is tight in the streets. Among the rubble and flames, the tight streets, the sun that never seems to rise fully.

I’m getting closer and closer to the centre. And my vials are running out. I feel lighter each time, yet also empty. There are voices now, in my head. When I fight, they drown out my thoughts. I can feel myself slipping more and more often. Sometimes I can hear The First. His gigantic body, pushing aside the remnants of buildings.

Its voice booms over this part of the city. It sounds like howling, like an animal in agony but the other creatures move in response.

He was the start of it all, and he organises them. If we fear the beasts, what am I supposed to feel for the thing that controls them?

I must try. At least for my mother and sister. I wonder if they still remember me?

It’s finished. But it was so much more than we thought. I don’t know how long it’s been. I am no longer myself. My vials ran out, perhaps a year ago? They told us it was only a matter of time beyond that. But The First is dead. My blade planted into its heart. I nearly fell, to the shadow and to it. But somehow, I survived. And then I found Her. The Prime she called herself.

No one thought there was someone

beyond The First, but had anyone considered it, she would not be it.

Ancient woman, unarmed, smiling softly as I stepped beyond The First and into her domain. She explained it to me, the past and what would happen next. I knelt in front of her, my blade in hand.

“There will be peace for your people,” she said to me, smiling again. “But only after you plunge that blade of yours into my heart”.

Slowly, she picked herself up out of the chair and looked me straight in the eye. “And you will take this seat... and wait for the next”.

She explained how there is always a plague, always a group who fights, and always one who triumphs.

Without this purpose, humanity would slow and decay. The balance was needed, she told me. She showed me her weapons, now rusted and almost dust. Weapons of our ancestors. The ones that spawned the weapons I held now. She was like me.

She had been the one to succeed. The Prime explained to me that, were I to turn around and leave that I would certainly be the end of my people.

“The darkness you have consumed, your shadow is clinging to your core but only barely. Out there, you would fall. You would succumb to shadow, and you would be the downfall of your people,” she had to lean against me after some time to stay on her feet.

She explained how she had fought her own people, consumed by a fungal-like disease that began by curing all illness. Before people realised what was happening, those infected only wanted to spread their blessing. Her face fell as she recounted her life.

So I sit in this chair; my chair. The doors have closed. They have been sealed. I freed The Prime from her duty.

“The plague will change and continue,” her last words still ring in my ears. “And you will be its herald.”

I ran the bath Kept the water warm Lay in it with all my clothes on So I could climb out whenever I wanted and say I’d never been in it All that time I had been out in the rain.

The Man and All the Women He Consumes

POETRY

Unfuck My World

stuffed between

the teeth of a man

who thinks he can make women weak at the knees

I’d make sure you’d be none he is chewing them the wiser up Say it had been an apparition turning women All those times you felt me into moist crumbling close things Keeping your eyes always on my wet hair like an And your ear pressed to my uncontrollable lips machine Believing there was no There can be no other sound in the world end to the massacre Other than the misty song I poured into your head. to the women who I guess I wished for rain fling themselves at every time him I sat in the warmth Ready to jump out.

It’s no wonder it lashed The one time I took it all off Slipped into the water and you Couldn’t have known the rain was meant for me Couldn’t have known I’d never missed a chance to rain-dance Couldn’t have known I never meant to want to.

My bitter-sweet song was comfort enough for two.

Chiamaka Amadi

dead ants clumped in a jar of raw honey another name for them for the sweettoothed hunger for tragedy consume purge cover all in desire thick with savage blood

Chiamaka Amadi

But tis a private affair, among men of the market.

A place where intimacies can be dissected.

Anatomies compared.

Juicy udders bared.

Zoom up close, don’t want to miss a pixel Of that arched back and waiting ass.

2 ‘Isn’t she your one from class?’

‘No longer the good girl who goes to Mass!

‘Ah but sure isn’t it just for laughs?’

‘Sure they’re only a bunch of photographs!’

‘Here look at this one, what a rampant slut!’

‘Gagging for it she was – but such a firm butt!’

‘When I was with her I made her wetter.’

‘But when I got with this one it felt much better.’

‘Just banter your honour, and I don’t mean to be blunt But god you should have felt how tight was that cunt . . .’

A woken mind slept in that skull, Ambition filled and full of dreams But he was only here to pull And insure repayment for the screams.

She knew there’d never be round two So she cared not to save his digits.

Alas if only that proved true For round went snaps of those lil’ tits.

5

You’ve mapped my skin young conquistador.

Did you enjoy it? I brought you inward To my sacred places, The intimate compartments of my being.

Few have came But here you trod.

Even a stranger can be gentle, worthy Of an hour’s trust A night’s heated lust But who knew a dog could wear a wolf’s clothing?

Your pack has ousted me Made a meal of my young flesh.

I’m parcelled and sent 3 A prime piece of veal All Eves laid and for voyeurs to chew. laid bare.

But you’re never done More snakes than I Feeding on the corpse in this private garden. you’ve crafted of this Forbidden fruit?

Seldom unfurled Fuck it, I don’t care. person.

1 Just came to gawk It’s always there, and wait to harden. stored and waiting, A pound of flesh Impossible to purge, each man shall take 4 As immortal as these And stake. carcass thoughts Robbed from where She twirls upon that strobe lit floor, I can’t delete. the cows confide.

With swirling locks With slavering tongues But beasts like and eyes alight and bulging groins you these must be But here strides a glut remade Upon your secret file In images the gods’ lion who thinks he’ll score saved slut. desire.

Here hunts a lion Pic by pic.

Our unknown herd, who’ll win the night.

Ryan Murphy the cattle of clubs and stranger’s beds.

Come. Gather, Sometimes It’s camera shutters shunting you Too Late through these pens Of digital walls.

As we went beyond the Rest assured, no basics and made it our slaughter here; only kingdom Did all hope die observations of the Sleepless nights filing therein? meat. through immortal You gave to me the Such succulent memories unfathomable feeling slices we’ve yet to Shredding those of And snatched it back scoff! heartache that are no when you passed from We’re generous. longer reviewed this world

Five Snapshots of a Group Chat

My heart has grown cold, Cold enough to match that of our first nervous touch The possibility of original love died with you

And bolting those of beautiful banality That now pains my heart to think of what I took for granted.

Mark Richardson

15

Leaving behind the Olympia, Rebekah Rennick sits down with Jimmy Smith of Foals prior to their 3Arena debut to discuss what’s keeping him up at night and his fear of becoming like Chris Martin There is something inherently visceral about certain concert experiences. Amongst a crowd, with music acting as the instigator, individuals become one singular roaring, surging cacophony of energy.

Oxford quintet Foals are no strangers to this sweaty, pulsating environment. In fact, at times it’s difficult to imagine a setting without them. As the lights dimmed in the 3Arena last Wednesday, something in the air changed. Behind a shadowed background, darkness punctuated by Jack Bevan’s drumbeats, Foals emerged to a deafening crescendo of hysteria.

Prowling the stage, front man Yannis Philippakis demands attention; spinning and circling as the hypnotic opening sequence of ‘Snake Oil’ prepared the crowd for a tumultuous ride. Three songs in, as old favourite ‘Olympic Airways’ seamlessly merges with infectiously adored ‘My Number’, shirts are off, sweat is in the air, friends scramble upon shoulders, and the crowd are irrevocably under Foals’ spell.

“Are you ready to get nasty?” screams Philippakis “let’s get fucking savage!”.

Rewind four hours previously and the band are fresh off that very same stage following sound check, albeit without the same ferocity.

The convulsing, crackling energy of their live performance is put aside for now. Philippakis still prowls, his presence undeniable with a hooded gaze sharp and aware, while his band members

16

float around, quietly sipping on beers and chatting amongst themselves. Guitarist Jimmy Smith, tall and welcoming, bounces as he does on stage. The calm confidence emanating from these five friends is the product of a decade’s steady successful trajectory.

From the set of Skins, to sold-out intimate shows and now onto an arena tour, Foals have become an unwavering monster of sound in the music sphere. On the cusp of their UK and Ireland arena tour OTwo had to wonder, how does one even begin to mentally prepare for such a feat?

“I don’t know!” clamours Smith. “I keep saying, it’s just a gig, isn’t it? I don’t want to think about it too much. I kind of get pissed off with the amount of times people have been saying “Oh, the arena tour!” You can always hear ‘arena’ in this like big, American accent; some fucking voice over thing. It’s just a show isn’t it?

We’ll just do our best and play like we always do. For as long as we keep doing what we do then it should be fine.”

It’s this modesty and uncompromising attitude that has cemented Foals’ integrity, allowing them to develop over the years into the most exciting rock band today. Emerging from Oxford’s post-rock era circa 2007 – “We were in the Math-Rock weirdo scene of which there was us and Youth Movies, and Jack and Yannis’ band The Edmund Fitzgerald,” laughs Smith – Foals exploded into prominence. While guerrilla house

parties once acted as their backdrop, of which grainy footage can still be found on YouTube crudely entitled ‘Foals in a bedroom’, their mindset has shifted over the years.

“It’s been ten years, it’s changed a bit and we’ve gotten used to doing it. I’d say the excitement has changed a little bit,” says Smith. “It’s easy to reminisce and miss the old days because they were kind of innocent. Especially, it’s easy to think that after you’ve done a sound check on a really big stage with all these moving fucking things, you’re like ”What happened?” It’s supposed to be really positive, but sometimes I kind of miss just putting everything in one van, in a Ford Transit, rather than three lorries.”

Transitioning from smaller venues like Dublin’s own Olympia to the echoing abyss of an arena setting is daunting for any band. Anxiety simmers at the possibility of things not going to plan, but for Foals it’s not the filling of space that is daunting but rather what this change will mean for the band in the future. “I feel like we need to start reappraising how much we actually stick to our guns, and stick to them a little bit more,” admits Smith.

“I couldn’t sleep last night, I was thinking about it all.

It’s weird how much is going on around our band now.

Decisions are super weird, like even the light show – I would never have had to think about that before.”

