Tuesday 1st July 2025
Blog Page 2240

Review: All Tomorrow’s Parties

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All
Tomorrow’s Parties – ATP to its friends – is unlike
other festivals. Firstly, it’s held in Butlins, Minehead. The
benefits are obvious: showers, beds, kettles, even a TV, as well as
the culinary delights of Pizza Hut and Burger King and some pretty
perturbed-looking Redcoats.

The
other notable feature of this festival is that you won’t find
Panic! At the Disco headlining here. ATP is a haven for obscure
indie, post-rock, electronica and the odd foray into hip-hop –
basically, the kind of thing you have to be a fairly serious music
fan to pay for a whole weekend of.

A
chosen band or artist selects each festival’s line-up. Past
‘curators’ include Mogwai, The Mars Volta and Tortoise.
This time the mantle falls, surprisingly given their stature in
comparison with such legends, to Texan post-rockers Explosions In The
Sky.

The
first highlight comes on Friday evening, as Tokyo’s Mono
craft a deep, brooding, relentless wall of sound. Epic,
guitar-heavy, vocal-less noise creates an overriding mood of beauty
juxtaposed with darkness. A great start to the weekend.

Disappointingly,
the same can’t be said for Explosions In The Sky
themselves. There’s a weird atmosphere around the main stage: a
huge perma-tent and vomit-inducing carpet just aren’t conducive
to losing oneself in the music. Also, the PA really isn’t loud
enough. Not much is gained from this set that you can’t get
from listening to Explosions on CD fairly loud – and that can
be done in much nicer surroundings.

Later that night
Four Tet tries to make the indie kids dance, failing miserably for the most part.
Classics like ‘Hands’ and ‘Glue of the World’
are beefed up, extended and mixed in with newer, clubbier material.
Pauses between tracks are confusing, as if this show can’t
really decide whether it’s a gig or a DJ set, but altogether
it’s good fun: shame the crowd doesn’t seem to ‘get’
it.

What was a minor quibble for Four Tet becomes a major problem for Saul
Williams
, who comments repeatedly on the awkward shuffling of the
(overwhelmingly scruffy, male, twentysomething) audience in response
to his staccato hip-hop and diatribes on race as social construct.

The
crowd is back on more familiar ground for long-established art
rockers …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead.
Their set is joyous, the scuzzy complexities of their sound
translating well to a PA modified with extra amps so that, for the
first time this weekend, we leave with an agreeable ringing in our
ears.

Atlas
Sound
also deserve honourable mention. Delicate, deadpan male and
female vocals recall Sonic Youth, as distorted guitars over a
background of pulsating, reverb-heavy looped samples create a
distinctive and impressive sound. Next up are Animal
Collective
, offering something largely unrecognisable from either of their two most recent records. This is no bad
thing: the band’s live sound is heavy, intricately layered and
interesting.

Broken
Social Scene
, meanwhile, bring the festivities to a triumphant
close. Inviting an ‘ATP orgy’ of J Mascis and member of
Explosions and the Constantines on stage, the band confidently
perform brass-laced versions of favourites like ‘Ibi dreams of
Pavement’ and ‘Shoreline 7/4’ alongside new
material.

And so it’s with smiles on our faces that we brave the M5 to be back in time for Monday morning tutorials. A wet weekend in Butlins has never seemed so cool.

Theatre Column: The Set Designer

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It is not a set
designer’s favourite play, the one with nineteen scenes in nineteen different
locations, but at least Spring Awakening does it with a sense
of irony.


For once you reach that nineteenth scene, and you think you have
encountered the worst of the stage directions, you are hit with the fruitiest
and most ludicrous of them all: Moritz Stiefel, with his
head under his arm, comes stamping across the graves.

 

I suppose that is
just one of many reasons why Spring Awakening is rarely
tackled either in professional or amateur theatre. With a cast of 37 characters
it is something of a behemoth of a play.

 

And then there is the content: teenage
rape, abortion and suicide. If that has semi-raised an internal eyebrow
somewhere on your mother’s side, it is quite astonishing to think the play was
written well over a hundred years ago.

 

Back in the 1890s,
they did not have the technology available to us now to bring the different
scenes to life. Our current idea for creating these different locations is
to leave the stage as a blank canvas, and suggest the different spaces with
careful lighting and suggestive pieces of flown physical set.


Without the need
to lug hulking great flats on and off, we hope the scene changes will be much
more fluid and add an ethereal quality to the vivid world these children
inhabit.

 

As for poor Moritz
and his disembodied head, that is very much a work in progress. As a Member of
the Magic Circle, I had tried to design an illusion that would enable us to
have a truly decapitated boy, carrying his talking head under his arm. But for
that detail, we would have had to sacrifice the stomping across the graves.

 

It
looks like we will end up resorting to old fashioned methods after all: the
willing suspension of disbelief. Something I have learnt from this project is
that it is all too easy to let technology get in the way and all that really
counts is the relationships between characters, the essence of our theatre.

