IRVINE WELSH Acclaimed writer talks filmsand Trainspotting in Trinity.

TALKING TO FOALSHugh McCafferty interviewsindie’s hottest new band43

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In this day and age, it stands to reason thatby the time you reach your early twenties,you will have experienced heartbreak insome way, shape or form. Even if youhaven’t been dumped, cheated on, dumped

for cheating, sleeping around or duped by arelationship con artist, something negative musthave happened to you with opposite sex. Unlessyou’ve been living in your mam’s basement.

From the serious to the minor, we all carryrelationship baggage - whether we care to admit itor not. It is generally believed that the things thathappen to us over the course of our lives shape theperson we become. I believe the same is true of ourprevious liaisons of the heart. I think we are allhaunted by the ghost of relationships past.

We don’t want to make the same mistakes asbefore. We want to !nd a similar connection to onepreviously experienced, that ever elusive spark. Wedon’t want to be treated badly again, and wecertainly don’t want to be the nasty one either.Every new relationship is indeed a carte blanche -that’s just waiting to be smeared with themetaphorical shit that once hit the fan.

Whitney Houston once sang “Where dobroken hearts go?” - Well Whitters, that’s a goodquestion. Some believe they mend in time. Otherstry to pretend it never happened. I think theysimply rework themselves around your newsituation. They say the !rst cut is the deepest - ohpop music is so wise! I could reference someproverbs: “Once bitten, twice shy”, “Two’scompany, your bloody ex makes a crowd.” Ahem.The point is, it’s all true, and that’s why they’recliché... Duh!

To prove my point, I will get personal. My littleheart was trampled on by my !rst love - ouch, isn’tit so much worse when the !rst love dumps you?You wish you’d been the one to “grow away” fromthe situation, not them! Anyway, I was single for a

year, and certainly didn’t think I wanted anotherrelationship. I shouted all those phrases that peoplewho are afraid of romantic af!liations (for onereason or another) do - I’ll be single until I’m thirty,men are so immature, I’m never getting married,relationships smother your individuality, blah… ohI talked a LOT. But that’s all it was, fear talking. Iwas absolutely terri!ed of being vulnerable everagain. And while that changes, I don’t think it evercompletely goes away.

We are all affected by the people we let intoour hearts, and not always in a good way. And itgoes both ways. If you’re involved with someone,their past shouldn’t be allowed into your present,but by God it happens! At some point, we have tomake the conscious decision to push it all aside andtake the past for what it actually is, or it will sendyou round the bend.

If you’re being haunted, unfortunately youcant call a priest, or the Ghostbusters. You can gosee a shrink, but that’s expensive, and hey, theydon’t know what happened. Nobody else can !xyou, no matter how hard they try. You have toexorcise your own relationship demons, whetheryou’re with someone or not - or else be preparedfor them to come back and bite you in the ass -hard.

COVERNOTESP2

“We are all affected by the people we let into our hearts, and not always in a good way.

NotoriousIn which our heroine talks demons of relationships past… Words: Victoria Notaro

”

“When you’re playing gigsat entry level, it’s really asituation where you’re

just playing to your mates.” Ibid’s veryexistence, it would seem, is a reactionagainst soul-destroying amateurishnessof the vast majority of Dublin’spromoters. Composed of members ofbands both operational and defunct, thethree-piece play vicious guitar rockcomplete with taut bass lines, franticdrums and riffs as big as your house.Although only technically operationalfor a few weeks, Steven, Kev and Lukehave played together before underdifferent guises. I talked to front man Steven about hisdecision to leave behind past projectsand start afresh. “I felt it was time totake things more seriously, start playinggigs with decent promoters, play outsideDublin and try to get some good supportslots.” The new beginning has certainlyproven to be a creative spark. “Songs aregetting better, less insular. It comesdown to experience and playing at ahigher level.” Steven cites British posthardcore bands like Reuben and BiffyClyro as in"uences. “And PJ Harvey, notthat that’s so discernible,” he laughs. The band’s demo, recorded inBallymun’s Cosmic Studios, soundspromising. “It was an interesting process;everything was put under a microscope,so it really became obvious what weneeded to work on.” With the recordingunder their belt, Ibid hope to startplaying gigs in a month or two, gigsSteven promises to “ publicise the shitout of.” Ibid warrant your attention for a varietyof reasons. Their songs are satisfyinglyrocking without a hint of crustiness andthey maintain a sense of technicalcomplexity without the chin-stroking.All three have plenty of live experience;Steven spits out vocals with vitriolicpanache between tapping solos, Kev, ondrums, hammers his way through timesignature changes with ease and Luke,on bass, has the stage presence of a manin contact with a higher being. Check out the tracks on their MySpacepage and keep a look out for upcominggigs. www.myspace.com/ibidmusic C

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Ibid

Where has theyear gone?The SUElectionsare looming

and the countless upcomingAGMs make it feel like thisyear is already over eventhough it’s still only February.Summer panic is alreadysetting in, with people planningholidays and work placements.Given the short length ofTrinity Term, the academicyear seems unbelievably short.

This issue of TN2 seesHugh McCafferty interviewingFoals for our feature story.

Irvine Welsh, of Trainspottingfame, visited those lucky filmstudents, an account of which isgiven in the Interview section.

Fashion looks at thevogue for following celebrityfashions and Film reveals whathappens when an actor diesduring the production of a film.In the Books section PaulEarlie has written a brilliantarticle on the relativelyunheard of work of IrèneNémirovsky, a writer who waskilled during the Holocaust.Read it.

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P3INTERVIEW

Irvine Welsh is a widely celebrated,modern-day Scottish writer. Hisdebut novel, Trainspotting (1993),recounts the tale of a group ofcharacters during Thatcher’s

blighted 80s; unified by crumblingfriendships, condemned attempts atescape from their tyrannicallymonotonous and vicious lives, whilststruggling against a destructivedependence on heroin.

On his recent visit to speak to DrCarol Jones’ 20th Century ScottishLiterature seminar group, a mild-mannered Welsh spoke of thetribulations facing a writer today,declaring ‘I honestly don’t thinkTrainspotting would be published now-publishers are making authors write intotype-holes. They want writers to keepwriting about genres that have provedpopular amongst readers.’ Welsh remainsa contentious figure since Trainspotting’spublication. His work has shown itself tobe immensely challenging for literarycritics to digest, a struggle madeincreasingly more conspicuous byWelsh’s unremitting commercialtriumphs. Welsh is within a minority ofauthors who appeal to followers of highliterature in addition to those whorefrain from reading in general. Welshconceded that he was unsure as to whythere has not been more authors thathave made that crossover, recognisingthe tension apparent between the readerwanting to experience exhilaration andintellect, concluding austerely ‘I justwant to write stuff that is exciting andmakes people turn the page, whilsthopefully making them think as well.’ IfWelsh is managing to engage a culturallyilliterate audience that hasconventionally remained beyond theinfluence of the bourgeois novel then

this is a form of ‘cultural activism’ mostother authors of his generation appear tohave disregarded. Of the process ofwriting he declared emphatically,‘Writing is a very selfish thing. It has hardeffects on your family and all the thingsaround you.’

Readers frequently find the Scottishvernacular in Welsh’s novels difficult tounderstand. When asked as to hisprincipal motive for adopting this dialectwithin his work he explained that he hasalways felt predisposed towards music,being captivated by house musicespecially at the time of writingTrainspotting. It would be only natural towant to recreate that level ofexhilaration within his novels, and he feltthis could be achieved most effectivelyby adopting an unrelenting Scots dialectas his primary narrative voice, declaring‘Standard English is a great language, butit is an imperial language, it’s not veryfunky.’ Welsh continued by stating thathe had a desire to seize upon the feelingsof exhilaration attributed to house music,almost like what he termed ‘a four-fourbeat’, believing the ‘best approach’ toencapsulate such elation on the page wasto employ a language that was similarlypulsing and hedonistic, noting ‘Thecharacters in Trainspotting would appearquite pretentious if they were to soundany other way.’

Welsh was probed regarding hisfeelings concerning fellow Scottishwriter Alexander McCall-Smithdeprecating him as a ‘‘travesty forScotland’’, to which he remarked thatsuch arresting comments made abouthim are to his eventual advantage, stating‘If a housewife reads that McCall says Iam a ‘‘travesty for Scotland’’, that elicitsa curiosity in them about me and leadsthem to get hold of and read one of my

books’, concluding with a haughty giggle,‘That’s great for me, you know.’

Welsh revealed he is set to present theOutstanding Contribution to BritishFilm Award at the Empire Film Awardsin London, on March 9th , to his oldcomrade Ewan McGregor. McGregorwas catapulted to fame following hisstirring and energised performance asRenton in Danny Boyle’s adaptation ofWelsh’s debut novel. Welsh spoke of thefilm in response to the question ofwhether he ever worried that somepeople may find his unsympatheticcharacters, sympathetic? Welsh retortedthat he only worried when watching thescreen adaptations of his work, primarilyBoyle’s Trainspotting, because ‘on thescreen things develop a ‘buzz’, that some[viewers] may find attractive’, andhenceforth wish to replicate, whichunderstandably instils worry in himknowing the nature of some of hischaracter’s volatile temperamentstogether with their dangerouspredispositions and behaviour.

The session was nearing its end whenWelsh reprehensibly outed himself as anardent admirer of Evelyn Waugh, astatement met by fervent gasps from theclass. Before leaving, he once moremulled over his most illustrious piece ofwork to date, reflecting ‘I sawTrainspotting go from my book, to EwanMcGregor’s film, to Richard Branson’sadvert for his trains. When I handed itover to the publisher I lost grasp of it andas an author it is no longer righteouslyyours, but belongs to everyone out there.’Welsh’s extraordinary collection of workis indeed ‘out there’ for us all to relish.And with that the man accountable for,what one critic termed, ‘changingpopular fiction forever’, unassuminglyleft for home.

Film studentsget a talking to when IrvineWelsh comes to Trinity.Words: KatieMcCarthy

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FEATUREP4

Foals are what youmight call hot shitright now. A slightlygrumpy YannisPhilippakis talksabout their rise tofame. Words: HughMcCafferty

Listening to Foals, it’s diffi-cult to decide whether theyare at the cutting edge ofpopular music or aremerely wallowing in the

stagnant pool that is the post-punk re-vival. They manage to sound like Battlesand The Rapture at the same time, inte-grating math-rock and dance-punk in anorgy of tight, trebly guitar leads, regi-mental vocals and coldly efficient synth,without even the slightest whiff of apower chord. Take one listen to Bal-loons, released as a single in December,if you are unconvinced. Whether theyare derivative or not, though, is largely

unimportant when they sound thisgood. Front man Yannis Philippakis un-derstandably isn’t eager to put his bandinto a neat, little pigeonhole. “We’re likeepilectic pop music,” he decides aftersome hesitation.