“I hope we don’t just disappear into some sort of generic big band. You can see how easy it is to do that,

you start relying on other people to make creative decisions. It’s really dangerous. I’m worried about it. I think we all are a little bit because you lose part of your identity. As of tonight that chapter is gone. It’s a really weird time for our band. It’s all really good and positive but I really want to make sure we don’t just thin out or get watered down I suppose.”

Yet, it’s these different chapters in a band’s career that defines them. Foals spearheaded a generation of indie loving teenagers embroiled in the whimsical party-going lifestyles depicted by Channel 4’s Skins cast. They were the band of today’s early to midtwenties’ pubescent years, running alongside others including Bombay Bicycle Club and The Maccabees.

However, their devoted audience have followed them religiously through the intricate, plucky guitar sounds of Antidotes, Total Life Forever and it’s atmospheric undertones, Mercury-nominated Holy Fire’s genre spanning grooves and today’s What Went Down, the newest addition to their ever-growing repertoire.

Speaking of Antidotes, Smith admits he doesn’t indulge in their debut as often as other members of the band. “Edmund did, and said it was actually really good!” he laughs. “He was sending us all these drunken WhatsApp messages, being like ‘It’s actually really great! I’m really enjoying it!’ But yeah, I don’t really listen to the albums at all. I kind of want to save that until I’m an old man. But I hear them, and we play

''It's a really weird time for our band. It's all really good and positive but I really want to make sure we don't just thin out or get watered down.'' some songs. That album is a real blast from the past because that’s the connecting bridge between the real early good old days, and now basically; that’s what caused this.”

What Went Down quickly followed 2013’s Holy Fire, an album that resulted in an exhaustive touring calendar, ultimately keeping the creative flame alight for their newest installment. “We had like two weeks off. It was never supposed to happen that quickly, we were just like, ‘Oh let’s go down to Oxford for a week and bounce around ideas’. It’s only now, when we’re touring, we’re like shit, it feels like we never stopped.”

“I think we’re done with that now,” says Smith. “The last two are kind of paired really, it was like a similar creative process. But they’re done now. We’ll make the most un-arena-friendly album next time just to make sure we don’t do it again!”

“I love to think about the next album, especially now because there’s nothing yet and it could be anything. I think the general idea on the next one is to start without thinking about anything.”

While the aggression seen in tracks like ‘Providence’ and ‘Inhaler’ from Holy Fire is somewhat omitted in What Went Down, it’s not without teeth. No introductions are needed. Foals are expecting the listener, throwing them head first into the vocal cord shredding screams of Philippakis’ exposed psyche.

Opening title track ‘What Went Down’ hits with blunt

force while tracks such as ‘Birch Tree’ and ‘Give It All’ act as soothing moments of respite, echoing the band’s prowess in creating opulent musical juxtapositions.

With each record, the band relocated to a different place for its production. Is this geographical relocation a conscious decision, OTwo wonders?

“Yeah, it is. I think the decision is based on the studio and the producer, so the producer may have a studio in mind. On the first one it was Dave (Sitek) in New York but most of the time it’s like ‘well, why not go somewhere new and exciting?’ I think to have that level of excitement at the beginning of a record is really good, it pushes the excitement further then it would normally. Sometimes it backfires, like in Sweden on the second record. It kind of got a bit grim there, the location was quite horrendous.”

“It was just too isolated,” he continues. “It was pretty depressing. It was like an industrial estate. Then on the third one, it was a Flood & Moulder’s studio in Willesden, London, which was a horrible place. Compared to Provence on this record where you go out for a cigarette and you’re in rolling gardens and there’s like a dog running around, you’re in a car park in Willesden with cigarette butts.”

What Went Down saw them collaborate with producer James Ford, who has previously worked alongside The Last Shadow Puppets, Florence and The Machine and Arctic Monkeys. Pinned as their heaviest record to date, the album was built to fill huge capacity settings.

A grappling rawness permeates throughout Foals’ sound, their live performances coercing the recorded ones thus allowing them to sound as authentic as they possibly can.

“We’ve always got ‘Demo-itis’, we always prefer the demos,” admits Smith. “I think it’s quite a classic thing because when you’re recording a demo, it might just be on a phone or some crappy recorder and you do it really haphazardly with no pressure, and you’re not really thinking about it. So it’s actually a recording of you playing a song at its most natural and then you’ve got to try and recreate it in the studio and you never do it. Turning the red light off always helps.”

Watching back the video for one of Foals’ first singles ‘Hummer’ is a chest pain-inducing knock of nostalgia for anyone who has been shimmying around since their debut. Asymmetrical hairstyles may have gone out of fashion, cardigans and jumpers no longer the style of choice and their fresh faces now replaced with a cool maturity, their individuality still remains.

Sharp and eloquent in interviews, Foals have remained as true to themselves as they can, yet the past decade has not been without its own learning curves. “Don’t trust anybody, except your own band members,” warns Smith in relation to the music industry. “There are some nice people in the music industry. I do have some friends in the music industry, but it’s all money, money, money. It’s all they’re doing, if they tell you

Photographs courtesy of Bearded Gentlemen

otherwise, it’s bullshit.”

“You’ve always got to be careful, we’ve always been careful from the word go. We’ve still got a whole catalogue of disasters in the book, it’s impossible for a band not to make mistakes.”

“I think it’s getting harder, I don’t really envy young bands now. I mean I do, I really envy them.

‘You fucking bastards, you’re like nineteen years old and you’re playing in the clothes you woke up in, on someone’s floor!’” he laughs. “I miss those days. But it’s a lot harder to carry on. It’s one thing to do one album and have relative success from that but to maintain it is hard. For us now, it’s no different; like album five is just as hard as album two or three or four. You’re just thrown into the shark pool again and it’s a lottery whether you sink or swim I guess.”

The position Foals so steadily hold in today’s music climate is obviously one preoccupying their minds, and one that will undoubtedly shape the direction of their sound. The unease Smith feels regarding the new arena-dwelling chapter in their career is understandable, as he admits. “I just don’t want to become dreadfully uncool. We never were the coolest band but you don’t want to end up like Chris Martin or something like that.” Following their bombastic track record and the colossal performance that very night to a frenzied 3Arena, it’s difficult to imagine Foals slipping into soft-rock complacency anytime soon.

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Taking Flight

Joe Panama of Dublin instrumental sextet Overhead, The Albatross talks to Adam Lawler about the journey of making music, and that comma PEOPLE who wonder how instrumental rock can seamlessly gel multiple genres together under one name might find their answer with Joe Panama from Overhead, The Albatross. “We’ve been called two bands, which is absolutely gas,” he laughs, in reference to the comma present in his band’s name.

“People are like ‘Are you going to see Overhead tonight? Or The Albatross?’ If you’re gonna put a comma in your name you can’t be precious about it. It’s about as pretentious as they come. The only way you could make it worse would be if you put a semicolon in there.”

The name itself is a reference to a Pink Floyd track, a band which has had a huge influence on each member’s musical formation, despite not being a feature in the music itself. “I grew up with Pink Floyd in my house, it was all day every day. I think it showed us that long-form sound is a thing and that we can play things that are longer than conventional pop music, but I don’t think it influences the structure or melody of the songs. I definitely don’t go around tapping my chest like ‘Pink Floyd Pink Floyd Pink Floyd’. They’re definitely a

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band to look up to, the things they were doing at the time were so genre-bending and progressive.”

Five years after their first EP Lads With Sticks, the road to their imminent debut album has been lengthy, with a detour to the Czech Republic. The band recorded in a forest near the town of Pisek, a town so remote that they tried to find it on a map, but couldn’t. “We were surrounded by trees and this big lake, in this house restored from the 50s. We drove 37 hours there from Dublin, we didn’t stop anywhere in Europe except to eat and sleep. It was a pretty intense trip.”

Months of writing followed, aided by the tranquil surroundings. To them it’s not an aesthetic preference as much as a necessity. “The reason we went so far away and not somewhere like Achill Island or Scotland is because they would’ve been far easier to get to.

When we were there we had no phones, no e-mail, no internet except for once a week. None of the distractions that weigh on you. All we had to do was make music, cook food, exercise, and read books. Some of the songs still

remind me of some of the views from the living room.”

The idea of the journey translates to the band’s music itself; wide and expansive, growing and shifting, influenced by the feel of cinematic music and a distinct lack of words. Instrumental music is a small blip in the current landscape of pop music, where people ponder over the meaning of lyrics and ignore any meaning in the music itself. In Overhead, The Albatross they’re debating over the necessity of song titles. “I feel silly putting names on songs sometimes, because apart from differentiating one song from another I don’t see the point, unless as a writer you want to influence the listeners’ experience. I think our songs have a narrative to them that’s not explicit, and if people can see that then they can draw their own story from it.

I’m not opposed to lyrics, it’s just never been a thing for us. We try to tell stories without using them.”

So where do such strange, evocative song titles such as ‘Big River Man’ and ‘Telekinetic Forest Guard’ come from?

“Sometimes we think ‘this title really suits the track’, but most of the time they

come out of nowhere really. Something from during the writing, or an in-joke or something stupid like that.” Making an album with just one continuous track is, to the band, “a very appealing idea, but it’s been done badly so many times that we’d be kind of terrified of doing it. I think Meshuggah, one of my favourite bands, did it. It’s a 35-minute album with only one track, and I can’t listen to it. I just can’t do it. It might be something we lean towards if we work on something like a soundtrack to a film.”

The cinematic nature of instrumental rock has led to a steady growth in its following. Irish bands such as And So I Watch You From Afar and God Is An Astronaut have developed fervent fan bases in many countries, Ireland not being one of them. Why are we so hesitant when it comes to the genre, even when it’s our own bands championing it?

“Instrumental music isn’t really what people in Ireland want to hear. It’s definitely not trendy. In the UK there are a lot of math rock bands with huge success, but if they came here [they]

would fall flat on their face,” Panama muses. “I think it’s popular within a small subset of Irish people, but it all comes down to population. I think the same percentage of people like it as they do in the UK, but the numbers are so much smaller. It’s such a tiny country in terms of people that are listening and going to gigs. It’s hard to get people to switch on and listen to things, and I think it has something to do with this culture of instant gratification where articles are called long reads when they used to be just articles. I think we’re definitely going against the grain in that sense.”

