SERIAL CULTURE ISSUE TEN

Exploring the lives and art of young people in Halton

Serial DECEMBER 2022

CULTURE

PR WOLF / QUEER LIT/ THE SCIENCE OF SUPERHEROES KNIVES OUT / THE SPLINTER ENSEMBLE 1 ISSUE TEN

Meet the team

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COVER ART

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PR WOLF INTERVIEW

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AUTUMN POEM BY JULIAN

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QUEER LIT

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THE SPLINTERS ENSEMBLE

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SCORES FROM THE SCREEN

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ELI ART & POETRY

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HYC

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A BILLION TIMES I LOVE YOU

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THE SCIENCE OF SUPERHEROES

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ONLY PRIDE WILL DO

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GET INVOLVED

Editorial Advisory Team Editorial Team Facilitator - Meg DeMar Designer - Greg Oldfield The Studio Project Manager - Louise Nulty

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COVER ART

CATH HUGHES Name: Cath Hughes Age: 22 Where are you based? Widnes but I travel around Wales How long have you been creating art? Since 2019 How did you first get into it? I got into it through my Grandad. He used to take me on days out and when he took photos I watched.

He was a professional photographer.

What training do you have? I am self taught mostly however I have done short courses in St Helens college and I’m now currently studying it in Liverpool college doing level 3. I am hoping to progress onto university.

What media/software do you use?

I use Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop What is the inspiration

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for these pieces? I have always loved being around nature and wildlife and wanted to capture its beauty to let people enjoy it through my work. I want to encourage people to explore, get out more and just have fun, enjoy our beautiful scenery and animals.

What are the aims for your art?

Just for people to enjoy my work and potentially make a career out of it.

Where can people find you on Social Media? I currently have an Instagram and Facebook page. I would love to expand and create a website to get more people and potential clients.

IG: _cgh_photos_

I have always loved being around nature and wildlife and wanted to capture its beauty

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PR WOLF

AN INTERVIEW WITH

Recently, I sat down with PR Wolf; a fursuiter from the United Kingdom and I got to ask him a series of questions about his interest in cosplaying in the Furry Fandom and why he enjoys it. Enjoy the Interview!

Owen: Could you introduce yourself and tell a little bit about yourself, PR? PR Wolf: If I was to very quickly explain who I am; I am a person, I’m PR Wolf as the character I portray as.

I dress up as a rabbit-wolf character for fun in my free time. I briefly spent awhile doing regular YouTube videos about the sort of Furry Community during the end of 2017, early 2018; since then, I’ve made less YouTube videos due to getting a real-life job,

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by Owen Johnson

I still partake in the Furry Community as a whole and occasionally produce online videos that people seem to enjoy, and I make Furry

Owen: Have you ever been to Comic Cons before?

Owen: How did you interested in fursuiting?

PR Wolf: I had never initially, obviously I known about fursuiting because I seen Furries and I’ve seen people doing it before, and I always had an interest in Furries, anthropomorphic animals, and shows like Mongrels, Disney movies like Robin Hood, Zootopia, and The Lion King. I was always into Furries, but I would always see the people in fursuits and I didn’t think it was something that I was gonna do, and I didn’t think it was something that would interest me and I was actually a Furry for years before actually owning a fursuit. So, what happened was a friend of mine at a convention called Latimer, he’d actually let me use his head and paws as a partial suit and I remember putting it on and it was so fun and I went to have a look in this big mirror and I could

PR Wolf: No, I’ve never actually been to a Comic Con or any kind of convention other than I’ve been to several Furry Conventions, I have also been to a video game exhibition, the one called ESL Final for CS:GO or something like that in London. It was sort of a Convention but more of a gaming event for E-Sports.

However, I’ve never been to a Comic Con before, I’ve always wanted to, it looks like something that can be quite fun. It’s just because I’ve never really found the time to go and you’d have to book tickets in advance and

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Owen: Do you go frequently or whenever you need to?

PR Wolf: Yeah, the Furry Conventions I’ve been to, so you’ve got cons like ConFuzzled which happens once every year and that’s up in Birmingham, I’ve been to that every year that it’s been on since 2018, and I’ve went to the 2019 and 2022 ConFuzzled events, but the 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled due to Covid. Also, there’s not just conventions, there are also FurMeets that you can find in Nottingham and the London one which I go to very occasionally.

They are more regularly held and those are normally held on every month, and I don’t go to every single one. But I’ll go a handful maybe 6 or 7 times a year.