Perhaps it’s the exhausting tourschedule, or the jet lag (well, train lag),or maybe he just isn’t that bothered, butas we begin the interview, Philippakisdoes not seem in a particularly chattymood. Early questions are met with oneword answers or other questions andsources of information are enquiredabout defensively. “Have you listened tothe album?” he demands when I en-

quire about debut record Antidotes, outnext month. Should make for a pleasanthalf hour, so.

In fairness to Philippakis, it’s cur-rently a pretty hectic time for the band.They’ve been on the road for quite awhile and look to be so for the immedi-ate future. “We’re literally touring for ayear,” he explains, after winding down alittle. “It makes you a little crazy. Whenit’s just the five of you together all thetime, you form your own reality; youforget there’s a real world outside of it.”

It’s also worth bearing in mind thatthe five members of this band are stillquite young; Philippakis himself is just

21. They formed in Oxford over twoyears ago with current Youthmoviesfront man Andrew Mears on vocals. Iasked Philippakis what effect Mears’decision to concentrate on Youthmoviesactivities had on the band. “There wereless violent pranks after he left.” He re-calls that there was considerable tensionin the band back then. “There was a lotof war.” It would seem that they thrivedon such tension though, as he andMears remain best friends.

Before Foals formed, Philippakisand drummer Jack Bevan played in therather good but now defunct math-rockoutfit The Edmund Fitzgerald. Consid-

Foal’s Gold(Win tickets to see Foals - see the back page)

erably more challenging, but by nomeans less rewarding, you can down-load some of the old band’s tracks atfoalsband.com. I enquired about thedistinct difference in sound between thetwo acts. “In Foals, we wanted more di-rect communication with people. Whenwe were in the Edmund Fitzgerald, wewere like 16 and 17 and that was thekind of music we wanted to play at thetime. I think the progression was some-thing natural.”

With Jimmy Smith on guitar andWalter Gervers on bass, the band re-leased their first single in April 2006.After Mears’ departure, they recruitedEdwin Congreave on keys and the line-up was complete.

Interestingly, Congreave had neverplayed in a band before he joined Foals,nor had he really played keyboards. Re-sponsible for most of the band’s onlineblogging, he recently declared thegroup’s support for Barack Obama inthe race for the Democratic candidacy.“Yeah, that was a joke, Edwin’s sense ofhumour is quite dry. When you put thatkind of thing up there, though, the nextthing you know, people are asking youall these questions about your politicalviews.” Is there a place for politics inpop music? “Well, Bono exists, doesn’the? I think we’re too self-involved. Wejust stay at home and smoke weed.”

As previously mentioned, the band’sdebut album is out in March. I askedPhilippakis why they chose to work withproducer Dave Sitek (who has workedwith Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars as wellas his own band, TV on the Radio).“Well, we were quite into TV on theRadio, but it was mainly because he of-fered the most resistance to us. He’s amassive bully, really, but he had a hugeinfluence on us, more outside of the

record than on it. We came back think-ing and feeling differently about musicand about the industry”.

Positive life experiences aside, therewas some unpleasantness after the banddecided that they were uncomfortablewith Sitek’s final, reverb-drenched mixof the album and remixed it themselves.“There were some bad feelings betweenus for ages. I didn’t like it; he would’vekicked my arse if it came to that. But wekissed and made up later on.” Wouldthey ever work with Sitek again? “No;well, I don’t think he’s producing otherbands for a while anyway,” Philippakisdecides, somewhat diplomatically.

Lyrically, the diminutive front mancan be difficult to pin down; I asked himwhether there was any grand messageon the album. “There’s quite a fewthemes going on; it’s all quite abstract.It’s about clutter, space, escapism. Idon’t write songs about breaking upwith my girlfriend. I think it kind of un-does itself if you’re too blatant aboutlyrics or if you talk about them toomuch. The point with this album is it’smore visual. It’s like the idea of youleaving your house and someone com-ing in and redecorating it while you’reaway. Like something familiar that youthen have to re-interpret.”

Philippakis himself is similarly diffi-cult to figure out. Over the course of theinterview, he moves from hostile andimpatient to friendly and candid; alter-ing between the two every now andagain, but constantly maintaining asense of aloofness. That he might sufferfrom Asperger’s disorder is hinted atbut not confirmed; he tells me that a fewmembers of the band suffer from theautism spectrum disorder, but does notgo into specifics. He is explicit aboutone thing, though: “We’re all fairly trou-

bled.”While the band remained unsigned,

Philippakis studied English Languageand Literature, along with Congreave, atOxford University. “If you like readingbooks, it’s great,” he recalls. It seemsthough, that reading books simply was-n’t enough to keep him there. “I didn’treally fit in, I felt quite socially out-casted.” Once they secured a deal withTransgressive Records (the UK home ofIron & Wine, the Shins and the YoungKnives, among others), he dropped outof his course to concentrate on theband. Would he ever consider return-ing? “Not for the foreseeable future.”

Last year, Philippakis was placed onthe NME Cool List 2007 at number 45.I wondered what his reaction to such adubious honour was (he was topped bynot one but two members of the Klax-ons, the guy from The Enemy and, er,Brandon Flowers’ moustache, amongstothers). “Well, you laugh and drinkmore tequila, don’t you? It’s just a bit offun; it’s not really important.”

Having said that, it would appearthat Philippakis feels the media is some-thing that Foals can use to their advan-tage. “If we can get exposure, peoplewill listen to the music.” Fair enough, al-though, one gets the feeling that he isn’tcompletely comfortable with all of theways they’ve gone about getting said ex-posure. On the topic of their appear-ance on E4’s Skins a few months back,his comment is brief. “They just askedus, so we did it.”

Media coverage is useful, but praisefrom other, well-established acts may beinvaluable. Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke isa vocal fan of Foals and his band tookthem on tour a few months ago. I askedPhilippakis how he found playing theindisputably wretched Phoenix Park BigTop. “Actually, that was one of the bet-ter ones on that tour. We never thoughtwe’d play for that many people.”

Playing in a 10,000 capacity venue iscertainly a big step up from the houseparties Foals played when they werestarting out. If you search for videos ofthe band on YouTube you’ll find, amonga delightful selection of equestrian-themed clips, footage of the boys play-ing in a friend’s bedroom, a few dozenrevellers squeezed in to the room withsome difficulty.

Regardless of where they play,though, they’re undeniably an impres-sive live act. Generally standing quiteclose together and facing each otherwith guitars up on their chests, legs andelbows twitching like insects, they gen-erate a powerfully tense on-stage en-ergy. “We started out playing in people’shouses, but I think we like more to beoutside our comfort zone. Now, every-thing feels right.”

Now very much seems to be Foals’time, with many commentators singlingthem out as the ones to watch for 2008.Such predictions may well prove accu-rate; the band have the pop sensibilityto win themselves fans but are creativeenough to maintain credibility and tokeep the critics happy. In Philippakis,they have a front man as enigmatic ashe is nervously energetic on stage. Mostimportantly, though, they have the qual-ity tunes necessary to make it big.Whether or not their sound has alengthy shelf-life, though, remains to beseen. While they’re here, though, (andstill playing small venues) it would be ashame not to enjoy them.

Foals play the Academy on 20 April. An-tidotes is released on 24 March. The newsingle Cassius is out on 10 March.

P5FEATURE

“Philippakis wasplaced on theNME Cool List2007 at 45(hewas topped bynot one but twomembers of theKlaxons, the guyfrom The Enemyand, er, BrandonFlowers’ moustache,amongst others).

”

FILMP6

Like all Batman fans I wasleft watering at the mouthafter the release of thetrailer for The Dark Knightin December. After the

success of Christopher Nolan’s revampof the franchise in 2005 with BatmanBegins, it is unsurprising that his secondinstalment of the Batman story is one ofthe most anticipated films of thesummer. The movie sees the return tothe screen of cinema’s most iconicsuper-villain, the psychotic and twistedJoker. Playing the role was actor HeathLedger; his untimely death on 22ndJanuary has cast a shadow over therelease of the film. Although Ledger’sinvolvement in the production processwas complete before he died and thefilm will be released in July, his deaththrew into jeopardy Terry Gillingham’snewest project The Imaginarium ofDoctor Parnassus, in which Ledger wascast in the lead role. Ledgerunfortunately is the most recent in along line of actors to have died leavingprojects uncompleted and casting doubtover the future of certain productions.

In 2002 Limerick-born actor RichardHarris died aged 72 of Hodgkin’sdisease. This was just before he was dueto begin working on Harry Potter andThe Prisoner of Azkaban, in what wouldhave been his third screen appearanceas Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Hisdeath left the Harry Potter franchise incrisis, struggling to replace him.

Fortunately the very competentMichael Gambon was re-cast in the roleand the Potter movies have continuedto enjoy great success since.

One of Harris’ former co-stars,acting legend Oliver Reed also diedbefore the completion of his finalproject- Ridley Scott’s epic Gladiator.Reed, who was playing the characterProximo, collapsed on the floor of a barin Malta dying from a heart attack. Hehad not finished filming all of his scenesand certain segments had to be digitallymanipulated to complete production atan estimated cost of $3million.

Reed and Harris both died in thetwilight of their careers, however there

are many actors who have been cutdown in their youth. Brandon Lee, sonof martial arts legend Bruce Lee, diedin 1993 while filming The Crow. He waskilled in a freak accident in which aprop gun that had a bullet lodged in thebarrel shot him in the abdomen causinghim to die later that day. A stunt doublewith Lee’s face superimposed upon himwas used to shoot the remaining scenes.

1993 also saw the death of RiverPhoenix who died from a drug overdoseoutside the famous Viper Room in L.A.Aged just 23, Phoenix, who was toutedas the most promising actor of the early90s, had before his death beennominated for several awards, includingan Oscar and a Golden Globe for hisperformance in Sydney Lumet’s 1988film Running on Empty. At the time ofhis death he was in the process offilming George Sluizer’s Dark Bloodbut the film was scrapped as certain keyscenes involving him had yet to be shot.He was also set to co-star alongside TomCruise and Brad Pitt in Neil Jordan’sInterview With the Vampire. ChristianSlater subsequently played this role inthis film.

Two of cinema’s most iconic actorsalso left behind unfinished projects.Marilyn Monroe’s controversial deathin 1962 was in the middle of hershooting Something’s Got to Give withDean Martin and Cyd Charisse. Thefilm remains unfinished and only clipsfrom it have appeared in the 2001

documentary Marilyn: The Final Days.James Dean’s sudden death in 1955 in ahorrific car crash meant that the 24 yearold never saw the completion of Giant.In the last scene of the film in whichDean makes a drunken speech hemumbled so much that it had to be re-shot and re-worked after his death.