 

We are still a way
off achieving all that and for the next three weeks, this is where our
attention lies. Between now and opening night, let us hope there are not too
many times when we would all sooner exit pursued by a bear.

Oxford to re-visit Turin Shroud

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An Oxford Laboratory has been persuaded to revisit the dating of the shroud of Turin by a physicis professor.

The shroud is the reported burial shroud of Jesus Christ.

The professor, John Jackson, has argued that carbon monoxide could have contaminated the shroud and distorted its radio-carbon dating results by more than a thousand years.

Ex-Professor to sue Manchester Uni

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Former Oxford Professor Terry Eagleton has publicised his plans to sue the University of Manchester for age discrimination after being forced by the University to retire from his current professorship at the age of 65.

A failure to renew his contract, which states that every lecturer is under obligation to retire at 65, has led the famed literary critic to take action.

Students at Manchester have rallied behind Eagleton and argued that he should be allowed to stay on.

Suitcase sparks ChCh bomb scare

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Police were called to a suspected bomb alert on Tuesday, after an innocent tourist had padlocked her suitcase to a wall of Christ Church Meadows building.

Having been alerted to the scene, just outside the Meadows building of Christ Church, the police were considering what further action to take when the tourist returned.

Explaining that she had left the briefcase to go shopping, the alarm was called off, and the briefcase was removed.

The College was temporarily closed whilst the area was cordoned off and inhabitants of Meadows building warned to keep away from their windows.

Police deny claims that they were ready to carry out a controlled explosion.

Lost tower found beneath castle

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Repair work on the Oxford Castle’s Mound has led to the discovery of a ten-sided tower that has been hidden since the late 1700s.

The foundations of the tower that previously stood at the top of the mound overlooking Medieval Oxford were uncovered while work on a land subsidence was being carried out on site.

Visitors should soon be allowed to observe the excavated tower, which may have to be reburied for safety reasons once the repairs are complete.

Uni ‘risks alienating foreign students’

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A government report has found that British universities risk alienating foreign students as tuition fees become increasingly expensive.

Oxford University was one of 11 international universities sampled by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), and was named as one of the most expensive institutions, second only to Harvard.

There are currently over 6,500 international students at Oxford University, who make up a third of the total student body.
This includes 14 per cent of full-time undergraduates and 63 per cent of full-time graduate students.

The Hepi report says that: “UK universities receive on average 8 per cent of their total income from international students.”

The tuition fees for non-EU students are wide ranging, with £9,605 for a Bth in Theology; £11,205 for social sciences, humanities and human sciences; £12,810 for a degree in Fine Art, with the highest fee at £23,475 for clinical medicine.

Non-EU students are also required to pay the college fee, which vary between colleges, and are likely to be in excess of £4,800 per annum according to the Oxford website.

Nisha Sriram is a Singaporean clinical medical student and is at the higher end of the fee-paying spectrum.

Nisha described her undergraduate and clinical student fees; “Fees [undergraduate] were about £15,000 pounds a year and college fees were £4000.

“On top of this, flights were £2000 and I can’t remember living costs…now fees are up to about £24,000 but flights go down as I don’t go home as often.

“Most of the people here are on scholarships and don’t care where they go, because someone else is paying for it”.

Oxford does offer some assistance, such as the Reach Oxford scholarships for students from low income countries, however, competition is often fierce.

Ingrid Frater is the current representative for all graduate and international students, and works with OUSU’s International Students’ Campaign.

When asked about the international student fees at Oxford, she said, “This week I’m going to be preparing OUSU policy on international and graduate fees […] which will be taken to Council in seventh week.

“[There is] a University review just beginning, looking at fees policy, but want to consult widely before writing anything.”

Grad students given charter of rights

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OUSU Council has passed a motion to grant graduate students a new Charter, outlining their rights with regards to the University.

The proposals, which will be put into action in the new academic year, was proposed by Paul Rollason and seconded by Ingrid Frater, OUSU Vice President for graduate students.

The motion noted, “Graduate students are often unaware of what rights and entitlements are guaranteed to them by University rules and regulations…[and] that graduate students with complaints and problems don’t always know what action they are entitled to take.”

The Charter will collate information, including course objectives, rent increases, college advisers and searching for private rooms.

Rollason , who is a graduate student himself, said of his proposal, “The motivation for the charter was basically the impression I was getting that a lot of graduates aren’t happy with their experience of the University or that things aren’t as they expected. They are willing to put up with a lot for the sake of being able to put Oxford on their CV.”

He added that he had been inspired to take the cause of graduate students after reading an article on the matter in the Guardian, in which two Oxford alumni criticised their graduate student experiences.

The students, former recipients of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, described “a frustrating academic experience” in an “outdated academic system”, where advisers “spend more time avoiding emails than supervising students”.

It went on to argue that ”DPhil students struggle to have supervisors read their dissertations before submission, and poor supervision is the rule, not the exception.”