Owen: When you’re fursuiting, do you ever find any difficulties with it like for example; do you ever get warm in it or had problems seeing through it?

PR Wolf: So, for me, it’s not too bad, but it varies from costume to costume for some people they have a lot of difficulties with the heat and if you’ve got a full suit where you’ve got the body part as well, that’s a lot more fur, it’s a lot warmer and hotter and especially if it’s got all the padding as well.

For me, it’s normally ok, I mean it gets hot like nothing too bad. I did fursuit not that long ago in Summer this year when we had that heatwave, and the temperature was around thirtysomething degrees, and it was extremely hot, and I could only do it for 30 minutes.

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But my suit has good ventilation, and the eyes have good visibility.

The one thing that is unusual is that if it looks like if I’m looking at you straight on right now, but what I’m doing is not looking at you, but I can’t look forwards due to the fursuit head being in front of me, so I kind of have to look sideways for me to see what’s going on at the camera, as it looks like I’m looking straight ahead at you.

Owen: In addition to the fursuitng, do you know what material is used for the eyes for the inside netting?

PR Wolf: I didn’t personally build my suit, it was built by somebody else but the eyes they’re made of a kind of mesh, so it’s almost like card or fabric, thick fabric with loads of holes in it. If I zoom in on the camera you can see the holes in my fursuit head’s eyes. And even though it looks like you couldn’t see through, but if you ever try hold a T-Shirt over the fursuit eye, you kind of see through it, it’s the same deal.

PR Wolf (Continued): I Basically, if I use this bottle of Alcohol-free beer as an example; I can’t see it right now but now I can, if I put it in front of the eye due to not being able to see straight on due to the head being in the way.

Owen: I know conventions are back up and running and during issue 8 of Serial Culture and we were talking about our experiences of Comic Cons, but I wanted to ask what experience you’ve had with Fur Meets over the last 5 years?

Owen: Whilst your fursuiting at Meet Ups, have you ever had people ever come up to you and mess with the fursuit head and try to damage it?

PR Wolf: I’ve been pretty lucky in the sense that nobody has ever really done that to me, or at least I’m not aware of it. But, I mean people will have to be very careful and respect when they’re around fursuiters because we cannot see very well and unable to hear quite good; if you walk up to us and grab or touch us, we probably won’t know that you’re coming and it’ll give us a fright and not be very nice and no one wants to be grabbed whilst being in costume and you can damage fursuits quite a lot if you grab them or pull on them or scratch them and these type of things. And my ears are very delicate as well, but they’re strong enough but if someone like pats my head extremely hard, then my ears will snap. But I’m lucky that hasn’t happened to me personally, but you do have to be careful because it DOES happen to some people and it’s not great when that happens.

PR Wolf: I’ve never really had a bad experience, I’ve never really gone to anything where I’ve thought “Oh, that’s terrible and I would never go there again” I’ve always had a good experience with all of the meet ups and various conventions that I’ve been to, which is good! It’s always an opportunity where you’ll meet new people, and people that you’ll only see once a year. I have friends who live all around the world in different countries and in different parts of England and the UK as a whole.

Owen: How much did your suit cost to buy to get made for you?

PR Wolf: I got very lucky. My suit was made by a friend at a price was very cheap for the quality that it was, so my suit cost me £750 which is obviously a lot of money and I understand that’s a lot but for a fursuit of the quality which it is, that’s a really good deal and because on average for a high quality fursuit these days you’re looking at least £1000 really.

Money well spent and I’m really happy with it!

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Owen: Have you been fursuiting as a different character before PR, or is he the only one you’ve cosplayed as?

PR Wolf: PR is the only character that I’ve ever personally had as myself, like I did when I very first found out about furries I did have a couple of different ideas for characters, but I could never find any that would actually stick that I actually liked. So, I struggled a long time to pick a design and character that I could agree with until I eventually got settled on with PR as a character.

Owen: What was the first show/ movie you ever seen that made you become interested in anthropomorphic animals?

PR Wolf: It would’ve been years ago when I was a kid. It’d be hard to think about the very first one because there were a lot of little that would blend into each other because you’re a kid and you watch lots of different movies, like I used to watch The Lion King and I used to watch movies like Disney’s Robin Hood, and other movies like Watership Down, etc…

Owen: When you started watching Mongrels, how did that impact you on the Furry Fandom?