Therefore the recent death of HeathLedger as an actor committed to aproject comes as no great shock to theindustry. While The Dark Night willcertainly be released the future of TheImaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is stilluncertain, although all indications arethat it will eventually resumeproduction with someone else (rumoursmention Johnny Depp) assumingLedger’s role.

The legacy, however, that Ledgerleaves is still to be determined. Hisrecent performances, particularly inBrokeback Mountain, indicated hiscoming of age as an actor. At only 28, hedied like so many before him whileentering the prime of his career and it isa shame that yet another young starshould die before realising their fullpotential. The youthful deaths ofMonroe and Dean immortalised themas screen icons and although I am notsuggesting the same fate for Ledger, donot be surprised if his performance asthe Joker haunts your nightmares thisJuly and heightens his legend as anactor from whom the best was yet tocome.

“Reed, who wasplaying the character Proximo, collapsed on thefloor of a bar inMalta dying froma heart attack.

”

What happens when an actor dies during the production of a !lm?

The showmust go on!

Words: Stephen Kenny

P7FILM

Disney and the DisneyChannel have beenaround for an awfullylong time. Theircontinued success could

be down to their formulaic children’s!lms full of saccharine sweetness andhappy endings punctuated withwonderfully choreographed set pieces.Films made for television can besuccessful and work to entertain thekiddies on a dull afternoon, but thesuccess of the High School Musicalseries is phenomenal. The televisionpremiere had "." million viewers in theUS and #.$ million in the !rst week inthe UK. If you Google High SchoolMusical you get thousands of sites, bothof!cial and unof!cial. The popularity ofthe television show meant high DVDsales of #.$ million copies in the !rst sixdays resulting in a second !lm for TVand third to be released in the cinema.The protagonists of the !lms are playingteenagers from !fteen to seventeen andare played by actors in their earlytwenties; the popular Zac Efron, VanessaHudgens and Ashley Tilsdale. There issuch a huge appeal for the !lms andequally large fan-base that traditionalschool musicals like Oklahoma!, andPirates of Penzance have been put out topasture in favour of High SchoolMusical productions.

What is so appealing about theseshiny happy teens? Looking at thesecond !lm in the series it seems prettystandard fare to me. Following on fromthe Romeo and Juliet scenario (withoutthe tragedy) of the !rst !lm we followTroy and his friends as he learns how tobecome an upstanding citizen in theworld. The moral quandary that he !ndshimself in, torn between ambition andfriends, ends happily with everyonelearning their lessons and makingfriends. This is standard fodder for

Disney, and they do it well. The !lm isso formulaic that you know thebeginning, middle and ending at theopening credits. Is this just a short cutfor lazy !lm watching kids, are theybeing spoon-fed a certain type ofmorality? Or is it how we all learned toread !lms and only notice the simplicity

now? Disney’s ‘work hard and you shallsucceed in this white world’ ethic is therewith bells, whistles and dance routines. Itis not problematised or oblique; it is rightthere on screen. Does this obviousnessmake Disney more insidious or saferbecause it’s easier to read? Do kids evencare? Do they care that one of theactresses has been posted naked on theinternet? High School Musical $ doesn’tput a foot wrong in its production, it’svery slick and well timed. Maybe that’sthe problem I have with it; it’s simplybland.

What’s up withHigh SchoolMusical? Words: Simone

Cameron-Coen

Be Kind RewindWords: Matthew McInerney-Lacombe

Be Kind Rewind, MichelGondry’s latest !lm,combines the endearingand eccentric with thesame success as Juno

($%%") and Little Miss Sunshine ($%%&).However, in the hands of eminentlytalented director, Michel Gondry, the!lm manages to be funnier and lessemotionally manipulative than itspredecessors. The !lm tells the story ofJimmy (Jack Black), who becomesmagnetised and accidentally erases all

the VHS tapes from the local video storeof his friend Mike (Mos Def), while hisboss is away trying to save the store fromforeclosure. In order to appease thecustomers and rescue the store, the twohave to re-!lm the most popular titles ina hilariously low-budget, DIY aesthetic.The subsequent remakes ofGhostbusters, Robocop, Boyz n theHood, and especially Driving Miss Daisyprovide some of the biggest laughs inrecent memory. The !lm is a genuinecrowd pleaser, one with a big heart and

even bigger laughs. Jack Black is in peakform, while Mos Def proves he has theacting talent to match his rap skills.Gondry’s script is incessantly funny andidiosyncratic, while his direction isunfussy and imaginative. Unlike Juno’sover-written (and at times contrived)dialogue, the sincerity of thesentimentality and the authenticity ofthe humour make Gondry’s !lm all themore affecting and rewarding. Be KindRewind is an instant classic: witty,original, and thoroughly unpretentious.

“Disney’s ‘workhard and youshall succeedin this whiteworld’ ethic isthere withbells, whistlesand danceroutines

”INREVIEW

MUSICP8

Steven Lydon talks to coming Irish scenesters: The Kinetiks.

Prize!ghters

The Kinetiks are the latesthome-grown bandbeginning to make a namefor themselves in the Irishmedia. In!uenced by bands

like the Libertines and the Strokes, theguys go for an energetic, unashamedlypop-rocky sound that gets straight to thepoint without leaving you bloated. Wespoke to the band shortly before theirperformance at the Meteor awards aboutlove, life, and what distinguishes themfrom other bands.

“Haircuts,” deadpans vocalist Gary,“haircuts and jeans.” I’m reassured by thelaughter following the few seconds ofstunned silence. “I’m only messing,” headds, “we don’t really think about thatend of things when we’re writing.”Refreshingly, the image of the bandobviously isn’t something that the guystake too seriously. Likewise when writingmusic, they don’t seem to over-intellectualise what they’re doing. “Wedon’t really have anything speci"c inmind when we write songs, I just comeinto practice with a riff and we go fromthere. We don’t set out to write songs thatneed thirty plus plays to grow on you.”

The band became renowned early

on in their career especially for theirlively stage performance, a setting inwhich the bands songs work best.“Playing live is where its at. I think that’simportant for all bands really, especiallywhen they’re starting out. It’s a big partof what we do, and we try to give as muchas we can.” Rehearsing in a formervisiting room of Mountjoy prison, theguys remain down to earth about howthey play their music.

As with many Irish bands however,there is a danger of not having adistinctive sound. On this point the bandare very conscious of the need fororiginality, as their sights are set higherthan most bands doing the rounds. “Irishbands at the minute have a lot of talent,especially that core group of "ve or sixleading the charge at the moment,” hesays, “but we don’t want to be justanother Irish band. We want to go on tosomething more than that.” They’remaking a good start at it, having recentlyrecorded in Grouse Lodge in Westmeath,a studio which has hosted the likes ofMuse, R.E.M. and Bloc Party. The bandplan to release the single “Bite theBullet” within the month, and are playingWhelan’s the #$th of February.

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MP6

Dance. Even if, as Bazhimself said, you don’tknow how to do it.Writing this fresh after anight out at Mr. Jones in

the Pod and then boogieing away inCrawdaddy’s, it has been brought hometo me again just how brilliant dancingis - and how very wrong you can get itif you try too hard, be you a discoslinker or a !oorstomper.First of all, yes, people are possiblylooking at you. Yes, they probably willthink it’s funny if you dance funny.And most of us do dance funny. Butuntil you learn not to care about theseaforementioned considerations, youwill unavoidably dance like a chickenstuck in a tarmac puddle, and you’ll geta crick in your neck from twisting yourhead around to see who’s watching.Self-awareness is all very well andgood, but best pushed to one side whenDaft Punk is playing at your house(your house).Secondly, if you’re studying at Trinityfor your dance!oor degree, you’reprobably going to end up in Doyle’ssooner or later. Good for you. Nowremember: it’s free in, the lights arepractically non-existant, the music isgenerally genius and for a while thereat least there was a hole in the dance!oor in front of the DJ booth. This isnot Citibar (whew); there is no placefor smooth and sleek classy dancing(double whew). This is, most likely,going to end up as a heaving, jumping,jiving Arcade Fire mash up; so don’twear anything that you wouldn’t wantbeer spilled on (although, as we all willdiscover sooner or later, those whoinsist on brinking pints onto minisculedance!oors should be garrotted).Sneakers are also good, unless youdon’t mind the orthopaedic agony ofheels. Having said that, after a(considerable) while you pleasantlylose all feeling in your feet. Result.Above all, have a bit of a laugh. Sowhat if you know about # people onthe dance!oor; if the rest of them arenice, they’ll welcome mingling (and ifthey don’t, well, you can always tripthem up at the end of the night). Andif you get the chance to see #manyDJslive, dance on the bass bins. It’s savage.

bulletinthe soft

Words: Carolyn Power

P9MUSIC

The recent reformation of the Smashing Pump-kins (sans half of the original members) is anevent that has been met with as much excite-ment as unease among fans. Despite the un-questionable awfulness of new album Zeitgeist

(or Shitegeist as one TN2 contributor astutely dubbed it),live shows have been generally well received, which kept thisreviewer quietly hopeful as he made his way to the Dublinshow earlier on this month.

Things started off rather well with Porcelina of theVast Oceans, an inspired choice for set-opener, with itslengthy build-up and thundering chorus entry. Next song Be-hold! The Night Mare didn’t quite follow the trend, beingpassable album filler at best. It could be said that the rest ofthe night followed a similar pattern. At points, the bandwould raise the crowd to an ecstatic high with a thoroughlyrocking rendition of the likes of Tonight, Tonight or Today.Invariably, though, such highs would be followed by token

renditions of new material or, more disturbingly, fifteen-minute long feedback-fuelled snore-fests, involving frontman Billy Corgan stroking his Stratocaster against stacksand speakers with masturbatory glee. Unpleasant.

Despite these reservations, I didn’t leave the gigfeeling totally cheated out of sixty quid. First of all, the bandwere on stage for over two and a half hours, so they certainlyplayed for their money. Despite a few questionable choices,they chose a refreshingly eclectic set, including wonderfullyunexpected songs such as Lily (My One and Only) and thecharming Thirty-Three b-side My Blue Heaven. They alsoknocked out new, heavier versions of old songs, such as AvaAdore and Daydream that worked remarkably well. Thiswillingness to play about with the set and not to just churnout the hits was refreshing and, at times, surprisingly satis-fying.

A mixed night then, but by no means a disaster. Myinner fourteen-year-old remains intact.