Rollason added, “There is no transparency or accountability in anything the colleges or faculties do and students have no idea what they are entitled to or how to go about making sure they get it. This seems to result in tremendous apathy from the graduate populace, who don’t see any point in complaining or trying to make things better.”

Frater explained, “I would agree that a lot of the time information is clear and students do know procedures but because graduate students sit between their departments and college, the structure is a lot less clear for grads than undergrads.”

According to Rollason the key issue of concern is often to do with rent. He said, “My college’s graduate rent went up 14% last year, in spite of protests and agreements reached in previous years. The rent is going up by another 5-14% next year and they won’t tell us the exact amount until the end of this term (so I’ve heard, but no announcements have been made at all by the college).

“No one is willing or able to protest because they now realise their views don’t matter. I think there is also an implicit threat from colleges that rocking the boat will not make your life as a student easier.”

The charter will be accessible to MCRs and on the OUSU website. A similar charter, introduced a year ago, already exists for undergraduates.

Wadham cox injured at Eights

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St Antony’s rowers have been accused of causing two major pile ups during Summer Eights last week, after manning their boat with a novice-rated Cox.

A Wadham Cox was injured twice and, as a result of the second incident, was unable to participate in Saturday’s race.

On Thursday Wadham’s crew was about to be bumped by St Antony’s Men’s second boat when Cox Rachel Levy put up her hand in concession.

However St Antony’s rowed on into Wadham, who were attempting to clear the racing line.

Levy said, “A couple of my Wadham rowers had fallen off their seats at the start, so we had to concede to St Antony’s in the first fifteen strokes or so.

“While I clearly put up my hand to concede, St Antony’s failed to lighten up and proceeded to row full speed  into my crew.”

The collision resulted in Levy being hit on the shoulder by St Antony’s bowman’s oar but the two boats remained entangled in the middle of the river, and the race was klaxoned.

However Tom Isherwood, President of St Antony’s Boat club, denied the accusations that St Antony’s caused the pile up on the river.

He said, “First, incidents like this are normally not the result of any negative intention or even recklessness (despite what the Wadham coaches who proceeded to harass and verbally abuse our crew throughout the week may think).

“Rather, they are an inevitable result of the chaos of Oxford bumps racing.”

On Friday, there was a  pile-up near ‘the gut’ which it has been alleged that St Antony’s initiated.

However, the separate incident which prevented Levy from rowing on Saturday was, she says, “partly everyone’s fault.”

Wadham’s rudder was smashed in the process and they had to be towed in by a launch.

Levy was unable to row in her race on Saturday as a result of the impact she had received to her back.

Isherwood spoke about the incident saying, “Friday of Eights saw a similarly dangerous situation, but with Wadham receiving a dangerous coxing fine and the St Antony’s crew receiving appreciation for being the only crew directly behind them to stop in time.”
Levy described the incident as “just the nature of bumps.”

She continued, “Rowing, while not normally a contact sport, does have its share of mishaps, collisions, broken bones, ejector crabs, etc.

“If you aren’t willing to accept those risks, then you shouldn’t be on the water, plain and simple.”

Wadham burglar sentenced

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A man who broke into a tutor’s room in Wadham in February has been sentenced to four years in prison for burglary.

Jason Callaghan was given a sentence of three and a half years for burglary and attempted theft, and six months for assault.

Callaghan entered Giula Zanderighi’s room on February 10. Zanderighi, a Physics fellow, found him there at 7pm. When she discovered him he had moved a laptop and disconnected some cables.

She escorted Callaghan out of the college at which point he began to run on to South Parks Road, where Zanderighi pursued him, calling for help. He was caught and pinned to the ground by two men, until the police arrived. In the course of the struggle, he assaulted one of the men, having informed them that he had a knife.

Callaghan told police that he was “just using the toilet” and that “the door [of Zanderighi’s room] was open.” He claimed that the laptop had been knocked onto the floor after he had banged his head.

Callaghan, who later pleaded guilty to the crime, has 29 previous convictions since 1990 for over 80 offences, mostly for theft or criminal damage.

He was sentenced to three years in prison for breaking into a student’s bedroom in Lincoln College in October 2004, and 21 months for burglary of another college room in Wadham in November 2006. At the time of the latest offence he had been out of prison for two months.

The defence attorney rejected the supposition that Jason Callaghan was a dangerous man. The assault, he claimed, was a futile attempt to ward off his pursuers who had, “forcibly confronted him”.

Callaghan had been previously convicted of attempted robbery, but this was quashed. A pre-sentence report did not mention any risk of physical harm.

The judge told Callaghan that his catalogue of offences made “depressing reading”. She said, “Until you sort yourself out, there’s really not much hope for you outside in the community.” The crime, she said, was “unpleasant” but “a daytime offence in premises that were unoccupied.”

Callaghan’s offences are linked to a long-standing heroin addiction, and various psychological problems.

The court gave Joseph Valentine, one of the men who restrained Callaghan, a £250 Community Award for courage shown in pursuing him.