Against the grain they may be going, but as six mates into all different kinds of music, coming together and playing and having a laugh they’re well-equipped.

“I think the older I get the less guilty I feel about my guilty pleasures,” says Panama. “It’s stupid to have guilty pleasures, really. I have my Linkin Park Hybrid Theory vinyl propped up in my living room and if anyone wants to fight me over it they can fight me.” Watch out for this band and see them take flight, effortlessly carrying a multitude of genres under their wing.

Pinegrove

LION BABE

Cardinal

Begin

SUUNS are a group who appear to be gaining confidence with each release. Hold/Still is their third studio album and from the very opening track, ‘Fall’, the listener begins a descent into an audio-induced coma (in the best possible way).

This is spurred on by repetitive and progressive guitar riffs accompanying Ben Shemie’s haunting vocals.

The record opens with a punch and quickly progresses through clever use of said repetition, building up an atmosphere of panic and tension.

Use of synth and keyboard play a vital role in many of the tracks, successfully adding to the unnerving impact. ‘Translate’ serves as a prime example of this.

Tracks such as ‘Mortise and Tenon’ and ‘Brainwash’ work to balance out the album and prevent it from ever feeling too rushed.

‘Brainwash’ stands out by threatening to take the record in a different direction with its almost tame, upbeat melodies before synth and drums explode and remind us that this is not music for easy ears. A few lines of ‘Careful’ help to define the adventurous and exploratory nature of the album: “I never look back cause there’s nothing to learn from just trying to be more careful”.

Such a blissful combination of electronic, rock and trance as appears on Hold/Still is also evident in its predecessors, however there is a dark, slightly ominous theme running through many of the tracks which is so confidently established that it sets it apart from much of Suuns’ previous work. This theme is also implied through the track names. Titles such as ‘Resistance’ and ‘Paralyzer’ each suggest a rigid sense of defiance, a desire to advance forwards towards something new, breaking all prior restrictions.

Hold/Still is seamlessly paced and woven together to provide a perfect forty-five minute long escape from that crowded bus trip or tedious walk home. The listener willing to freefall into this verging-on-psychedelic abyss will be pleasantly rewarded. Those who are unwilling to make the plunge are missing out on something refreshingly hypnotic.

A CARDINAL in a pine grove — together these names suggest a bright red flicker which lingers and comes alive against its soft muted green backdrop. However, Pinegrove’s debut album feels more like a bird with mottled feathers: well camouflaged and liable not to be noticed.

Cardinal speaks of a band in its youth, its members still mimicking their favorite acts, yet to discover a unique sound or voice. Touching on the feelings of isolation and ennui common in suburban adolescence, the album feels more like an emo record than its alt-country billing suggests.

First is ‘Old Friends,’ boasting a catchy vocal melody which makes for a strong start, though it quickly becomes clear that it’s the album’s peak. Lyrically, Pinegrove find that as they grow older, they grow apart from old friends and lose touch with past loves. The singer relates their experience of anxiety and depression, of avoiding other people and of missing times gone by. He freely admits his own “solipsistic mood” early on, and though the album never reaches the point of egoism, the group’s refusal to broaden their emotional range makes each song blend with the next in a solution of self-pity.

The instrumentation manages to brighten the thematic dullness, with warm guitars and a country twang, and is poppy enough to enjoy as background music. Pinegrove’s songwriting works against itself, however, being most often bland and forgettable. There are exceptions: ‘Aphasia’ touches on the speech and language disorder of the same name, an uncommon and intriguing song topic, and draws out an energetic and emotional performance from the singer and his bandmates. ‘Visiting’ switches up its instrumental halfway through, making for a satisfying build up of intensity to end the track.

Pinegrove have a lot of growing left to do in order to move out of their musical adolescence, and beyond lyrical themes of the same, but that’s what a debut album is for. Cardinal may not be exceptional in any sense, but it proves that the group can assemble a cohesive project, and will hopefully afford them the opportunity to experiment in their future releases.

AFTER one half of Lion Babe, vocalist Jillian Hervey, leant her talents to Disclosure’s bopping ‘Hourglass’, all eyes shifted their focus to the house duo in quiet expectation. Luckily for those who like trendy production and effortlessly soulful vocals, this debut delivers in spades.

There is something of a split personality present on Begin, an album that can be divided neatly into slick, dynamic pop tunes and atmospheric tracks oozing late-night narcotic cool. The deep bass groove of ‘Jump Hi’, along with the outrageously bouncy ‘Impossible’ and hit-in-waiting ‘Whole’, deliver thrills aimed square at the mainstream. Featured star power from Pharrell and Childish Gambino add to rather than detract from proceedings as the two at the centre of the mix play it off with style.

The other half of the record plays with laid-back hazy atmospherics, ‘Treat Me Like Fire’ being a highlight complete with vinyl crackle. From the opening wash of synths, ‘On The Rocks’ could be a Disclosure out-take, while ‘Where Do We Go’ is vibrant house-disco. Lucas Goodman’s production elevates sometimes uninspired songwriting and gels these two moods into one seamless whole with idiosyncratic touches (“You order fries just to get away” is a brilliantly off-kilter lyric on ‘Stressed Out’). Neo-soul flavours shine on tracks such as ‘Got Body’ and ‘Wonder Woman’, which couldn’t be more Pharrell if it sampled a N.E.R.D track.

Hervey’s voice is enticing throughout, and recalls a four-to-the-floor Erykah Badu, or a less reticent Jessie Ware. From song to song she deftly switches from full-throated growl to airy whisper, a talent nowhere more pronounced than on album closer ‘Little Dreamer’, an otherwise blandly bluesy track given an almighty lift by Hervey’s heavenly layered “ooh”s. Begin successfully glides from sultry minimalism to hip-popping beats through shameless disco exuberance and dreamy atmospherics. The result is a lot of fun. Slick, trendy and exciting, this is a likeable and fresh debut full of signs of potential, which signals a promising future ahead for Lion Babe.

In A Nutshell: Edgy and experimental, this eerie and subtly aggressive tone is certainly a step in the right direction for Suuns. Those willing to indulge in something quite intense will enjoy the trip.

In A Nutshell: For a debut album, Cardinal is a decent effort, but it lacks both definition and charm.

Adam Lawler

Lontalius

Suuns

I’ll Forget 17

Hold/Still

I’LL Forget 17 is the debut album from singer-songwriter and New Zealander Eddie Johnston, otherwise known as Lontalius. The album achieves everything one could hope for in terms of accessibility – the ten tracks could be summed up as the perfect kind of background music. This is a versatile collection of songs that you could play in the background while you read.

This album would not be out of place flowing through the speaker system of an independent coffee shop, amongst the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Coldplay and Bon Iver.

Johnston seems to be channeling a more modern take on the singer-songwriter genre, both with meaningful lyrics and the showcasing of his multi-instrumentalist capabilities. The opening tracks ‘A Feeling So Sweet’ and ‘All I Wanna Say’ begin the album with a relaxed tone; Lontalius seems to be going for the sound of the heartbroken and the vulnerable, yet it somehow sounds happy and hopeful. ‘Kick in the Head’, the third track, alters the tempo slightly, but not enough to break the mellow vibes previously laid out. Once again, strings accompany the vocals, but with more of a live, untouched feel to it. After this track, the album as a whole does not veer too far from these sonic roots.

Two standout songs from the album are ‘My Dreams Are Dark’ and the Lontalius’ latest single, ‘Glow’. Both tracks sum up the overall sound and are probably the two most accessible for new listeners. This record is not diverse enough to have many defects, although to some this could be seen as a fault in itself, but if you want an album that’s easy listening, makes for a good background sound, and also supports the career of a more unknown artist, then this record is a great choice.

In A Nutshell: An album well suited to anyone who feels at home with the coffee-shop soundtrack, I’ll Forget 17 is authentic and warm, with a simple air of effortlessness.

Daniel Ryan

James Holohan

In A Nutshell: This album doesn’t reinvent the pop music wheel as much as play with it, but it’s an exciting start for the dance duo.

Owen Steinberger

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GIG GUIDE Radar: Carron Aisling Kraus and Lorcan Kelly give the lowdown on the highlights of the Dublin gig scene in the coming weeks

BOY & BEAR

Julia Holter / The Button Factory / Wednesday 17th February

Baio / The Workmans Club / Monday 22nd February

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer, songwriter, producer. Art pop, baroque pop, classical, jazz, ambient, electronic. The lists that comprise the skill set and range of musical genres spanned by Californian artist Julia Holter may seem dizzying, but they coalesce into something which exudes a harmonious clarity. This is an impressive feat given the complex instrumentation and sophisticated arrangement of many of Holter’s songs. A steady output of well-received studio albums between 2011 and 2015 has been the catalyst for a change of Holter’s gig scenery in that time. The switch from the most intimate venues for grander, more commercial stages has more recently accommodated an extensive touring band, double bass and all.

Best known as co-founder and bassist of Vampire Weekend, Chris Baio met the band’s frontman, fellow New Yorker Ezra Koenig, while the pair were studying at Colombia University. Baio’s relationship with music was a deeply rooted one by this point – he had begun to purchase records and attend gigs by the tender age of seven. Both prior to and following graduation from Colombia, Baio’s time was largely occupied by the whirlwind success of Vampire Weekend. When their tour schedule lightened up, he began DJing regularly and took to spending time practising mixing in the office of his New York apartment. His first EP Sunburn surfaced in 2012 – in distinct contrast to the indie Afrobeat vibe of Vampire Weekend, Baio’s solo material is electronic, these early tracks having been dubbed “undulating dance grooves”. His debut album was released in 2015.