LIVEREVIEW

The Smashing Pumpkins

RDS, 09/02/08

Words: Hugh McCafferty

My little brother splitfrom our two-manband, The LoveHandles, a few yearsago, when it became

clear that I was not going to learn toplay a musical instrument, only come upwith silly lyrics for novelty songs andfantasise about the sorts of records wewould make and things we would dowhen famous. Since the premature –some might say prenatal- demise of TheLove Handles, however, I like to thinkthat I have continued to wield a certainamount of in!uence over the musicaldevelopment of my brother and his newband, making him tapes that open hisears to decent music and stear him morein the direction of My Bloody Valentinethan My Chemical Romance. ThisChristmas, in what I imagine was an actmore of recklessness and indifferencethan carefully considered generosity, hereturned the favour by spending hisentire budget for Christmas presents ona three-month subscription to the recordshop Rough Trade’s Album Club, forme.

Since the ascendancy of musicdownloading, record shops have had tothink increasingly of ways to justify theirexistence and keep their heads abovewater. Specialist knowledge and apersonal touch have both beenidenti"ed as ‘unique selling points’ thatmight enable the humble, independent

record shop to survive. Previous visits toRough Trade’s Notting Hill shop, inLondon, where staff were only toohappy to advise on where I might "nd arecord by #$’s Brazilian group, The OsMutantes, as they did not have anythemselves, and, on another occasion,were eager to hear "rst-hand reportsfrom that weekend’s All Tomorrow’sParties festival, have con"rmed thatRough Trade has both of these qualitiesin spades. And, to the casual andadmittedly infrequent observer, its tillsrarely appear to be anything other thanringing reassuringly.

However, rather than resting on itslaurels or burying its head in the sand,Rough Trade is rolling with thetechnological punches. Last August itrelaunched The Album Club, a concept"rst introduced in %$$&. As part of theupdated Album Club, staff at RoughTrade, through whose "ngers and earspass all of the most interesting newmusic, choose what they consider to bethe ten hottest album releases of eachmonth; for the price of £'& (£'%, if youlive in the U.K.), they send the bestalbum of this bunch to members of TheClub (in either MP( or CD format) andmake the remaining nine available topreview, at a special online members’area. Those with a bit more cash to sparecan choose to have all ten of RoughTrade’s recommendations sent out tothem, or ask the staff to make a selection

of any number of records from the ten,based on their personal preferences.

Anyone concerned that The AlbumClub might be a sly promotional tool forthe wares of the Rough Trade, the recordlabel, should be reminded that the shopand label, once joined, went theirseparate ways in ')*% and remainentirely separate entities. Previousalbums of the month by artists asdiverse as Richard Hawley, RayLaMontagne, The Gossip, The Go!Team, TV on the Radio, Arcade Fire andAntony and the Johnsons, on a varietyof different labels, give an indication ofthe quality of selection made by theshop’s sagacious musical judges. As adevotee of some time of Rough Trade’sexcellent compilation albums,particularly the end-of-year ones, whatcould be better than to hear the work ofartists that will make its way onto suchbest-of collections, in its entirety, the "rsttime around.

January brought the arrival, to thefront door, of –as yet unreleased-Harpsichord Treacle by London-basedduo, The Superimposers, of whom I hadnever heard, and a six-track samplerfrom their record label,Wonderfulsound. As the title suggests,the album is a heavily-layered, slow-burning affair, which, although unlikelyto trouble the charts in the way someprevious albums of the month have,delivers &+ minutes of perfectly worked-out and unseasonably summery popsounds. As with all monthly deliveries,the package comes with a fold-outguide, in which the selected band getsthe opportunity to discuss theirin!uences and introduce their work tothe public, unencumbered by the wordsof journalists, and the folks at RoughTrade pro"le the nine other albumsavailable to preview (this monthincluding new records by British SeaPower and Danny and the Championsof the World).

With the possibility of listening to

up to ten new albums, many of themunreleased and by artists you have notyet heard of, there is no denying theexcellence of The Album Club as a wayof "nding out about new music.However, the culture surrounding indiemusic –in which Rough Trade primarilydeals- often appears to place as muchimportance on word-of-mouth and theprocess of discovering new music, as onthe music itself, and The Album Club isunlikely to appeal to purists. Combining the postal service andinternet, CDs and MP(s, The AlbumClub is thoughtfully perched betweentradition and innovation, and seesRough Trade carefully feeling its wayinto the future of a very uncertainindustry. However, at a time when theviability of the format has never seemedmore precarious, as a result of the single-track, pick-and-mix culture madepossible by downloading, perhaps themost surprising aspect of the concept isin the title: the album. Far from beingincidental, Rough Trade’s websitereveals that its decision to base the Clubaround albums –rather than individualtracks- is based on a high-minded andalmost missionary commitment to theformat: ‘Individual tracks’ , it explains,‘are a terri"c artistic statements, andhave their own merit when compiledwith an overlaying personalised orcultural theme context, but they are notas ultimately representative orrewarding for the listener as an artistalbum’. Hopefully, with innovative schemes suchas The Album Club, independent recordshops like Rough Trade and the musicalformats we have become used to, andupon which the history of popular musicis based, will still be around, in years tocome, be enjoyed alongside the manynew ways of listening to music currentlybeing developed –and the CD (andmaybe even compilation tape) willsurvive as possible Christmas presentsfor younger siblings.

Join the ClubExtolling the virtues of the Rough Trade albumclub - music education for the masses. Words: Nicholas Hamilton

FASHIONP10

By this time of year, we allknow what’s on trend inTrinity’s courtyards – flatboots, ballet pumps, mini-skirts over tights, hippy-

chic skirts, bold prints and tossed hair;Ugg boots and tracksuit bottom and tinyt-shirts prevail despite many objections.But do you know where you’re gettingthese ideas? OK, so it seems like D4slive in their own little (mansion-sized)cocoons and the queen bee sends anemail on her diamante-incrusted black-berry to state what’s hot and what’s notin Donnybrook.

For the rest of us little peoplethough, we’re influenced by a number ofthings – the music we like, or the bodyshape we have, what time of the monthit is (daddy’s deposit in = newclothes…), the weather, or how muchwalking is involved getting from classesto the Buttery and back… But one ofthe strongest influences is that ofcelebrity.You can be the one certain for Schols inyour nuclear physics class, you can citeyour biggest inspiration as Nelson Man-dela, Susan Sarandon or even your owngrandmother, you can have a strict nodrink, no drugs, no sex policy – but ifyou wear black leggings and a over-sized top, throw on a few plastic ban-gles and grab a pair of sunglassesgoing out the door, well I hate to tellyou, but you’re channeling LA iconsLindsey Lohan, Mischa Barton andHilary Duff.

A few of you are reading this,standing in the Arts block inskinny coloured jeans or maybeeven shiny leggings, short punkyhair, a white t-shirt and clashingcoloured cardigan, proud ofbeing individual, inspiring andcompletely uninfluenced bycontemporary designs….enter

Henry Holland and AgynessDeyn.

It’s enough to makeyou wonder if everyone is justcopying everyone else? KateMoss is one icon famous for herown style – but being a vintage-junkie, isn’t she just regurgitatingprevious decades trends? SiennaMiller is supposedly her archnemesis, but if we showed youonly their outfits, could you tellwhich was which?

Dita Von Teese is another iconfamous for shunning the blonde,tanned, size zero, jean-wearing labelof celebrity…but the influence of theforties and fifties in everything shewears – albeit more risqué than wouldhave been appropriate in ‘her’ era.

And let’s not forget the epitome of

“fashion-obsessed celebrity”; VictoriaBeckham is synonymous with clothes,labels and designer friends. Her recentdramatic hair-dos; from brown and high-lighted, wavy high-maintenance exten-sions, to short sleek dark Pob, to brightbleach blonde and back to dark, shouldhave seemed like a teenage crying outfor attention, beauty and self-worth; buton her, nearly everyone loved it – or atleast had an opinion. So much so thatthere were a wave of copy-cat-cuts, notunlike the Rachel-shag of the nineties;and lets not bring up Channelle of BigBrother whatever-number ‘fame’.

Victoria can single-handedly createnot only a stir in the tabloids or have aGucci store closed down for her ownprivate use; she influences us, the littlepeople on the street. This year’s obses-sion with platform heels was seen on herway before they were seen in Barratts,and last summer’s bug-eyed glasses keptthe paparazzi flashes from blinding her;yummy mummy uniforms of tight jeansand tiny t-shirt were undoubtedly herwork (towering stilettos optional); anddoesn’t everyone now recognize a crownon the pocket of jeans as Rock and Re-public? Her name is constantly linkedwith high-end designers such as RolandMouret and Roberto Cavalli, and herpresence at any show gets that show atleast a few always-appreciated columninches; so even though she may be ab-horred by the press and is a love-her-or-hate-her character for a majority of thepublic – she is undoubtedly an great in-fluence on fashion for the masses.

It seems we copy anyone who winsthe favour of the tabloids – and eventhose who don’t; Amy Winehouse, con-stantly berated for everything from al-leged eating disorders, unhealthyrelationships, public breakdowns anddrug problems, was recently picturedafter a concert with a pre-teen fan sport-ing the gravity-defying beehives and bigchav-‘chic’ claddagh earrings of her idol.

In the US, the woman held respon-sible for the rise of super-young fashionicons; the Olsons, Lindsey, Mischa,Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton is RachelZoe – but again these girls are almostmore famous for their friendships andparties, as well as their seemingly simul-taneous weight loss and the beginning ofthe now infamous size zero trend, thanany unique dress-sense or trend-radar.

While these particular trends maybe new to the noughties, the link withcontroversial celebrities and setting offa fashion trend is not so recent; considerNirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s suicideor Noel and Liam Gallagher’s feud withRobbie and the nineties mega-trend forgrunge, or Madonna and all her eightiescontroversies, and the subsequent trend

for crosses and goth-inspired clothes,David Bowie and the seventiess wholeglam-rock theme made much of con-ventional society raise an eyebrow, whilemod-style and Brit Pop, and the skinnysuits and long hair of the Beatles was thetalk of the sixties.

Before that, Katherine Hepburnchallenged forties perceptions by be-coming known for wearing very mascu-line cuts and suits in a time whenwomen were in full skirts and floweredprints.

And of course, the pioneer ofwomen’s fashion and promoter ofwomen’s emancipation, Coco Chanel,created a Britney-like flurry of presswhen she began a trend for sunbathingand took women out of corsets and intothe simple classic lines, suits and trouserswe associate the brand with today.

Perhaps it is fitting then, that themajor trends that we follow on the high-street all trickle down from a few peo-ple in the same position of authority asMiss Chanel once was. Hard as it is tobelieve that our decisions on what towear to class on a drizzley spring day inDublin, may actually stem from the de-cisions of a few mysterious ‘people’ twoyears before the store buyers get to pickout what Topshop/Pennys/River Islandare going to sell; imagine how importantthis guy is to your wardrobe!

These all-knowing people allow thestore buyers to send forecasts to the fab-ric companies – so colour and texturesare decided up to a year ahead of thetrend; therefore the major fashionhouses get a ‘book’ of inspiration ofcolour, prints, fabric swatches and evenobvious style motifs…and they createtheir collections from this.