PR Wolf: It was one of those shows which kind of made me realise that the whole being anthropomorphic animals as main

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characters doesn’t have to be like a child thing. Like it was like you could have animal characters that could talk but they’re like swearing and making adult jokes. Mongrels was like; “Oh hey! You like watching anthropomorphic animals, that’s cool!” It kind of showed me that it was like adults can be into this. But that’s probably the answer to that

Owen: Do you have any plans in the future to switch up things a little for fursuiting or are you gonna be sticking with PR for the remainder of your fursuiting interests?

PR Wolf: I think that I’m gonna continue to do it and I will probably will always be PR because I have such a good connection with the character.

I have been able to express myself and become comfortable in who I am and have fun in a way that I didn’t expect that I’d ever been to do. I was quite a shy person but being this character whilst meeting friends and other people while exploring, it's not only let me become a more confident person thanks to fursuitng and PR as the character and I don’t see myself in stopping in any way.

Soon after the interview, myself and PR Wolf bid farewell after a nearly 2-hour interview on Zoom. But I had the pleasure in interviewing him.

You can find PR on Twitter under the name @ThePRWolf

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Autumn Sweet autumn’s light flickered into my eyes from the woods swaying leaves, She were encapsulated beauty.

Orange and yellows like passion, evenings flowing wind.

No sight more beautiful, No sight I miss more in this cold month of January.

I wander through these woods from time to time wishing the return to its better stateReminiscing my desiderium.

Autumn is over and Winter is underway.

The air changed on December 21st and I’ll never breathe the same again.

Tangible love fell all around me, Glimmering bliss I still recallIts grip on me, infatuating, never did I realise your beauty until the day you left me.

Stranding me in England's most-depressive gloom.

Happy New Year, the best has just left you.

The strength to bare this long inferno in exchange for 90 days of love, We sway from our trees in late October- flickering light into the eyes of passersbyLanding elegantly on the newly cold path, trodden by a winter boot.

Julian Cowley

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The Picture Of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde Written by the famously homosexual Oscar Wilde, the classic philosophical novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ follows the story of a narcissistic young man who sells his soul to ensure that he will stay beautiful - while his portrait begins to age and wear. Dorian indulges in many sins and even extreme acts of violence, studying the effect that it will have on the painting. The book is implicitly queer with many critics calling it homoerotic in nature. However, an ‘uncensored’ edition is also available, containing more graphic and explicitly queer scenes.

By Oskar My Rating - 5 STARS Age Rating - 15+

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COMMUNITY TALKS

Splinters

Ensemble

Originally formed in 2016 to perform at Wembley Arena as guests of Brent Music Service, the Splinters Ensemble is an ‘alternative’ wind and percussion group for gifted and talented young musicians across Halton and Warrington, funded by the Accent Music Education Hub. Our players range from ages 11-19, with a unifying positive attitude and love for music-making that drives them forward, allowing them to thrive in a fun and positive atmosphere, in addition to being part of some amazing events!

'Splinters' have two distinct identities...

The Splinters Ensemble specialises in contemporary music. This offers a less conventional approach to music-making, focusing on different performance styles and unique projects, all with bespoke music composed by award-winning composers Paul McGhee and Lucy Pankhurst. Past projects include a memorised, choreographed routine at Wembley Arena (with an extended version performed at the Music for Youth Festival the following year), Grimm Tales 2018 (a ballet, premiered at the Brindley Theatre), the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival and a performance beneath the Museum of the Moon in the Parr Hall, Warrington.

To balance this, the band also perform as the Splinters Street Band, with unique covers of pop and rock songs from the 1970s to present day. Full of fun and infectiously upbeat, the band are regularly invited to perform at local festivals and events. Most recently, they were invited to perform at the Halliwell Jones Stadium to welcome the Papua New Guinea Rugby League team to the UK for the 2022 World Cup.

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In August 2019 Splinters embarked on their first tour, where they performed in several iconic venues in Belgium, such as the Cloth Hall in Ghent and the famous bandstand in Ostend.

The band continued to thrive even during lockdown, with weekly online rehearsals and regular recordings for sociallydistanced videos, which were released on their YouTube channel. They were also a huge part of the Accent Ensembles 2020 and 2021 Christmas Advent Calendars when in-person concerts were not possible, the players and music staff worked incredibly hard to create a series of videos (social distanced in 2020, ‘live' performances in 2021) which were released in December during the lead-up to Christmas.

Now that we are able to perform together in concerts again, the band have an increasingly busy concert schedule. They are also currently working towards several projects this academic year, including performing and recording music cocomposed with members of the group.