Boy & Bear / The Green Room at The Academy / Wednesday 17th February Hometown heroes of Sydney, Boy & Bear are Australia’s answer to Mumford & Sons. Not only does the indie folk sound of these two resonate with a strikingly similar warmth, they also share the commercial credibility that comes along with a studio album boasting the platinum status. Originally a vehicle for the solo ventures of singer-songwriter Dave Hosking, the five-piece were snapped up by Island Records following the popularity of an independently released debut single. Boy & Bear’s first full-length Moonfire garnered mega sales and multiple awards in Australia, reaching double platinum and launching the group into a relentless global tour schedule. The band’s live performances are lauded for their quality of musicianship and exciting live arrangements of tracks from their recordings. Released in October 2015, Boy & Bear’s third LP Limit of Love sees the band progressing into more synth-heavy territory.

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Gabrielle Aplin / Olympia Theatre/ Saturday 20th February Following the release of her album Light Up the Dark last year, the English indie folk singer is coming to the Olympia Theatre on Saturday the 20th of February. Best known for her singles ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’ and ‘The Power of Love’, her music has been instrumental in fostering the modern folk/indie rock genre over the last few years. Releasing her EP Acoustic in 2010 and a second EP, Home in 2012, Aplin has since released two further albums, English Rain (2013) and the aforementioned Light Up The Dark (2015).

Supporting her is Hannah Grace, a new face to the music scene. Having released several singles but no albums, Grace may not yet have the experience but makes up for this in fresh talent.

UCD alumnus Meabh Carron and her sister Mella sat down with OWEN STEINBERGER to talk about new music, sisterhood, and their growth as artists CARRON, an indie, country, folk and popinspired band, have been making waves in Dublin’s independent music scene. The band have been expanding and experimenting over the last year, picking up new musicians along with new sounds, and are now six members strong. Meabh and Mella have plenty of praise for the core members of the group: Darragh, their guitarist, and Denis Kilty, their producer and dear friend. Meabh has been best friends with Denis since their days at UCD together, and he’s “been able to put up with a lot” in working with the band.

“The first song we wrote was about our brother, when he [emigrated] to Australia, which was really hard for us,” Mella says, “I just burst out crying.” Though it was difficult then, she remembers that day fondly. Denis took notes furiously and encouraged her to “cry more!” to ensure the emotion would be captured. “It was like therapy, it was so intense,” she laughs. Meabh recalls that she had always been shocked that artists could

bear their souls on record, but now she finds the process relaxing and enjoyable.

The duo hope to dig deeper into their personal experiences on an upcoming EP. “Lyrically,” Meabh notes, “it’s more focused… on our relationship.” Their bond as sisters is critical to the band’s success. Ever since childhood they’ve been performing together: in musicals, in recitals and at weddings.

“Whenever I’d play Annie she’d play Molly,” Meabh explains. “We’ve always been able to support each other performing live.” Each sister can instinctively tell when the other is nervous, and one is more than willing to take the reins if the other is scared stiff.

“Sometimes I’ll be so nervous for absolutely no reason,” Meabh says.

“Sometimes performing in front of five people can be harder than five hundred.” The sisters keep each other grounded and feeling natural.

They’re able to have fun while recording since being in the studio feels like being with good friends. “It has to be a good vibe all the time,”

says Mella.

To Carron, fun means flexibility. The band doesn’t see themselves as limited by the “folk-pop” label that’s been affixed to them by the music press: “I don’t even know if that’s a thing,” Mella laughs. Her “shameless” love of groups like The Cranberries and The Corrs alongside Meabh’s indie-pop obsession mesh with their classical training to allow experimentation. Meabh adds that “writing in a new genre” is what interests her. “You can do whatever you want!”

Carron hope to grow and to “make some sort of mark here in Dublin,” and then to “spread our wings… with a little tour around the East Coast of Ireland around the time our EP [drops],” Meabh hopes. The sisters are sure to emphasise that, however far Carron may go, they’re going to get there together. “We’re really lucky that we’re all this close.”

The launch of Carron’s upcoming EP will take place in The Grand Social on 13th April.

James Young of electronic duo, Darkstar, talks to Seán Hayes about losing their lead vocalist, the challenges of developing a unique sound and the problems facing young people today THE GREAT industrial cities of North England have, for decades, been synonymous with denim-clad, anti-establishment rock bands of disillusioned youth, producing such canonical figures as The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Pulp, to name just a few. Hailing from these same hinterlands, however, James Young of Darkstar shakes off any influences of his legendary predecessors: “We don’t try to embrace anything indie, to tell you the truth.” What the electronic duo do embrace, though, are carefully crafted, beat-driven melodies and stark, socially-aware lyrics. Clarifying on this, in the type of Northern accent where “-ing” is pronounced “-ink”, Young adds: “not that indie’s a bad thing; it just doesn’t really interest us. We try to put our own personality and hearts into it.”

Forming in 2007, Darkstar co-founders Young and Aiden Whalley have continuously been praised and heralded by publications such as FACT Magazine, The Fader and The Guardian for both their technical skill and their direct, honest messages and themes. This support, however, plays second fiddle to an already established, calm assurance and astuteness held by the duo: “We’re quietly confident, I think. We’ve got belief in what we’re capable of.” The musical scene has, in recent times, seen a decline in originality and innovation – Young corroborates this himself, admitting “there’s nothing pricking my ears just right now.” It can be challenging to find, and equally develop, a unique, recognisable sound. Young is well aware of this challenge, adding the further difficulty of “the business end of things.”

“Once you get to the third album, the novelty of being a new act has completely gone. You’re in between sustaining a profession and hobby.” He continues, explaining: “Aiden and myself have been working together for nine years. It’s a very intense setting. It’s difficult, at times, to keep it stimulating but we manage to. It’s just trying to keep it fresh really in the studio and enjoying it as much as possible.”

It is possible, if not likely, that this close relationship could have come under great pressure after the departure of James Buttery, who had been Darkstar’s lead vocalist. Indeed, many groups in the past have failed to recover from such a dramatic shift in dynamic, attempting instead to continue as if nothing had happened. Buttery’s departure, however, gave Whalley and Young the chance to return to the type of music Darkstar had released in their formative years – a time when the group had also been just a duo. Looking back now from where he is based in his London hideout, Young maintains that there was only one way forward: “I think it takes time to reconsider things. Immediately afterwards, it was black and white what needed to be done. The mechanics of it

and what happens next is just something you have to feel out.” What did happen next was the recording of Foam Island, the group’s third record, subsequently released in November.

The album offers an oftentimes highly disillusioned and bleak portrayal of life for young people living in North England. Many of the tracks sample interview extracts carried out by Whalley and Young with members of their respective hometowns. Cynical and downcast voices, mixed with atmospheric synths and beat driven hooks, can be heard pointing out that “There doesn’t seem to be anybody current that’s able to understand the issues that we have / It’s a different kind of struggle,” while a young woman regrets the lack of opportunities presented to her growing up. It is a highly political and socially-aware message – that young people are struggling to be represented and heard today – and a highly conscious move on Young’s part. Explaining the process behind this new direction, Young acknowledges: “We definitely wanted to explore that side of things for our third record. I feel like there was a political element we may have leant on slightly in the first two records and this time I felt like it was important to realise that and just try and be genuine with it. We wanted to talk about things that affect people on an everyday basis.”

Recording for the album and the required interviews were two processes which went hand in hand. It was a long task, according to Young, to fully gain the trust of these people and to forge meaningful relationships with them. Young, though, believes that it was worth the effort, adding: “I was more interested in giving them the platform really and then contextualising it in a way

that they saw fit too. The main priority was for it to be true to the people who contributed to it. I didn’t want it to be sensationalised or anything like that. I think it’s just an honest portrayal.”

While this honest portrayal of North English youth does highlight glaring problems in the social and political systems, Young maintains that there is still some room for youthful optimism: “I didn’t want it to be a cliché, ‘grim up North’ album. I wanted to explore that kind of feeling before the bigger responsibilities of life come along and take you off guard. I wanted there to be an optimism and I think, particularly at the beginning of the album, there is. I think it’s about as optimistic as young people can get, given the circumstances of some of the policies we’re seeing now being brought in.”

Young seems equally uncertain about his own future, remaining reserved on upcoming plans for the year. He does confirm a string of tour dates around Germany, the homeland for any enthusiast of electronic music: “Germany’s always been a very forward thinking place in electronic music. There are definitely artists from Germany that I listen to a lot in the past and now.” Apart from that, Young notes the likelihood of touring the festival circuit this summer and while an Irish date is, as of yet, unconfirmed, he admits his eagerness to return: “We’ve played Ireland twice Dublin and Cork. I had a great time in Ireland.”

Foam Island is out now.

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On arrival in Dublin for their gig at Whelan’s, Blaine Harrison and Jack Flanagan of indie four-piece Mystery Jets take time to chat with Aisling Kraus about vintage recording gear, chromosomes and the album as an art form

''There's a pulse to the music which felt like an interesting way of expressing the pulse of life.''

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HAVING existed as a band for nigh on 20 years (when frontman Blaine Harrison, still in primary school, formed the unit with his dad), Mystery Jets are no strangers to the ups and downs of touring.

Nonetheless, the quartet is over an hour late arriving at Whelan’s of Wexford Street. “Luas strike” is the mumbled agreement of those present when the Londoners finally reach the venue to prepare for the first gig of a short tour of Ireland and the UK. Mystery Jets are very much riding the post-album release wave, having released their fifth LP less than a month ago. In the last 24 hours they have shot a new music video on an old fort out at sea, flown to Dublin and (possibly most treacherously) braved the traffic of a rainy, Luas-less rush hour in the capital to make it to a pre-gig interview with OTwo. Curve of the Earth is the first full-length instalment in the Mystery Jets studio discography in almost four years, and was two and a half years in the making. The group knew they wanted to “live” this record, and in order to give themselves the time and space they needed to do so, they set about building their own studio in a disused button factory, and filling it with choice recording equipment.

“There’s a feeling of the seventies in [the album]…” muses lead vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter Harrison, “but I think that’s less from listening to seventies records and more from obsessing over seventies recording techniques.