While this obviously varies fromcontinent to continent, and some bravedesigners choose to disregard it alto-gether, it does explain why so many run-way shows end up showcasing the samething with slight variations – apparentlythe designers who show the same trendswithin days of each other have notplucked the same inspirations from thinair.And with celebrities taking their stylist’sword as gospel, and stylists supportingtheir favourite designers, designers tak-ing the trends from this future-seeing,mind-reading, trend-forecasting ‘oracles’,it seems our whole wardrobes are pre-destined not by who won an Oscar andwhat dress they wore, or who showed upto rehab with which must-have It bag oreven what clothes a party girl was seenfalling out of cabs in, or even out of.

It seems everything we wear on theTrinity cobbles – and everywhere else inthe world – was at one point chosen bya man in an office a couple of years ago.

Following Celebrity FashionWith the cult of theCelebrity strongerthan ever, howmuch in!uence dothe spoilt brats,rehab visiting musicians, andposh moguls haveon our everydaywardrobe?Words: Patrice Marian Murphy

P11FASHION

Back in !""" Christian Bale,aka Patrick Bateman,introduced his dailyskincare regime, whichincluded facial cleanser, a

scrub, a detoxifying face mask, andmoisturiser, a huge range of shower gelsand scrubs, and a regular tanningsession. You may have thought this wassomething simply afforded to the upperechelons of New York Society, yet thiswas set more than two decades ago, anadaptation of the book, written in #$$#by Bret Easton Ellis. Granted it wasabout a psychopath, but a psychopathwith great skin. Since then, popularculture has seen the rise of theheterosexual male, someone who issupposed to be in touch with hisfeminine side, has an interest in fashion,and is not afraid to show it. In othercities around the world the idea of meninvesting time and money in a dailyskincare regime would not cause the%utter of an eyelid, yet here in Ireland itis a completely different story. Theresearch carried out in a recent article“New years guide to Makeup” revealedthat none of the men interviewed hadany kind of a skincare regimewhatsoever. The general answer to ‘whatdo you use to wash your face with?” was,shockingly, “water”.

It also should be noted that Irishwomen have some qualms about thewhole thing, the fear of their boyfriendasking to borrow their Bobby Brownfoundation, or Mac concealer has beenmentioned a few times; but come ongirls and boys, in this country, is thatlikely to happen any time soon? Oh andgirls, if you’re worth it, he is too. Getover it!

There are a few home truths thatmen in this country should wake up to.The Irish male, with his pallidcomplexion and fair skin, has manyproblems to overcome. The sun, albeitsparse in this country, can damage yourskin, not to mention the harsh weatherconditions of wind and rain thatconstantly attack our face. These factors

can lead to pre-mature ageing, dry skin,and wrinkles. There is no point inlooking like a tired and jaded &" yearold at the age of !!, especially whenthere are things you can do tocounteract this.

There is a new market, which hasopened up in the past ' years, whichcaters to men’s skin, which isfundamentally different from women’sskin, and requires different products.Even if you have not noticed thispersonally, you must have seen the newads for Nivea Visage for Men, or morerecently L’Oreal Men Expert, whichfeature that guy what used to be in Partyof Five, and our own Bond, PierceBrosnan, admitting self worth when itcomes to skincare.

If nothing else, invest in a decentface wash and moisturiser. The NiveaVisage for Men range and even Bootsown range are perfect, won’t break thebank and are available in your very ownneighbourhood Boots. If you’rewondering boys, that’s on GraftonStreet, after Burger King but beforeMcDonalds. If you look tired and jaded,from a mad night out, or too much study,get an under eye cream; try RevitalizingEye Relief, from Nivea for Men, whichwill help with puf(ness and dark circles.And every man should have a lip balmof some description with them at alltimes. A favourite, due to its masculinegun-metal coloured stick, and its lack oftaste and fragrance is Clinique for Menlip balm with spf#'. This has been thenorm for men internationally for years,and with the weather affecting thehydration of our face and lips it isessential to keep them moisturised toavoid chapping…..even if are manenough to put up with the pain andannoyance this causes, whoever you maybe kissing has no desire to touch lipswith something that has the texture ofcrunchy nut corn %akes.

For the more adventurous, and tobe honest, I think its time you all were,there are many other things that willhelp enhance your pasty complexion.

Irish summers are not noted fortheir long days of hazy sunshine, andconcordantly Irish skin is not known forits tanning abilities. A tanning session isone option, but not very good for theskin, unless you are going for the leatherhandbag look, and we Irish have to beextra careful not to get burned. Theother option is to fake it. I’m not talkingSan Tropezing yourself to match thestrange orange colour of some of thegirls you see walking around, but rathera moisturizer with a little self tanninglotion included. Recommended isL’Oreal Men Expert Anti-dull Skin, afacial moisturiser with self-tan. It worksin an hour and just gives the skin ahealthy glow, nothing more; believe me,its subtle. If you want to go the wholehog check out, Clinique,Clarins,Sisheido, Biotherm, Lancomeand Dior for men. There is a hugevariety to choose from.

If you have ever wondered whymen in magazines, in ads, on TV and inmovies look so much better than theaverage man in Dublin, it’s because theyare wearing make-up. I realise that thismay be too much for some people tohandle, and in the hands of some menout there, it could end up being a totaldisaster. There is makeup available formen, which has been formulated tomatch male skin, which is thicker andcoarser than female skin. Foundationwill give you an even skin tone, andre%ects the light to make your skin lookbrighter and healthier. This is certainlyharder to come by in Ireland, but it isout there. Jean Paul Gautier, perhapsthe (rst mainstream label to launch amen’s cosmetics range has powderfoundations, lip-balms, and Sharp Eyes,a great pen that contains concealer andeyeliner, and is worn by RobbieWilliams, and everyone’s favouriteUbersexual David Beckham. If nothingelse, at least get yourself a cheapconcealer from Rimmel, it will cover anyblemishes and spots so they don’t standout so red-raw on the white canvas thatis your face!

Men who dare to skincareCosmetics for Men? Here’s the Why, Where, and What’s-whatof skincare and cosmetics for men. Words: Ciarán Durkan

The last few years have seena slew of Englishtranslations of works byauthors previously reveredsolely in their mother

countries. The 'rediscovery' of authorssuch as the Hungarian writer SándorMárai (whose novel Embers caused astir in the publishing world five yearsago and was adapted for the Londonstage in !""#) seems to run counter tothe logic of those who decry the gradualeffacement of minority literatures at thehands of the anglophone juggernaut.

No author seems to have benefitedmore from this literary treasure huntthan Irène Némirovsky, whose first fournovels have just been published in anattractive hardback volume byEveryman's Library. Publishing her firstnovel, David Golder, at the age oftwenty-six, Némirovsky was born inKiev in $%"& to one of Russia'swealthiest bankers and a youth-obsessed mother who insisted ondressing her daughter up as a schoolgirluntil well into her teens in order toassuage a pathological fear of her ownfading youth. From the beginning,Irène lived a life of privilege and luxury,leaving the Ukraine every summer forthe Crimean coast, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Hendaye or the French Riviera.When the Bolsheviks put a price onIrène's father's head after the OctoberRevolution, the family were forced intohiding. Escaping across the borderdisguised as Russian peasants, the

Némirovskys fled to Finland, then, asthe Bolsheviks moved ever nearer, toSweden, and eventually settled in Parisin early $%$%.

Irène took to the French capitalwith ease. She enrolled at the Sorbonneand graduated with a distinction inliterature. During these years, as allthrough her teens, she indulged apassion for writing and applied herselfwith characteristic single-mindedness toher work. Sending her stories tomagazines, she published a novella in$%!' called L'Enfant génial whichdescribed the seduction of an aristocratby a young Jewish boy from the slumsof Odessa. Irène had no troubleassimilating herself into Parisian highsociety. In January $%!(, she wrote to afriend: 'I'm behaving like a madwoman,it's shameful. I dance all night long.Every evening there are very chicentertainments in different hotels, andas my lucky star has blessed me with afew handsome young men, I'm enjoyingmyself very much indeed.' By $%!# shehad married 'a small dark-haired manwith a very swarthy expression' by thename of Michel Epstein. The twomoved to a beautiful apartment on theLeft Bank, where Irène's first daughterDenise was born in $%!%.

In the meantime, Irène continuedworking. By $%&%, she had nine novelsunder her belt, her first, David Golder,having already been turned into a film.A law passed in October $%(" gaveJews an inferior legal and social

standing, meaning that Michel nolonger had the right to work andpublishing houses were now forbiddento publish Irène's work. Forced to wearthe Jewish star, Irène and Micheleventually fled the capital and found alarge house to rent in the country. Here,Irène took to taking long walks in thecountryside and working in the openair.

It was during this time that shebegan work on her most ambitiousproject to date, a sequence of fivenovels which would be known as SuiteFrancaise. Taking Beethoven's Fifth asa model, Irène envisaged a bookconstructed like a symphony, written in

five sections, according in rhythm andtone. She wrote on the top of the firstpage 'I do not lack the courage tocomplete the task/ But the goal is farand time is short.' On & June, she set outher Will, giving precise instructions asto how her children should be providedfor, even going so far as to providedetails of their diet for their doctor.

On $& July $%(!, the inevitablehappened: the French police cameknocking at the Némirovskys' door.Irène was arrested and after a briefinternment in a concentration camp atPithiviers in the Loiret region, she wasdeported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival,she was registered at the exterminationcamp at Birkenau, where she died on $'August $%(!.

In July she had written to hereditor with intimations that she wouldnot survive the war: 'My dear friend...think of me sometimes. I have done alot of writing. I suppose they will beposthumous works, but it helps pass thetime.' The survival of the manuscript ofSuite Francaise and various other worksis something of a miracle, given theturbulence of the times. Most thanks goto Irène's daughter Denise, whorescued many of her mothers writingsand put them in a suitcase as she fledIssy-l'Evêque. Though some of theurgency of these works has dimmed inthe sixty or so years that have elapsedsince Némirovsky's death, the brilliancewith which they describe Franceremains undimmed.

BOOKSP12

Paul Earlie surveysthe life of awartime novelistwhose work, like somany others of theperiod, has only recently begun tosurface.

“On 13 July 1942,the inevitablehappened: Irènewas arrested andafter a brief internment, shewas deported toAuschwitz,where she died.

”

Remembering Irène Némirovsky

P13BOOKS

Walk the Blue Fields is a controlled meditation on modernIreland: all the standard fodder of the Irish short story ispresent and accounted for (the priest, the adulterous wife,the farmer) yet Keegan's treatment of her characters neverseems clichéd or laboured. A good collection to start with ifthe reader is looking to figure out where exactly the Irishshort story is nowadays, and in what direction it's heading.