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'Knives Out' Soundtrack Analysis

The original motion picture soundtrack for the epic whodunnit 'Knives Out' crosses boundaries between the genres of classical and jazz. By the composer Nathan Johnson (known for his innovative and unorthodox approaches to his �lm scores), the soundtrack perfectly captures the breakdown of a dysfunctional family as they begin to realise what happened to their beloved Harlan Thrombey.

Arguably one of the most powerful pieces of the soundtrack is 'Knives Out! (String Quartet in G Minor)'. A string quartet consists of two violinists, a violist, and a cellist (contrary to popular belief that it has a double bassist). This is a traditional ensemble that many 18th century composers used, but in 'Knives Out' it is used in less of a

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traditional way. There is heavy use of accented and staccato notes for impact, and there is a sinister quality to the music (emphasised by the minor tonality). The repetitive 'stabs' of short notes can even be compared to the music from the famous shower scene in 'Psycho'.

Whether this was intentional or not I cannot say, however it is de�nitely a �tting parallel. I �rmly believe that this is a fantastic opening piece as it sets the atmosphere up for the rest of the �lm.

Finally, 'The Thrombey Family Theme' is played both near the beginning of the �lm, and at the end. However, it is not entirely the same the second time through. The �rst version is a piano solo - sounding sophisticated and relaxed. Then, the second version adds drums. This subtle but important difference changes the feel entirely, as it adds a random and jazzy element that reflects the dysfunctional family and draws the �lm to a satisfying conclusion.

My Top 3 From The Soundtrack: 1) Knives Out! (String Quartet in G Minor) 2) The Thrombey Family Theme 3) Blanc's Tale, Pt. II

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Where is it?

That feeling of dread.

The one I feel every morning.

As I wake up.

It wasn’t there.

Which threw me.

But on my way out.

The lack of dread let me think.

It’s beautiful.

The morning.

The way the rising sun dances across everything it touches.

The birds sing me a sweet song.

And a realisation hits me.

I made it.

I am okay.

ELI ART & POETRY

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WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN HALTON YOUTH CABINET? Being part of the cabinet means you get to work with local leaders to create change and have further opportunities to attend events regionally and nationally.

The next issue we would like to focus on is poverty and have had meetings with the local food banks.

Our last focus was on improving Mental Health with the Better Letter campaign. We held a health and wellbeing event, pen pal scheme, mental health trail, and health and wellbeing consultations

We meet the second and fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30 – 7:30pm so come and join us!

On the second Tuesday we meet at The Studio Widnes On the fourth Tuesday we meet at The Old Police Station Runcorn

Open to ages 11-18

@HaltonYC 20

SCAN THE QR CODE TO SIGN UP

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ST RE NG TH IN D RE AD IN G M

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W EB SL

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FL IG HT TE LE KI NE SI S

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We asked some of the guests, what super power they would most like to possess.

Here are the results:

The overall winner: Invisibility.

We had great fun, thanks for inviting us to be a part of it!

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GET INVOLVED! A word from the editor Meg DeMar

Serial Culture is a place for your stories and your art!

We can feature your sketches, painting, photography, graphic designs; whatever your art form is, we want to see it! Share with us your poems, short stories or articles.

Been to a GIG, PLAY, SHOW, EXHIBITION, EVENT? Send us your review.

Need some assistance?

We can interview you about your life experiences.

We can feature organisations that have supported you as a young person.

We can shine a spotlight on your charitable and community activities such as raising funds and collecting for food banks.

Whatever your Culture is we can give you a platform. serialculturezine@gmail.com

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT MAGIC YOU CREATE.

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Serial Culture Zine

Origin Story!

Serial Culture zine has been created to provide a pla�orm for the young people of Halton aged 11-25 to share their artwork, cultural ac�vity and lifestyle loves.

Through Halton Borough Council’s youth provision programme, young people responded to our survey and call out for contributors. A small team has developed the zine from scratch with a larger community of young contributors. The editorial team changes and grows as the zine reaches more people, we welcome those who want to stay for the whole project or just add an ar�cle every now and then or a one off.

If you want to add your cultural voice and artwork contact serialculturezine@gmail.com The views expressed are those of the contributors.

LOOSE has been crea�ng opportuni�es for the people of Halton to perform, record, share and develop crea�vely since 1997. In 2010 LOOSE opened The Studio in Lacey Street, Widnes. This community venue is home to a variety of funded community and youth focused art and culture based projects. It is also home to partner organisa�ons, community groups and college courses. To find out what we currently offer, or suggest a project or event yourself visit: www.thestudiowidnes.org.uk

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COVER ART CATH HUGHES

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