Because we had our own space, we had to buy all our own equipment and so, I got really obsessed with buying seventies microphones and vintage outboards… There’s something, a quality, a romance about gear that was made to last and is still around forty years later.”

One of the themes that unites a number of the songs on the new record, and that has also made appearances in previous work, is science.

The album title and artwork are preoccupied with space and astronomy, and the first track bears the title “Telomere”, which is defined as “a compound structure at the end of a chromosome”. Harrison states that his understanding of science is “a loose one”. “There was something about [the] word [telomere] that was very musical to me… especially when I looked it up and I did some research on what telomeres were. I realised that it would be really interesting to explore the idea of telomeres and the human essence in a musical way… There’s a sort of pulse to the music which to me felt like an interesting way of expressing the pulse of life, of blood.”

Jack Flanagan, bassist and latest addition to the Mystery Jets lineup, adds that: “The whole record is kind of about scale… We wanted it to start almost microscopic, so “Telomere” was kind of the perfect way for that to happen, to be right inside the human body. And then, we tried to make it feel like as you go the whole way through [the album], it grows and grows until eventually, you’re kind of outside and looking back to this microscopic form.”

It’s obvious that the quartet view Curve of the Earth as a single work of art rather than a bundledtogether collection of separate musical creations.

Perhaps they’ve taken this approach in an effort to oppose the notion that ‘the album’ as an entity is an endangered or redundant species, lacking relevance in modern popular culture. As Flanagan explains, recent times have brought promising signs for champions of the art form that is the music album.

“Vinyl has got more value in it again, which is cool because people are going out and buying records…

You can make this tangible thing and people will actually… put it on their shelves. Obviously a lot of it is Spotify and iTunes, which I think is a wonderful home for music as well… I actually love it, despite the whole not making any money from it, I feel like it’s so nice to have this thing in your pocket and be able to discover other people’s music with the click of a

finger or the tap of a button. I think that’s a really cool thing.”

Harrison feels that the album can never fully lose relevance, as the demand for it will forever be sustained by the like of hipsters, and that perpetual group of kids who lament being ‘born in the wrong time’. “I think for every movement in culture there’s going to be a counter-movement…

For all the people saying that the next generation are going to be… brought up ‘on shuffle’ or streaming music and not really listening to things in their entirety, there will be a counter culture and a market for people who do want to hear the whole thing. On the one hand, you have people saying the album is dead and it’s all about doing singles now. [Curve of the Earth] is being stocked in supermarkets, which for us is a first; we’ve never had that. Vinyl sales are the highest they’ve been in seventeen years. I’m not really sure that the album as an art form is dead. I think there’s always, in the background of any generation, a fetishisation of previous times, there’s nostalgia.”

From talking with Harrison and Flanagan, the overarching impression is that this is a band who do things their own way, in spite of trends and without much regard for the favour of the masses, and who take their creativity seriously.

“We have always liked the idea of perhaps being on the fringes of any kind of scene,” Harrison notes. “I don’t think it’s ever particularly been something we’ve tried to do… We’ve always found ourselves going in the opposite direction to whatever’s fashionable at the time, and I don’t think that’s to be different, it perhaps comes down to how much time we spend together.

We’re more interested in what each other thinks than what anyone else thinks, I think that’s part of being in the gang.”

Curve of the Earth is out now.

The Women that Changed Music

As International Women’s Day comes up on 8th March, Patrick Kelleher looks at some of the women that have changed music over the last few decades With International Women’s Day just around the corner, it seems like a fitting time to take a step back to look at the trailblazing women that have changed the world of music for the better.

Women have always been central to creating music, but it’s not enough for us to just remember the talented female musicians – we must also remember why they’ve been so groundbreaking in their craft.

for her groundbreaking use of the Fairlight. The second half of the album, titled The Ninth Wave is a concept album that tells the story of a young woman lost at sea. From the eerie ‘Under Ice’ to the Irish trad-influenced ‘Jig of Life’, Bush did things with music that few have done since, and few would want to even attempt for their sheer complexity.

Kate Bush

Debbie Harry

Kate Bush burst onto the music scene in 1978 with her bizarre brand of experimental pop music with her debut single ‘Wuthering Heights’. Before long, Bush, who was then only nineteen years old, saw her debut single shoot to number one in the UK, where it remained for four weeks. Her debut album The Kick Inside was easily one of the most exciting albums to make it into the mainstream in the latter part of the seventies. On it, she went from the vivid storytelling of ‘James and the Cold Gun’ to her candid and invigorating approach to female sexuality on ‘Feel It’. In a time when female sexuality was still largely oppressed, Bush sang: ‘Feel your warm hand walking around, I won’t pull away.

My passion always wins. So keep on a-moving in. So keep on a-tuning in.”

This musical ingenuity continued throughout her career. Her 1985 album Hounds of Love still regularly makes lists of the best albums ever recorded

Around the same time that Kate Bush was starting to make headlines for her unyieldingly challenging songs, Debbie Harry was performing at the centre of Blondie. As lead singer of a band comprised of a woman and four men, Harry was dominating the airwaves at a time when a woman displaying power and apathy to a society that was so critical of women was unprecedented. Blondie were responsible for genre defying music such as their famed ballads ‘Heart of Glass’ and ‘Dreaming’, to their punkier, more aggressive ‘Atomic’ and ‘Call Me’. Harry’s punk image and her refusal to play into anybody else’s demands in her music have made her a lasting icon, and her appeal has managed to last well into the 21st century.

Cyndi Lauper The hit singer of the now famous ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ is not often enough seen as a trailblazer of music, but there’s no doubt that Lauper has had quite the impact. Her debut album, She’s So Unusual, was the first debut album by a woman to chart four top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100 – and with good reason too. The album was an enormous success, boasting classics such as ‘Time After Time’ and ‘She Bop’.

What was unique about Lauper when her debut was released in 1983 was that she was able to bridge the gap between popular music and genuine innovation in her craft. Her lyrics told stories of love and loss, and even though she wasn’t responsible for writing her most famous feminist anthem ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’, the message was incredibly important. Lauper has gone on to have a varied and eclectic career. From LGBT activist to hit-maker and general powerhouse, she’s one of the greats of the music industry.

Joni Mitchell Joni Mitchell was at the centre of change in the music industry for women when she emerged onto a male dominated scene in the late 1960s. Her music has morphed and changed dramatically over her long and varied career. From her early beginnings in folk to her more recent jazz inspired collections, it seems

inadequate to call Mitchell a legend.

One of her most famous albums, 1971’s Blue is one of the greatest works of artistry by a musician in the 20th century. The songs on it dealt with issues as severe as her experience of giving up her child for adoption on ‘Little Green’, to her heartrending and frequently covered ‘River’, dealing with dysfunctional love.

Lyrically, she has dealt with issues that are both complex and important.

Technically, her music has defied logic and reason, and yet has proven natural and invigorating. Critics have been discussing her bizarre use of alternative guitar tunings now for decades; Mitchell uses more than fifty different guitar tunings in her songs, tossing the rulebooks aside. Frustratingly, she is often overlooked, despite her extensive musical catalogue and her incisive social critiques. While critics will talk endlessly about the incredible work her contemporary Bob Dylan has done in folk music, considerably fewer are interested in talking about what Mitchell has done.

Regardless, she has never let this stop her. Her songwriting prowess and evolving vocals have never been keen to sit on the sidelines. She is undoubtedly one of the greatest musical talents to grace the music scene.

Florence Welch

likes of Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell, Florence Welch has been one of the most innovating and surprising female musicians to emerge in the 21st century. Her debut album Lungs captured the hearts of a generation.

From her powerful cover of ‘Girl With One Eye’ – in which she aggressively sings with prowess and power, to the beautiful ‘Cosmic Love’, the album was an enormous success, both critically and commercially. While her second album, Ceremonials, wasn’t quite the same musical achievement for the English singer, her latest effort, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, managed to stun critics. The album bridges the gap between silence and bombastic rock expertly, allowing space for breath and breathlessness.

Lyrically, Welch deals with a wide array of emotions and situations.

The album as a whole is immensely powerful, and displays one of the strongest women working in music today.

Too frequently, women remain overlooked in music. But increasingly, women in music are finding their footing and interrogating a society that sometimes prefers to silence their voices. The women listed above are only a small number of those who are breaking new ground in the music industry. And as time goes by, the prominence of women’s work in the industry will only get stronger.

Following in the footsteps of the

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Dublin de Rigueur A slice of UNIVERSITY Fashion Name: Aifric Bruen Year: Second Year Studying: English with Drama Clothes: Coat: Fresh.

Dress: My Mum’s – she got it in Berlin.

Docs: Schuh.

“The tights, I think, are my friend’s – I found them in my apartment, so I just put them on.

Name: Sebastian BC Year: Erasmus Studying: Business Clothes: Jacket: Somewhere in Paris. In France.

Scarf: Ah Fuck. Paris too. I don’t remember the exact place.

“I don’t know what I like the most about my outfit today. I like that the most probably – my jumper.

But I don’t know exactly why. Just because I like it.”

Katie Devlin dissects the basic problems with Fashion Week following the advent of the social media craze AT THE end of 2015, the Council of Fashion Designers of America revealed plans to re-evaluate the current format of New York’s bi-annual fashion week. This spurred endless discussions not only about what it would mean for the fashion industry overall, but also about the effectiveness of the current tried and tested structure in today’s constantly changing world. Chairwoman Diane Von Furstenberg told Women’s Wear Daily: “We have designers, retailers and everybody complaining about the shows.

Something’s not right anymore because of social media, people are confused.” CEO and President Steven Kolb went as far as to question the “relevance of Fashion Week in its current format” altogether.

Before social media, the collections at fashion week were shown to editors and buyers, and were not readily accessible to consumers. However, with designers and showrunners alike now taking full advantage of platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, a deep disconnect has formed between the collections and the consumer. In this way, fashion week has become open to the public, yet the clothes we see on the runway can’t be purchased until months later. This is

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largely due to the ‘season’ system in operation whereby Spring/Summer collections walk the runway in September and Autumn/Winter premieres in February. If the celebrities are wearing them almost immediately following their catwalk debut (contradicting the season system altogether), will the average customer still want to wear it six months later when it becomes available for purchase?