Author: Claire Keegan

Price: !13.99

Publisher: Faber and Faber

Walk the BlueFields

Tóibín's 2006 collection of stories is a surprisinglynuanced reflection on that most sacred of familialrelationships. While the relationship between son andmother is important to the stories, it is in no wayforegrounded; instead, Tóibín often leaves the intricaciesof the relation to be teased out by the able and willingreader. Tóibín's modern Ireland is a mix of old and new,where a trad session in one story quickly gives way to abeach-side, drug-fuelled rave in another.

Author: Colm Tóibín

Price: !19.75

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Mothers and Sons

Aside from nine novels written very much in the grotesquevein, Angela Carter was also a seasoned short story writer,publishing four collections during her lifetime andcontributing a vast amount of uncollected material tomagazines and other publications. With an introduction bySalman Rushdie (another inimitable stylist), the forty-twostories collected here are mostly written in Carter's dense,sometimes showy language, so the reader is advised to keepa weighty dictionary handy.

Author: Angela Carter

Price: !15.20

Publisher: Vintage

Burning YourBoats

Dating DIYT

he Worst-Case ScenarioSurvival Handbook: Datingand Sex is the sort of bookyou'd expect to !nd gracingthe tables of Urban

Out!tter's home-ware section: it's over-the-top, just a little crude, the kind ofbook which inexplicably goes missingonce you stop hiding it under yourmattress and start proudly displaying iton your bookshelf. As the books threeauthors point out in the Introduction,what distinguishes mankind from theanimal kingdom is not trivial things likemorality or free will, but the culture ofcourtship: 'In nature, there are no singlesbars, personal ads, safe lunches, or blinddates.' The book at least gets browniepoints for daring to be different: if thereare thousands of books out there whichtell you how to !nd Mr. or Mrs. Right,this book will tell at least you how toescape from Mr. or Mrs. Wrong.

The authors (David, Josh andJennifer - Jennifer apparently added forgood measure) have done theirhomework. Instead of coming up withsolutions to common dating af"ictions(how to spot breast implants,for instance) off their own bat, theauthors have consulted various expertsin their !elds: sex therapists, etiquetteinstructors, CIA and FBI agents, lawyers,bartenders, psychologists, emergencymedical instructors, nutritionists, collegeprofessors, barbers, fashion consultants,dermatologists - all are accounted for in

some way or another.So, for example, the founder of

Breast Augmentation and BreastImplants Information(www.implantinfo.com), NicoleCummings, is drafted in to identifygenuine fakes (here the advice is simple:if it looks to good to be true, it probablyis) and a former CIA intelligence agentis consulted for tips on how to make aquick getaway from a disastrous date('borrow "our from the kitchen tolighten or gray your hair colour').

Admittedly, a lot of the adviceoccupies a bizarre grey area betweentongue-in-cheek humour and serious,Honest Abe advice. Chapter One('Defensive Dating'), for example, openswith a step-by-step guide to determiningif your date is an axe-murderer or not:'Axe murderers are usually Caucasianmales in their twenties and thirties. Theyfrequently behave cruelly towardsanimals and may also be obsessed with!re or matches.'

The solution, if you suspect yourlatest squeeze of keeping body parts inhis unusually roomy freezer, is of courseto 'obtain his social security number andinvestigate him. Call the Federal PrisonLocator Service to determine if he wasever incarcerated. Many onlinecompanies can aid in !nancial reports ortracking down previous addressees. Youmay also want to enlist the services of aprivate detective.' The trouble with a lotof the advice here is that it almost makes

the victim into the aggressor, as the axemurderer is just as likely to be turned offby an obsessive stalker as the stalker isby the axe murderer.

Nevertheless, there's a lot to mullover here. Some of the advice is actuallyquite solid and well thought out. Forexample, the authors recommend threedifferent methods of escaping from abad date. Aside from faking anemergency (the book recommends theentirely plausible "My boss just called -she's in Seattle for a major presentation,and has lost all her !les. I have to emailthem to her immediately"), the unluckysingleton can 'slip away unnoticed' (by

changing their appearance somehow),excuse yourself and climb out thebathroom window, or even makeinappropriate comments about thesuitor's ethnicity.

The advice seems to be laid out sothat more extreme situations come laterin the book, culminating in what seemslike the ultimate act of romanticdesperation: 'How to Stop a Wedding' :'If you do not have the courage to speakup during the ceremony, feign a seizure'or pull the !re alarm or prevent thesigning of the wedding license or, in themost desperate of situations, try andprevent the marriage beingconsummated: 'Find out where the brideand groom are planning to spend the!rst night and profess your love one lasttime. If that fails, your only hope isdivorce.'

The book closes with a usefulAppendix, which includes a template forthe 'It's Not You, It's Me' letter, a list of'useful excuses' ('Not tonight I have ameeting. I'm too drunk. I'm not drunkenough. I'm gay. I'm straight. I buy it forthe articles. I warned you about me. Itwon't stain) and a list of pick-up linesbest avoided: 'Do you have a mirror inyour pants? Because I can see myself inthem.' If nothing else, The Worst-CaseScenario Survival Handbook: Datingand Sex makes an excellent gift, toyourself or any of your moreromantically-challenged friends.

Learning how to fend for yourself inthe dating wilderness with the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook. Words: Andrew Lynch

“

”

Chapter One('Defensive Dating'), openswith a step-by-step guide to determining ifyour date is anaxe-murderer ornot.

THEATREP14

We take a look back at some of the shows produced by the Players them-selves in this past term. Words: Polly Graham and Kevin Brazil

Fish Sandy With The LovelyInterludes is a new playwritten in two parts, one byBrian Martin and the otherby Michael Carroll. The

drama moves between two scenes andtwo contrasting worlds; interior andexterior, realistic and fantastical. Therealistic locus is a psychiatrist’s of!ce, thefantastical is a wood inhabited by talking,man-sized birds.

However lest the audience jump tooquickly to the simplistic conclusion thatin one world everything is normal andthe other strange, Martin’s set encouragesus to be aware of overlaps. Branchesfrom the wood extend into Sandra’sof!ce, and the water machine from the

of!ce !nds itself amidst woodlandthickets. This complexity is manifestelsewhere, too. The success of theapparently realistic scene depended onAdam’s elaborate stories of hisimmediate family and their variousdemises, which engaged the audience’simagination. Manus Halligan’sperformance as Adam rose to thevirtuoso demands of the elaboratelanguage and complex characterization,moving from an endearing oddball, afavourite of his psychiatrist (playedendearingly straight by Amelia Singer),to a sinister murderer as the plot ofMartin’s vignette unfolded.

The world of the birds was harder toenjoy, despite the strong comic paring of

Kate Brower and Sam Coll. In thisfantastical sphere language seemedemptied of meaning as the birdsexchanged word games and anecdoteswithout conviction. They served as acontrast to Adam, who was so successfula deceiver because he believed sostrongly in the stories he spun. The birdsalso seemed to be a lapsed version ofAdam and Eve (echoing Adam’sreference to his sister – “I know, I know,Adam and Eve”), wading through deadleaves in a wintry, brittle wood, soundingthe hollowness of language intononsense. Carroll’s vignette was perhapsmore daring, but ultimately wasovershadowed by Martin’s half of thestage.

From Achilles to Oedipus,classical myth continues as asource of inspiration forcontemporary playwrights,and Week " saw the

production of The Three Birds byJoanna Laurens, a former RSC writer inresidence, directed by Tara Robinson.The play retells the story of Tereus’rape of Philomela, but this productionfocused less on the graphic details ofthe violence, and more on Laurens’expressive, poetic language.

Polly Graham, playing Procne,achieved this through languid,seductive movements around the stage,mirroring her character’s passionate,fluid, alliterative language. The setdesign by Colm Mc Nally contributedto this sense of fluidity, allowing theChorus to weave between theaudience’s seats as they narrated partsof the play with words and movementor stylised gestures. The Chorus’language too, was striking: like

paparazzi, they hounded Procne forinterviews and pictures of her baby, Itys,who was intriguingly played by apuppet. Although the productioneschewed bloodier aspects of the story,representation of violence was effectivein the sharp changes from comedy totragedy. The building, credibly akwardescalation of Noah Wright’s Tereus’passion for Philomela shifted the moodof the drama unalterably as he clumsilyraped her and cut out her tongue,fearing her threats to announce hiscrime to the world. In a playpreoccupied with linguisticexperimentation, perhaps the mostmoving moment was seeing thesilenced Philomela, powerfully playedby Mo Loughman, alone on stagedesperately striking and smacking thewalls and floor in a fultile attempt to beheard. More than anything, thiscommunicated the raw emotionalimpact of this millenia old myth to thetwenty first century.

Player’s plays

Fish Sandy With theLovely Interludes

The Three Birds

P15THEATRE

While it could easily besuggested that thefamiliar tale ofRomeo and Juliet hasbeen done to death,

Jason Byrne clearly begs to differ as hebrings the play into its first ever fulllength production at the Abbey. Hisdifference of opinion however, doesnot appear to stem from the same oldplatitudes that we continually hearabout Shakespeare's most famous play,such as love is timeless, their love iseternal etc. Rather his fascination withthe play emerges from his assertionthat there are elements of the play thathave been ignored or forgotten, thathave been lost in its familiarization.

This is evidenced in theproduction, in which Byrne delves deepinto the realms of the forgotten, and inparticular, the dark web of irrationalhatred and resentment surrounding theconflict between the Capulets andMontagues. The extreme use ofviolence on stage and the vast amountof swords, knives and guns, jilt theaudience out of their comfort zone andquestion our expectations of the play.We are reminded that, contrary to ourromantic associations with Romeo andJuliet, it is an extremely violent play.Romeo and Juliet's love, whilepresented as pure and possessing akind of childish innocence, is set in abackdrop of lies, hatred and murder.

Byrne effectively establishes thiscontrast by setting it up as a play ofpolarization. From the moment theaudience enter the auditorium, we areaware of desolation and hatred. Thestage is shadowy; shadows cast by aninfiltration of purple light hitting

scaffolding. The scaffolding forms thebalcony on which that famous sceneshall be played out but in this instanceit seems foreboding, a dark space thatpredicts the tragic outcome offorbidden love. The juxtaposition of thetraditional and the contemporary isstriking; the virginal figure of Juliet,played by Gemma Reeves, stands outagainst an industrial backdrop. Thisgothic, dark atmosphere is reinforcedby the sordidness of the masqueradeball (complete with DJ), making thelovers (Aaron Monaghan playingRomeo to Reeves’ Juliet) seem purer.Their love is however, horribly taintedby the unexplained feud and itsrepercussions, and this is what Byrneseeks to expose.

The 21-strong cast includingtalents such as Liam Carney, PeterGaynor and Karl Shiels, makes thisproduction compelling. While thethemes that are essentially exhumed byByrne make the story worth retellingand the production worth attending,my one complaint might stem from theuncertainty of the setting. WhileByrne's decision to refrain from settingthe play anywhere in particular can beappreciated, the mix-matching ofcostumes and styles was confusing anddistracted from the action, especially inthe case of Juliet’s skinny jeans. Oneglance at them and I was teleported outof this gothic fairytale and back to theeveryday.

Romeo and Juliet by WilliamShakespeare opened Tuesday 12thFebruary and runs until Saturday 22ndMarch. 8pm; Saturday matinees2.30pm.

Dr Faustus has been aproduction muchanticipated this term.Dan Herd’s production,part of the Players !"th

Anniversary celebrations was speciallyfunded and commissioned by Players.When one doesn’t have to pay actors orhire a venue, #$%% euro seems a largebudget. On entering the theatre, itseemed to have been well spent. ColmMcNally’s set “in the round” literallydrew the audience into Faustus’ world;the audience took seats around the edgeof the wooden &oored stage space,turning around to discover they were

between Faustus’ book shelf and thestage it self, this promised to be anengrossing experience.

However as the play unfolded,apart from Dave McEntagart’s strong,frenzied rendition of the Doctor at itscentre, the essentials of the dramaseemed to have been sacri'ced for theextras. Marlowe’s poetry was repeatedlydrowned out by the sound design, whichinsisted on an atmosphere ofmelodrama. The casting and initialdirection of Mephistophales wasinteresting; played as a seductress whodid not look at the Doctor until shechillingly announced, “Why this is hell,

nor am I out of it”, but as the playcontinued, neither Mephistophales orLucifer was suf'ciently sinister.

Members of the ensemble whoplayed the pageant of the vices, thepope, his cardinals, and other cameosshould be commended. Bri Fitzpatrick’sPope and Cristin Kehoe’s especiallygeriatric cardinal brought importantcomic relief before Faustus’ 'nal andfull realization of his damnation. Muchof the potential in Marlowe’s powerfulending, particularly the delivery of thelast soliloquy, which could have been soterrifying on an empty stage, after theelaborate 'gures of the pageant haddisappeared, was lost.

Faustus did not seem alone – theintrusive presence of technicalsensation distracted from the Doctor’sdestruction, and we were left, bereft ofMarlowe’s words which are the reasonwhy this play is immortal. With such avaliant performance from DaveMcEntegart, one only wished to havebeen a closer witness to Faustus’downfall.

INREVIEW

Digging up a classic

Words: Kathy Clarke

“With such avaliant performancefrom DaveMcEntegart,one onlywished tohave been acloser witnessto Faustus’downfall

”

Dr FaustusAs part of the Players 75thanniversary

Photo by Ros Kavanagh, courtesy of The Abbey Theatre.

ARTP16

Following on from BarryFlanagan’s hare sculptures,which bounced their waydown the capital’s mainthoroughfare two years ago,

on the occasion of the gallery’s reopen-ing, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lanehas once again decided to extend itselfbeyond its Parnell Square premises, aspart of its centenary celebrations, withfour new works by British artist, JulianOpie, on O’Connell Street. As before,Opie’s installations oppose the southerlyorientation of Daniel O’Connell, JimLarkin and the other national figurescommemorated on the street; as well asenlivening the public’s experience of thecapital, the intention being to guide peo-ple north, past the Garden of Remem-brance, to where the final part of theinstallation marks the entrance to thegallery. The twin celebratory and guidingfunctions of Opie’s pieces are, however,where similarities with the Hugh Lane’sprevious foray down O’Connell Streetstop.

Opie’s practise involves the use ofcomputer software to create simplified,highly stylised portraiture. He is bestknown for his portraits of the four mem-bers of Blur, for the front cover of theirgreatest hits album, though it is his workon the famously dramatic stage sets andlightshows of another band, U2, whichare most relevant here. For the matter-of-factly titled Julian Opie: Walking on

O’Connell Street, the artist has employedthe LED (light-emitting diode) technol-ogy most commonly used for illuminatedadvertising and street signs (perhaps notthe best medium for catching the atten-tion of the public in this country, youmight think, given our appalling recordon road safety), to create five, individual,animated portraits of people, includinghimself, walking down the street –and, inone case, dancing. Spread out, in be-tween the sculptures, on the central me-dian of O’Connell St. and visible, ondouble-sided light boxes, to people onboth sides of the road, the large, simpli-fied, orange images look like cooler-than-usual, escaped traffic signal menand women.

Walking on O’Connell Street is notOpie’s first time using LED technology;the medium constitutes a large part ofhis practise, with work in the same styleon display across the globe. While the re-sults are funky and visually arresting, inthe context of the Hugh Lane’s project,they also seem obvious and annoyinglyexplicit. The gallery’s decision to com-mission, and the artist’s to execute, workin a style that is so clearly based on traf-fic signs and street symbols, for a projectwhere a large part of the motivation is toguide the public to the gallery door, ishardly what can be called subtle.

Exhibited outdoors, on pedestalsand visible from the two main points ofview from which people experience

sculpture on the street, though only two-dimensional, Walking on O’Connell St.deliberately flouts traditional categoriesof art. Unsurprisingly, this exhibiting inthree dimensions of work that is two-di-mensional, using a double-sided lightbox that is about a foot thick andscrewed down to a prefabricated con-crete block, is extremely awkward.Surely it would have been better to ex-hibit the work flat against a wall or with-out a pedestal, like an ad box. (While onthe subject of advertising, it has to besaid that discovery, on arrival at theHugh Lane, that there is no exhibition bythe artist whose work attracted youthere in the first place–though, admit-tedly, plenty of other excellent work- is aletdown and feels akin to false advertis-ing.)

Opie’s installations contradicteverything about the sculptures withwhich they share O’Connell Street:through their modernity, movement,technology, scale, but, most of all, besideall of the street’s important historicalpersonages, through their anonymity.Whereas we can see Daniel O’Connell’schubby cheeks, William Smith O’Brien’smutton chops and Sir John Gray’s dourexpression, Opie leaves the heads of hisfigures, the most identifying feature ofthe body, blank –an empty bubble float-ing above the body. The installations aredistinguishable from each other only bytheir schematic clothes (t-shirt and

shorts, suit and tie etc.) and short, limitedmovements, which are looped infinitely.

The insistence of the pieces’ titlesthat, despite their generic appearance,they are in fact portraits, based on realindividuals, like the sculptures that sur-round them, is disquieting. It raises theissue, not only of the nature and sourceof individuality, but also of the very pos-sibility of its existence in modern, glob-alised, capitalist society. The piecesinquire whether there really is such athing as individuality when, around theworld, people watch the same TV pro-grammes and films, listen to the samemusic and wear the same clothes, orwhether society has been reduced to a fi-nite number of easily identifiable types,or target markets; and question the rele-vance and viability of portraiture of thetype represented by the sculpturearound it, in such a society.

Despite some questions about theform and execution of the work, Walk-ing on O’Connell St. is undeniably ar-resting and cool; it shakes up the dull,conservative nature of the other work onO’Connell Street and asks probing ques-tions about the nature of individualityand representation, of those willing topause, for a second, from their busy jour-neys.

For this reason, it seems a shamethat the Hugh Lane has not continued itsprojects on O’Connell Street on a moreregular basis.

A blast from the past

Wor

ds: N

icho

las

Ham

ilton

Fashion and art have always been closelytied. Both require their creator’screativity, originality, skill and talent tocreate a piece that is truly spectacularand unique. Many designers training

includes classes in fine art such as painting,sculpture and installation work, which seems togreatly influence modern fashion design. Thisinfluence can particularly be seen in the growingtrends in Haute Couture fashion, which havegradually drifted from wearable outfits to includeexamples of a designer’s own creativity and withmany pieces emerging that are more sculpturalthat wearable. Designers such as Christian Lacroixand Jean-Paul Gautier are famous for incrediblecreations that exhibit their skill, imagination andconstructive talents, but are practically un-wearableoff the catwalk.

The Lightwear fashion show, which took placein Trinity College’s own Science Gallery on the 9thFebruary, was a perfect example of harmonybetween fashion and art. The outfits featured wereall created specifically for the Gallery exhibition bythe National College of Art and Design, whoamalgamated fashion, textiles, technology and artto create these beautiful and unconventional pieces.Styles varied from romantic, full length gowns tosculpted, bodyfitted catsuits and everything inbetween from intricate cocktail dresses to plasticboiler suites. The one element this variety retainedin common was the incredible and fantastical waythey incorporated the theme of light into theirdesign.

Over 30 third year fashion and textile studentsworked on the dresses featured, each of which hadits own distinct design and method of illumination.Faye Rochford, a third year fashion student,described how her “Knitwear” dress was madeexplaining “The aim of all the dresses was to besculptural but also wearable so the models couldmove around. I have always been interested inknitwear so my dress is constructed from knittedplastic incorporating reflective yarn, with a jerseydress underneath printed in sections with luminousdye.” In this way the dress reflected the light in theroom in three different ways, changing the effectcontinually as the model moved and emphasisingthe luminous and reflective quality of the materials.

Other dresses involved different modes oflighting, from light bulbs to light reflective fabrics,electroluminescent wire to fibre optic fibres woven

into the material. Most impressive of all was the“Kinetic Dress”, which comprised of an eveninggown embedded with electroluminescentembroidery and sensors that detect the wearer’smovements. The dress gave the appearence of asimple black gown as the model stood still, but theinstant she moved, the skirt began to glow withshimmering blue circles that gained in intensity themore rapid movement. Though assigned to plinthsthroughout the gallery, the models regularly walkedaround in the crowd and changed spaces, giving thedresses a different context and dimension.

In this show, the line between fashion and artbecome so imperceptible that it is impossible toseparate the two. Each dress in itself was a work ofart, constructed by the designer’s imagination intopractically a material sculpture of ruffles, curvesand cuts. The light elements not only lookedamazing and demonstrated the technology, but alsoenhanced the dresses by highlighting the silhouette,the cut and construction of the dress and the outfitas a whole. A cross between modern lightinstallations and the highest couture fashion, thesedesigns epitomise modern ideas and questions theideas of what is truly classified as “art” and“fashion”.

The exhibition was directed by the acclaimedIrish fashion designer Ciarán Sweeney. Sweeneywas personally delighted with the show, stating “Itwas a great pleasure for me to be asked to produceLightwear at the science gallery. Fashion is at itsmost powerful when people interact with it andconverse around it. The reaction to the event washighly positive from students, independentdesigners, models and the audience. I envisage thatthis is only the start of science gallery's associationwith fashion and I commend the team at the galleryfor their massive work on Lightwave in general.”