In short, no, especially when the gap between fashion week and a collection’s release allows fast fashion retailers ample time to produce cheaper replicas, and this has not been lost on the industry’s heavy hitters. Some very exciting changes have been happening in the fashion industry to address this problem.

Givenchy opened up its September 2015 NYFW show to allow both industry professionals and customers to attend, while labels like Moschino and Versace have begun to offer refined capsule collections to be made available after the show.

Rebecca Minkoff was one of the first to disobey the season system, by announcing back in December that her February 2016 show will be the readily available Spring/Summer collection and not Autumn/Winter. Within a week of each other in February this year,

Fashion Week shake-up: What does it mean?

Burberry, Tom Ford and Vetements all announced plans to disregard the traditional fashion calendar in favour of twice yearly shows, combining men’s and womenswear, which will be available for purchase the same day. Burberry specifically described their schedule shake-up as “seasonless”, whilst Vetements CEO Guram Gvasalia said of this decision “splitting genders in two is against the natural flow of today’s reality”.

The traditional fashion week system is what Tom Ford called an “antiquated idea” that no longer serves its function in today’s consumer market. In addition, separating men’s and women’s collections seems irrelevant in a time where the face of Louis Vuitton womenswear is male, and brands like Gucci have begun to introduce mixed runway shows.

While the obvious advantage of these changes is that clothes will become literally accessible to prospective buyers at the time of their debut, the even more exciting outcome is the way in which this will open up the accessibility of the fashion industry as a whole. Many people regard fashion as frivolous or disposable due to its exclusive and distant nature. However, this revamp aims not only to fit better in a consumer market, but also to re-establish the relevance of fashion in today’s society by adapting to a format that makes sense to and resonates with even the idle follower.

Ariel Winter and the SAG Debacle Bilikis Ogunseye analyses body shaming, positivity and scars at the SAG awards 2016 BEING body positive has become increasingly popular over social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. This movement has encouraged people to be more comfortable in their appearance and to be content with their bodies. This act has had a positive effect worldwide and we have celebrities like Amandla Stenberg, Selena Gomez, and Ariana Grande joining the movement, hitting back on any bad comments that they may receive from the infamous haters amongst their comments on their Instagram pictures and being very present in the anti-body-shaming movement.

Sadly, it was not surprising to see the negativity that was thrown towards Modern Family actress Ariel Winter when she appeared on the red carpet of the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She was dressed in a backless black gown by the designer Romona Keveźa, one which showed off her breast reduction scars.

With this in mind, anyone could have dreaded appearing on the red carpet

especially considering the insulting and hurtful comments one can receive from online bullies. In previous interviews Winter had complained of the excruciating and dreadful pain she’d received from her 32F breasts and decided to undergo cosmetic surgery to have them reduced.

She told People Magazine that she was “extremely happy with the decision” and in this sense, we should also be extremely happy for her. We should be proud of her decision to not to cover up her breast reduction scars with makeup or with a dress that may hide those scars.

Body shaming can manifest itself in numerous ways and we can become victims of it without even noticing. A simple comment could be perceived as more hurtful than intended. Most common is when you compare someone to another person or make a throwaway comment about someone’s appearance to their face, which are the most common forms.

As we do this, most of the time, we are not aware of how the other person may

receive it or in which way it may impact them.

It’s important that we stop comparing people with each other. It’s a difficult thing to do and seems to be some kind of inherent part of us that we just can’t help. We need to start appreciating the small things about ourselves, even the things we may not necessarily like or have the potential to hurt our self-esteem, like Winter’s scars. We need to be building each other up, instead of tearing each other down, even if the person in question is of celebrity status.

This is why when Ariel Winter emerged onto the carpet at the SAG awards, claiming she had “nothing to hide” about her breast reductions scars (which you could not really notice, unless you were judging closely), was a great moment. These celebrities are highly influential among young people and if a person who was struggling with their appearance saw her and decided to embrace themselves for who they are, Winter is doing a great job; both for herself and for them.

'' Body shaming can manifest itself in numerous ways and we can become victims of it without even noticing.''

Photo: Ariel Winter

Viva Glam: The Movement Lucy Coffey looks at this season’s lip trends and the Viva Glam impact in 2016 WE’VE admired them from afar.

We’ve lusted after them from outside shop windows, and we’ve bought them with the last cash to cross our palm until payday; MAC is always worth it. Host to a myriad of shades, celebrity endorsers and top-tier make-up artists, MAC was one of the first make-up brands marketed specifically for make-up artists and certainly the first to launch a line dedicated entirely to “support men, women and children affected by HIV/ AIDS globally.” It’s not often the price tag on beauty products is justified, but in the case of Viva Glam this seems to be the case.

Frequently taken at face value, many don’t realise the true impact of the MAC Viva Glam line. Founded in 1994, Viva Glam was originally fronted by Ru Paul, the blonde bombshell who stood at the forefront of diversity but also as a frontrunner in the movement for make-up as an art form. From Ru Paul to Lil’ Kim to Boy

George, there’s always been a celebrated front face of the Viva Glam line, and to start off 2016, MAC have named Ariana Grande their new Viva Glam girl.

Grande’s line is called the ‘Good Girl? Bad Girl?’ collection. It consists of a lipstick in a deep matte plum and a lipglass of a shimmer-me-pink variety. Layered together or taken apart, these products give intensely different and versatile looks, which have already been discussed in minute detail by American bloggers like Temptalia. The collection’s arrival in Ireland on the 4th of February saw the lipglass sell out in major outlets by the 9th with the lipstick following closely behind. However, Grande’s collection will not only have an effect on the masses of people who sport the new shades on every corner, but on the people suffering from AIDS in areas where medication and living assistance isn’t readily available to them.

Now in its 22nd year, the MAC AIDS Fund has helped raise over $400 million of AIDS relief through the selling of Viva Glam

products alone. 100 per cent of the Viva Glam products go directly to the fund who then disperse the money all over the world, and provide relief to organisations in the form of Medicare, food and housing. Initially introduced to combat the aftermath of the AIDS threat which arose during the 1980s AIDS Crisis, the MAC Aids Fund has been a celebrated and worthy cause since its beginnings.

With most retailers constantly raising prices to compete in an everexpanding market, it is a rare thing to have a brand where the raising of the price isn’t for the benefit of the company, but rather the individual.

Indeed, while the 1994 ‘Rouge-Amour’ Viva Glam cost close to £11, today Grande’s ‘Deep Dark Plum’ costs a ripe €20. However, don’t let the price-rise confuse the Viva Glam goal, which is to help those suffering from a curable disease and to help the poverty stricken in developing countries.

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OLD SCHOOL

In the spirit of spring, Kiera Black is reveals how to achieve city-kid styles

SPRING is a time for reinvention. For fashion aficionados this means going through your wardrobe – right to the very back – and tugging out those faded denims, those checked flannel shirts and vaguely shapeless printed tees reminiscent of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Pull them out and get ready to reintroduce them as every day staples, because these old favourites are creeping back into relevance.

In terms of style, this season’s heavy hitters are sporty-chic, vintage hip-hop, and shocking pops of colour. American Apparel, Adidas and Urban Outfitters are some of the leading brands in old-school rehashes, and finally that faded denim bomber you’ve been nursing and promising yourself that you’ll wear ‘one day’, can confidently emerge into the springtime sun.

Sports-vogue began to shyly surface last autumn. Ankle-length woollen jackets and beanie hats met colourful Nike Roshe Runs to create an ‘athletic city slicker’ look, and springtime always brings with it a flash of bright colour to celebrate the end of a fourmonth winter. This season the two looks are combining. In the style of Rihanna, Rita Ora and Insta-Model Cailin Russo, it’s all about blending

old-school hip-hop and urban chic. To emulate this style, we managed to get our hands on some choice vintage pieces from Dublin’s own Tola Vintage, so that slick city-kids Darragh and Zena can demonstrate the return to 90s style.

For his first look, Darragh exhibits a cropped corduroy sports jacket over a faded patterned shirt. Loud patterns and eccentricity go hand-in-hand to create a modern hipster vibe, complemented by simple black chinos and black winklepicker boots. The look is topped off with a glimmering gold chain for an extra hip-hop touch. Zena hits back in city school-girl style, wearing a tartan-lined pine bomber, cropped blue dungarees and faded converse lace-ups. This style is boyish and relaxed with an emphasis on bold statement make-up and jewellery. Zena wears a heavy gold chain and full brows to complete the look.

Zena’s next outfit is a little less tomboy and a little more sports-prep. She teams a vintage sports polo shirt with a teased denim skirt, keeping the tousled city-kid vibe, while the nipped in waist and high-buttoned collar add a feminine touch. Darragh sports a vibrant green shirt underneath the jacket, introducing

a burst of springtime colour to his look. Block colours are making a huge comeback and really make a statement when paired with contrasting materials and shades.

For their final look, Zena and Darragh swap up their outfits and show that ambiguity is in this spring. Zena drapes the oversized men’s shirt over ultra-feminine lace bralette and teams it with figure hugging high-waisted jeans, creating a ‘boyfriend’s wardrobe meets Beyoncé’ look. She keeps accessories minimal, aside from sporadic flashes of gold and chunky strap heels, reminiscent of the Spice Girls era.

Meanwhile Darragh dons the buttoned up polo tee, which acts as a canvas for the bright bomber and twinkling multi-strand chain.

The classic black chinos are a highly flexible wardrobe staple, and, rolled up a notch to reveal the leather boots, they help to create a kicked-back, uncomplicated city-slick look.

So be daring this spring. Layer those bold colours and contrasting textures. Add a sparkle of gold here and there. Spring is indisputably a time for change and newness – even if that means using what’s old to freshen up your spring style.