The Lightwear show is an example of howmodern art should be- interactive, tangible,accessible and aesthetically interesting. Viewers canrelate to the everyday association with clothes andappreciate the progressive and artistic elements theshow introduces. So pleased was Sweeney with theshow that he stated he will be back in Trinity at theend of May to produce the NCAD graduate show.This event is open to the public but sells out veryquickly and details available at www.ncad.ie.However wonderful the show will be, it will have adifficult time living up to the originality and impactof the Lightwear show.

P17ART

When Art andFashion collide

ART EVENTS

JACK B. YEATS- Highlights from the ModelArts and Niland Gallery, Sligo, including tow ofhis outstanding Civil War paintings at the YeatsMuseum in the National Gallery of Ireland.(8th March – 30th November 2008)

UNIQUE ACT- Selected works by Sean Scully,Carmengloria Morales, Ruth Root, SeánShanahan and Frederic Thursz which exploresworks that are painted out of necessity.Douglas Hyde Gallery (11th March– 25thMay 2008)

LOTHAR HEMPLE AND CLAUDE CAHUN-Mixed Media scenes and Surrealist

photography by the two artists. Douglas HydeGallery, Trinity. (until the 6th March)

(I’M ALWAYS TOUCHED) BY YOUR

PRESENCE, DEAR- 37 new acquisitions by theIrish Museum of Modern Art (since 2003)including a variety of important artists andmedia. (until 2nd March)

MAURIZIO BONFANTI- exhibition of theartists new incredible life drawing images.Gormleys Fine Art Gallery, South FrederickStreet, Dublin 2. (21st February–8th March)

ERIN DE BURCA, URBAN SOLITUDE- uniqueperspective oil paintings of Dublin City at theBad Art Gallery, 79 Francis Street, Dublin 8.(6th March)

Words and photograph:Caroline O’Leary

EDIBLESP18

Nothing commonabout Commons

One of the upsides ofbecoming a Scholar(apart from the rent-freeaccommodation oncampus) is the free, three

course dinner served every night as partof the Scholar package. Commons, as theexperience is known, is a traditioncenturies old, and unknown to manystudents, it available to all non-scholarswithin the student body. Having beentold it was an experience worthy ofHarry Potter, I decided to give it a go,appropriately on the evening J.K.Rowling was in town. It has to be said,commons is expensive. It costs 19 Euroto attend, which seems a lot for a dinnerwhich lasts no more than one hour.However, I parted with my cash at theEnquiries Office (situated in WestChapel, just beside the Exam Hall) andsigned up to eat, which must be donebefore 3pm on the day you wish to dine.Having persuaded a scholarly memberof my class to baby-sit me through theexperience I met her at 6pm at theDining Hall, with Commons served atprecisely 6.15pm. Unlike the self-servicelunchtime option available in the DiningHall, commons is served to you, so we

took our seats among the students, withthe High Table reserved for Fellows ofthe College, dressed in their academicgowns. Then came the scraping of seatsas everyone stood for the Latin Grace.Not really understanding anything(Trinity? Elizabeth I?) it was short, andrespected (with none of the unrulyScholar behaviour as reported of late)with food being served immediatelyafter. Glasses of Guinness and jugs ofwater were placed on the tables, and thefirst course, a non-descriptive vegetablesoup with croutons, was served with abread roll. It was grand - standardButtery fare. The main course was roastbeef with yorkshire pudding, roastpotatoes and creamed cauliflower.Again it was good, though reminded meof school dinners. The vegetarian option,which I have been informed isn’t usuallythe most inventive, was a courgette andspinach Tartlet, which looked great.Dessert was sticky toffee pudding, withbutterscotch sauce and cream, and it wasdelicious, with fruit also available. All inall the food on offer was grand, thoughhad the aura of school meals. This isn’t abad thing, in fact it is arguablycomforting, but not something I’d

necessarily want every night. The mealended at 7.15pm, with Grace again beingsaid, and everyone leaving straight away.Talking to the scholars as I ate my mealit seemed unanimous that the meal wasgreat for them, being free. Although E19for a three course meal is veryreasonable, with a spare 19 Euros, it maybe more appealing to try out some ofDublin’s many eating establishments ifit is adventurous food you are after.However, on the traditional side ofthings, Commons was great. To eat in thehistoric Dining Hall, with the faces ofTrinity’s past staring down at you,among academics in gowns, and Latinverse sounding out, it certainly is aPotter-esque experience. EugeneMcGovern, the Trinity CateringManager agrees that it certainly is anexperience that all Trinity studentsshould enjoy. The tradition of Commonsis an ancient one, written into theCollege Statutes - so much so it waseven served (albeit in the Exam Hall)when a fire destroyed the Dining Hall anumber of years ago. Mr McGovernrealises however, that the 19 Euro cost,for an hour long meal can stop studentstrying out the Commons experience. He

notes that several of Trinity’s clubs andsocieties do host annual commonsdinners, and cites this as a way toexperience Commons at cheaper prince.Alternatively, he suggests that if a groupof students are interested on attendingCommons together, they should contactthe Catering Department to see if it ispossible to arrange a lower price, whichseems like an excellent suggestion.Another way Mr McGovern suggestsstudents try Commons is by attendingCommencement Commons, whichallows students, on their Graduation day,to attend commons with their family, fora price. With a day full of historicalcustoms, it is a lovely idea to mark theend of your time at College by showingyour family one of the traditions ofTrinity. To think of the past TrinityFellows and students who have eaten inthat room, at the same time, followedthe same traditions, and heard the sameGrace certainly makes you appreciatethe uniqueness and venerableness ofTrinity. It truly is an experience whichshould be had at least once during yourtime at College.

With thanks to Aoife Beirne

Words: Beth Armstrong

INREVIEW:

The dining hall may serve “common” food during lunch, but come the evening, it’s a farclassier affair. Photo: Caroline O’Leary

P19EDIBLES

INREVIEW:

Deciding to leave the confines of D2 for a dinnerout with the girls, we opted to head to Ranelagh,a village with many culinary delights to chosebetween. After a long conversation on the typeof food we wanted to eat… burgers, Thai,

Italian… Café Bar Deli was deemed the winner. With threeother restaurants around town (including on Grafton Street) itwas maybe a bit silly to Luas-it out to Ranelagh to have a go atthe pizza and pastas on offer, however with a menu promisinggreat food, served with style and at reasonable prices it lookedgood. The restaurant was hiving, with was definitely a good sign,and with a kitchen completely open view to all the diners, thehustle and the bustle was mighty, if not a bit too much with theoccasional crash of broken dishes interrupting our meal. Themenu, was as promised varied and reasonable. On the winefront, the house options were priced at !5.50 a glass. Though perbeaker would perhaps be more appropriate, as when the redwine for the table arrived it was served a la Italian rusticcountry style. The red French Cabernet sauvignon and theArgentinean Shiraz were chosen, each easily drinkable. On thefood front, we opted to share a starter of Garlic pizzettes withherb oil, sea-salt and rosemary. These were delicious, crispy andflavoursome and the two pizettes were plenty for four people,and reasonable at !6. We all went for pizzas for our main course,with the parsley, garlic oil, mozzarella, sliced potatoes rosemary,

sea-salt and parmesan one option chosen. This alternative pizzachoice (potatoes on a pizza?) came in at !12 and lookedinteresting - completely white, with no tomato base. Althoughthe potatoes were impeccably flavoured, it was felt that the lackof tomato made this a weird, but still yummy choice. Two of uswent for the Tomato, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, pine nuts,goats cheese and basil pesto pizza, though with addedpepperoni on mine in an effort to chose at least one manly dish.The goats cheese and pesto combination was delicious, with oneplate scraped clean, although the added richness of thepepperoni ensured it wasn’t mine! The pizza was !14, with !2extra for the meat. A tomato, mozzarella, rocket, sun driedtomatoes, Italian ham and parmesan pizza was chosen, at !15the most expensive at the table. With added mushrooms, it wasdescribed as delicious. With the portions so huge most of uscouldn’t finish our meals, so we initially thought dessert wouldbe out. However, a peek at the menu changed our minds. Weordered two of the chocolate brownies and ice-creams to share,at !7 each. They were huge, but scrumptious and both plateswere cleared. The bill divided up to just over !20 each. We leftfeeling hugely full! Beth Armstrong

62 Ranelagh VillageDublin 6

Tel: 496 1886

Reasonable fare intrendy Ranelagh

More thanfriendsDear Mrs Fix-It,

I have made a new friend. He is splendid. We

met while we were out one night and got on

extremely well. He then invited me to his art

show, and we hung out and drank lots of

wine. Then we went to a party. The only

problem is that I’m not sure what his

intentions are. I have a long-term girlfriend,

and I get the feeling my new chum wants me

to be his boyfriend. If I question his interest

in me, does that mean I’ll lose my charming

new companion? If I don’t question it,

could it lead to disaster in the future? I’d

rather not let go of the friendship, he’s very

amusing.Perturbed in Portmarnock

Young Man,It’s your own fault that you’re in this

pickle. You knew full well that you had a

girlfriend when you struck up this new

friendship. I note from your letter that

you’ve never spoken to your new pal

while sober- is he actually an

interesting person, or, at best, mildly

amusing? Need it be resolved? As I

can see, the consequences of your inaction can only

grow more and more hilarious as the days go on.

Perhaps leave it for another while- save yourself the

hassle and maximise on the social awkwardness that’s

bound to follow in the coming weeks.

ENDNOTESP20

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xkcd.com

Mrs Fixit

Have you got problemsof your own that need!xing? Email Mrs Fixit atmrs.!xit@trinitynews.ie

Tesco Online: They’ll deliveryour shopping to your housefor a minor fee. No more car-rying bags of groceries around

town.

Sunny Weather: Hurray HurrayHurray Hurray.

The Lightwave Gallery: Basicallyan empty nightclub. Waste. Of.

Money.

SleepyDear Mrs Fix-It,

I am 21 years old. I very much enjoy parties, and I getinvited to many of them. However, I’m unable to getthrough an entire party without a nap. For example,the other evening I was at a party from 11pm- 5 am,and went for three separate naps. On the one hand,my need for sleep is mildly embarrassing, yet on theother hand, after each nap I awake energised andready to have fun again. Have you any suggestions asto how to remedy this problem?Sleepily, Sarah.

Dear Sarah,I can only hope that this is a habit you’ll grow out ofsoon. While it’s all well and good to nap during houseparties, there will come a time when you’re at a partywhich has no beds available. Unless you train yourself tohave a small nap in the bathroom (which could lead toconcerns that you had passed out and ensuingembarrassing explanations), the situations in whichsleeping through a party is acceptable are only going todwindle in number until you reach old age. Though,when you are elderly, it’s more than alright to go back toyour old habits of having a sneaky snooze. So really,you’ve only got to figure out a short-term solution forbetween the ages of 21-60. That’s 39 nap-free years. I’msure you can handle that, right?

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