Models: Zena Carey and Darragh McHugh Photographer: James Holohan MUA: Roxana Melut Stylist: Lucy Coffey Supplier: Tola Vintage Venue: The Fresh Market

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Poetry Ireland Cultivating Heritage

“THE aim of poetry and the poet is finally to be of service, to ply the effort of the individual into the larger work of the community as a whole.” As Ireland’s seminal poet, it is only right that our national institution for poetry would echo Seamus Heaney’s sentiment in their motto: connecting poetry and people. Helming the small team located in their inconspicuous Kildare Street office, Maureen Kennelly has long been a firm believer in the power of the written word if her work history is any indication. With almost 20 years of experience in the vast world of literature under her belt, she has recently moved from freelancing to her current post as Poetry Ireland’s director.

Though her day to day tasks in running the organisation involve securing funding and programming, Kennelly is currently overseeing major plans to give shape to the communal aspect of poetry outlined by Heaney. “What we’re looking for is a home for poetry. We’re really lucky in Ireland because we have a weakness for poetry I think - we’re coming down with good poets. In a job like this you never need to worry about the quality and I suppose because we’re known worldwide for our poets, it’s a terrific head start.”

This home Kennelly speaks of is a public poetry centre, one that will entice locals and tourists alike to explore both our poetic heritage and future. “[The centre] would encompass a very broad range of material and it would include a cafe, a social space is very important... it’s the bar, it’s the cafe that might initially draw you in and then you’re kind of encouraged to look at what else is on offer there.” This tactic is already being employed by the organisation in tandem with Books Upstairs on D’Olier Street with a monthly event aptly named Poems Upstairs. Late nights see the store’s café become a live venue for showcasing both established and up-and-coming poets, with the added allure of a glass of wine and a delightful selection of books on sale.

Kennelly hopes that the upcoming centre will house its own specialist book shop as well as Seamus Heaney’s working poetry library, critically donated by Marie Heaney which is comprised of “the actual poetry books that he’d have used as reference himself and would have read down the years.” Unsurprisingly, a poetically minded discussion seems to circle

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around the obvious nucleus of Heaney, with Kennelly evoking his loss as a bittersweet wake-up call: “With Seamus Heaney’s very sudden death I suppose it woke people up a lot actually in a way and they kind of thought ‘God, we have something extremely precious here, we better mind it’, so it did remind people that we’re really, really lucky to live in a country where poetry is so valued.”

Here in UCD, 157 students applied to take part in a workshop with Irish Poetry Chair Paula Meehan, a number unprecedented by those organising the allotment of places. This too suggests a boom in poetic engagement amongst all ages, with the popularity of events such as Poems Upstairs cementing the rise in artistic appreciation. “I’d say every single night of the week there’s some sort of spoken word event in Dublin and several around the country,” Kennelly muses before asserting that “not everything happens in Dublin!”

As a “literature hub for all of Ireland”, the proposed poetry centre will act as an expansion of these event spaces dispersed around the country, hoping to attract enthusiasts young and old. With this stirring of interest in the arts, Poetry Ireland have an education department dedicated to nursing the interest as early as possible. Engaging with 30,000 students every year across the country, the team facilitate workshops for both primary and secondary school students with writers. “Not only encouraging a love of writing but also encouraging kids to write themselves... that’s a very important part of what we do in terms of looking to the next generation, to make sure that we cultivate as much good work as we can,” Kennelly explains.

Though these workshops are an essential aspect of instilling the interest, Poetry Ireland are constantly working to maintain enthusiasm.

Recently, this included a special W.B. Yeats 150th anniversary event commemorating the poet and his legacy. Organising such events brings the diversity inherent in Kennelly’s role and her team as a whole to the fore. “When you take on a role like that you’re thinking about the show itself of course and what it will be,” she explains, “but then you’re also thinking about the media and how you make them as aware as you can about it so that you get as much profile as you can, and then you’re

thinking about funders as well – who do you want to bring to it so that they can see the best of what you do? You’re always just thinking about those different things in terms of our by-line.”

Kennelly accepts that for many people writing poetry may simply be a form of therapy or an enjoyable hobby, but despite being a private act at its core, writing is its own kind of public service. “Even though it might seem like a private thing, you’re all the time thinking ‘how do you get the message of poetry out?

That’s the overriding thing – it’s to make it inescapable, really, and as always with an eye to quality.” Thankfully, there is no shortage of quality in Ireland at the moment, as Kennelly explains: “There is genuinely a hugely exciting wave of new poets coming through so it’s brilliant to see it replenished again because I suppose it’s easy sometimes to focus on the already established or the well-known names but you always have to look to the future of course - and they are thrillingly exciting.”

This dual focus of past and present is evident in Poetry Ireland Review, the organisation’s journal published three times a year. Though the publication is a platform for emerging voices, it is a concrete example of the efforts to preserve our country’s rich poetic heritage, one that Kennelly and her team are dedicated to continuing: “Here’s a very living, breathing art-form but look at all this fantastic heritage in both languages that we have to celebrate.”

As plans to open a national poetry centre take shape, director of Poetry Ireland Maureen Kennelly speaks to Eva Griffin about the organisation and Ireland’s rich poetic history

Taking Ownership: Jan Carson “If you grow up in Northern Ireland you inherit a lot of things from the people who came before you.”

As she delves into the art of the short story with her first collection, Jan Carson discusses her life and work with Megan Hickey IN 2014, Northern Irish writer Jan Carson released her debut novel Malcolm Orange Disappears . Two years later she is about to release her first collection of short stories, Children’s Children . For Carson, balancing writing short stories with writing her novel has been a learning curve. “I’ve been working on the short stories for quite a wee while. I have a very strange habit of writing the novel one day and then the short story the next.” Due to this overlap, both processes appear to feed into each other, as she explains. “Some of the shorts have been around since I started writing Malcolm . And now I’m currently finishing another novel, so they sort of come in between. I tend to write these little ideas that work their way into the novel and become subplots, so this collection led from getting them out of my system.”

The one thing that every writer needs to do to perfect their craft is to read. For Carson, a love of books was instilled from a young age. “I was the annoying child that stole everybody else in my family’s library tickets. I don’t know why my parents let me read adult things so early, but I think I read

my first Agatha Christie when I was about seven, I had no idea what adultery or incest were. But I have never really liked cartoons or children’s things, I’ve always been drawn to roles and good dialogue. So I went very quickly from Roald Dahl to Agatha Christie.”

While writing her first novel, Carson was not only working a full-time job, but also studying for a master’s degree – a feat that can’t have been easy. “I’d written a novel before which was terrible, it went straight into the bin but it was just a good exercise and discipline… At one point I was working in a shop in a shopping mall and I would write the novel on my breaks. It was trying to get little bits of time. So it wasn’t necessarily that it took an awful long time to form the ideas and the words, it was more actually finding physical time to write it.”

Many UCD students will understand Carson’s challenges as they juggle writing with studying, social lives and work. But what do writers need to overcome these obstacles? “Discipline”. That’s the first word Carson says when thinking of ways to write during hectic schedules. “I think discipline is a really scary word and lots of people get terrified by the idea of it. But to be honest, little tricks help like planning out work ahead. I always carry my laptop with me, if you’re waiting for a friend to come to coffee and you’ve got half an hour because they’re running late, that’s an hour you could be writing. If you carry a notebook that’s another way to grab time. I like to read a lot; I think if you’re going to write you need to balance it up with reading as much as you can. So I never leave the

house without a book in my hand. Also don’t watch TV.” Magic realism is the genre Carson places her books in, with the short stories ‘Still’ and ‘Children’s Children’ showing her ability to find magic in mundane places. This label comes with its own set of typical comparisons, ones that Carson has taken to. “Like Salman Rushdie, but mostly Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Gunter Grass. It’s not like fantasy because it’s not a made up world or made up language or characters. It’s the real world but something strange happens in it. And it’s usually an allegory or a metaphor for something else. That would be the style that I do. I like Kurt Vonnegut and there’s an American author called Richard Brautigan, his work is very surreal and I really like what he does with language and images and metaphors.”

Carson’s magic realism stands out alongside her Northern Irish identity throughout her collection. With East Belfast as her home, this area had a large influence on Children’s Children as well as understanding what it means to be Northern Irish today. “I think a couple of things,” she continues as she explains why she focuses on her Northern Irish identity in her writing. “When I started to write I lived in America for a long time, and when I came home I wrote Malcolm about America and it was easier to write from a distance. With these stories I purposely tried as much as I can to set them in the place that I live.” For Carson, writing is cathartic in terms of

understanding her own locale. “A lot of it is trying to have an ownership with Belfast,” she explains. “A lot of [writing] for me has been coming to terms with my own culture and who I am and growing into it.”

Her Protestant surroundings during her youth have given Carson an appreciation of the effect of one’s environment, though learning this was a journey in itself. “If you grow up in Northern Ireland you inherit a lot of things from the people who came before you, whether that’s your family or just the generation before and there’s a kind of phase that you go through where you have to decide what you think for yourself. Whether that be about politics or religion or culture, relationships, anything.

And I think this collection very much marks that journey for me, but I also think there’s a bigger sense of what Northern Ireland is going through as a country at the moment.”

Carson’s writing takes what it means to be Northern Irish and adds elements of magic and femininity to create a unique literary voice, and with this she forces her readers to look to the past in order to find one’s own identity. “I think we’re at a point where we can decide, do we move backwards, and continue to think the way we always have or make a decision about who we are as a country now. A lot of the characters in this story are at a midpoint of a relationship where they have to make a decision about what’s happening or with fear or ending it with their own sense of self. I kind of wanted it to reflect Northern Ireland in that way.”

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Ai Weiwei is causing a storm once again.

Fergus Dunne takes a look at the effects of politics and art, and the trail of activism the artist is leaving behind him wife, Lu Qing. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs alleged that he had been arrested due to “economic crimes.” After his detainment he was placed under house arrest and had his passport confiscated, only having it returned to him last July.

Weiwei also uses his art to make these political statements. He made a number of documentary films about the deaths of the students in Sichuan, such as 4851, which is a tribute to those who perished, and Little Girl’s Cheeks , which documented the citizens’ investigation into the tragedy. His film A Beautiful Life follows the life of Feng Zhenghu, a Chinese citizen who, after being denied entry into China, lived at a passageway in the Narita Airport in Tokyo for 92 days as a protest. His 2011 film, So Sorry, shows the beginnings of his run-ins with the Chinese government.

Weiwei’s visual art also includes large scale installations, which were a large component of his exhibition in Copenhagen. They included ‘Straight’, an installation comprised of 73 tons of steel reinforcement that he found among the rubble after the earthquake in Sichuan, and ‘Sunflower Seeds’, a piece consisting of 100 million handmade porcelain sunflower seeds.

There were also a number of sculptures made of wood recovered from some of the Buddhist

temples that were torn down during the Cultural Revolution.

His decision to immediately close Ruptures has been met with some criticism, and raises some very important questions: how important is the link between art and politics? And moreover, should artists involve themselves with politics, at the cost of limiting the reach of their work?

One of the principle duties of art is to act as a mirror to society, reflecting both good and bad features. It can highlight where things need to change, and light a fire under those who have the power to realise these changes.

In this way, art is an ideal vessel for political discourse. As politics is one of the main components of any society, it could be said that it is very important for it to be represented, and criticised in art. The painter Edgar Dégas once said that “art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Art can be and has been used to expose political corruption, dishonesty, and injustice. It has the power to make people face up to the ugly truths that they may not want to, or may not be able to see on their own. Because of this, many artists feel it is their responsibility to use their work as a platform for social and political change. Ai Weiwei himself put it best: “Creativity is the power to reject the past, change the status quo, and seek new potential.”

So, now that he’s successfully given the middle finger to injustice, what’s next for Ai Weiwei? For now he’s sticking with the migrant crisis in Europe. He has recently set up a studio on the Greek island of Lesbos, one of the main entry points into Europe for refugees and migrants, where he has been documenting the humanitarian crisis. Speaking to The Guardian , he said: “As an artist, I have to relate to humanity’s struggles… I never separate these situations from my art… The border is not in Lesbos, it really [is] in our minds and in our hearts.”

Fighting The Cause Once Again

LAST month, renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei created controversy when he decided to close a major exhibition of his artwork in Copenhagen’s Faurschou Foundation.

He did this following the passing of Denmark’s new law which allows authorities to seize valuables and cash from asylum seekers.

The exhibition, Ruptures , featured some of his most iconic work, including his installation ‘Sunflower Seeds’, and was due to remain open until mid-April. Speaking to The Guardian , he said: “It made me feel very angry. The way I can protest is that I can withdraw my works from that country. It is very simple, very symbolic – I cannot co-exist, I cannot stand in front of these people, and see these policies. It is a personal act, very simple; an artist trying not just to watch events but to act, and I made this decision spontaneously.”

Ai Weiwei is no stranger to political controversy. He is an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, advocating for democracy and freedom of speech. This isn’t the safest course of action in China and has not been without consequences. In 2009, Chinese authorities shut down his blog, where he had been publishing his political messages.

This was due to his criticism of the Beijing Olympic Games, and the government’s lack of transparency in revealing names of students who died in an earthquake in the Sichuan province due to the unstable construction of campuses in the area. While investigating the shoddy work involved, he was beaten by police and suffered internal bleeding. In January 2011 his newly built Shanghai studio was demolished in response to several documentaries he made about issues the municipal authorities considered to be sensitive. In April 2011 he was arrested in Beijing and detained for 81 days for his activism. Police also searched his studio, seizing laptops and hard drives, and detained eight staff members and Ai Weiwei’s

FaTal Fourway Best Cover Songs

‘Eh Oh’ by Some Hot Guy and a Chick Eva Griffin I stumbled upon this cover on the Internet one day thanks to an incredible online resource known as YouTube. This platform allows our talented youths to share video clips of themselves complete with audio and useful features such as ‘liking’ and ‘commenting’.

Thanks to this website on the World Wide Web, I was able to find, like and share this incredible showcase of raw talent. It is my firm belief that the original version is a pile of poop compared to this amazing cover.

The song in question is ‘Eh Oh’ originally by a presumably French band called Bastille. The lyrics probably contain some reference to the French revolution, but no matter, for the true essence of this chef d’oeuvre is the raucous refrain of EH EH OH EH OH EH EH OH EH OH repeated throughout. The handsome bearded fellow in this video clip really makes this melodic feature his own and he maintains a seductive,

stoic expression throughout. His performance is impressive, and his vocals grow stronger as the song progresses, allowing him to truly shine despite technically being the backing vocalist.

The lead singer is kind of handsome, but sadly does not possess the same natural star power as her male counterpart. She seems to be in pain for much of the video clip and frequently appears to be unsure of what she is doing or why she is there.

Frankly, it is my humble opinion that the hunky man should strike out on his own. If it wasn’t for him this cover version would potentially fall apart because her voice is a bit sucky and her hair looks weird.

Best of all are the high quality effects. The lighting is dark and blue which looks cool and the editing cuts are in a word: seamless. The duo have just started out and lack funding, but the lady singer ingeniously transforms her own hand into a microphone while the sexy man singer uses his smart phone for the backing track. Technology is brilliant! But not as brilliant as that dude and his neat hat. Check it out!

Justin Bieber ft. Busta Rhymes – Drummer Boy - Meabh Butler What do you get when you cross Bieber, Busta Rhymes and the Drummer Boy Christmas Carol?

I’ll tell you what: something so awful, so wrong and so very weird. It is one of the greatest worst covers I’ve sacrificed my ears to. We all have our guilty pleasures and I won’t lie to you, I’m a newfound Belieber, so maybe I’m a little biased.

After the absolute chunes he released during the summer, I’ve taken a soft spot for the lad, something which is difficult to admit after my years of being a vocally active Bieber hater. But hey, I’m all for giving credit where it’s due.

Drummer Boy has always been a Christmas song I’ve been fond of. It brings me back to

the days of primary school carol services, thoughts of cold winter evenings, fires blazing and the smell of Christmas tree pine needles throughout the house; all very soft, cosy and soothing images that celebrate the Lord’s blessed birth. JB, however, has eliminated any sense of Christmas that comes with the song, apart from the odd religious reference “playing for the king, playing for the title, I’m surprised you didn’t hear this in the Bible” (that’s an actual line in the song), and turns it into something that is a far cry from the heartwarming scenes of the stable in Bethlehem. What starts off as a standard, fairly crappy attempt at a boybandish sounding cover, quickly turns into something wholly amazingly terrible. Both Busta Rhymes

and Bieber collaborate to craft a rap/pop/carol song that is, as the old saying goes, so bad it’s really, really good.

Before you cast your judgements, I ask you to give it a listen, and see for yourself the joy it will bring to what you once considered musically trained and tasteful ears. Just try and listen without rapping along. G’wan, I dare ya.

Hooked on a Feeling - David Hasselhoff - Aoife Hardesty David Hasselhoff is a man most famous for running shirtless in slow motion along a beach.

Sadly, this portrayal does not do the man justice.

What many do not realise is that the Hoff had a brief and mildly illustrious music career, the highlight of which was undoubtedly his cover version of “Hooked on a Feeling”.

This is more than just another song. It is an experience. Listening to the song by itself it might just seem like another generic cover, complete with the “ooga chakka hooga hooga” in the background, but don’t let that fool you.

This is no ordinary cover, this version of ‘Hooked on a Feeling’ is meant to be enjoyed when

paired with watching the music video. Only then can this song be truly appreciated.

It opens with a revolving floating cube, displaying images from the video that are yet to come, setting the scene, whetting your appetite for more, because the bizarrity is captivating. Our first view of the Hoff is of him dressed in formal wear in front of a crowd of people, but he’s not going to stay there for long. Oh no. David Hasselhoff is going to find himself in a whole host of weird places throughout this video, using the power of the magical green screen.

Ballroom, forest, a pair of dachshunds, angels, he’s riding a motorbike, a random alien. And now he’s sailing through the air on a snowboard with a fish in his mouth.

Now the Hoff is serious about his music. He

sings throughout the whole video, never stopping. Or at least he mouths the lyrics… But a true artist like David (I can call him David.

After the amount of times I’ve watched this video over the past couple of days I think I know him well enough to call him David, or maybe even Dave...) would not do such a thing.

He loves this music. He loves this song. You can see him bursting with emotion throughout.

Watching David sing this song whilst he soars through the air may have been the best moment of my life. Oh yeah, he spends most of the song flying, like a bird. Literally.

Celine Dion and Anastacia – You Shook Me All Night Long - Patrick Kelleher There’s something spellbinding about watching Celine Dion and Anastacia covering AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. It’s a bit like watching your granny and your weird aunt doing a karaoke duet at a family gathering that’s gone on that bit too long. Except this is worse than your granny and your weird aunt, because not even Celine Dion and Anastacia seem to realise quite how mortifying the spectacle is.

The whole performance is just so 2000s that it feels hard to watch. Anastacia parades about the stage in a crop top exposing her upsettingly toned midriff. Celine Dion is dressed up in like a cross between a cool granny and Freddie Mercury. ‘Come on girlfriend!’ Celine shouts to her BFF, Anastacia, as they sing frantically at each other. ‘You shook me, you shook me, you shook me!’ they shriek, as the band and the crowd go wild. Celine Dion even conveniently begins the cover by doing air guitar. I just can’t decide if it feels like a lame thirteen year old’s slumber party or a drug fuelled rave in a nursing home. Either way, maybe I’m having a bit too much fun for it to be socially acceptable.

As terrifically cringe inducing as the whole charade is, there is something beautiful about it too. Celine and Anastacia look like they’re just the best of friends.

The way they sing the song, not just to the crowd, but to each other, is something of beauty. They’re like sisters from other misters, and they got this. From Celine’s white, shiny trousers to Anastacia’s trademark shitty sunglasses, it reeks of a bygone era, and one that I’m not ashamed to admit that I miss. It also raises some important questions, such as ‘where the hell is Anastacia now anyway? Can I at least buy her sunglasses on Ebay? Or can I hire her personal trainer?’

So many questions, so few answers.

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