I usually have to steel myself for watching a Kim Ki-Duk film.
Ki- Duk has made a name in Korea as an uncompromising director:
his films are brutal, and frequently take as their protagonists
criminals and prostitutes, the marginal and the selfharming.
Tracing the education of a young monk from childhood to old age,
each episode illustrated by a different season, Spring, Summer,
Autumn, Winter… and Springmight seem at first glance to be
an anomaly in his oeuvre. But beyond its poetic composition and
references to Buddhist mysticism, it deals with the same
alienated and marginal characters struggling to attain some kind
of peace. The setting is a floating Buddhist monastery in the middle of
a remote lake in present-day Korea. In the film’s first
chapter, an elderly monk educates a small boy, whom he teaches to
treat the natural world with respect. The boy torments a fish, a
frog and a snake by tying heavy stones to them, and the old monk
does the same thing to the child, warning him that he will always
carry such a burden in his heart. When we next see the boy, he is
an adolescent, in love with a sick girl brought to the temple to
be cured. The monk cautions him that lust turns into the desire
to possess which in turn leads to murder. The boy ignores the
advice and goes out into the world. He returns to the monastery
at later points in his life, first in Autumn and the in Winter,
and on each visit we see the elder man’s prophesies borne
out, the inter-rim incidents linking Spring, Summer… to the
themes of Ki-Duk’s earlier works. By the time we return to
the Spring, the man himself is now an old monk, living in the
monastery, raising a child as he himself was raised. The film is characterised by the fine balance between
truncated anecdotes and a nuanced sense of time passing.
Incidents gather resonance between episodes, so that the monks
collect leaves in the first episode for a medicine that we see in
the second. In the small monastery, the painted wood, simple
alter and bird-shaped wind chimes accrue a poignant familiarity
over the decades of the narrative. Although not as gut-wrenching as some of Ki-Duk’s
previous works, the film is certainly as melancholy. The
director’s real divergence from his usual path is in the
hope with which he imbues the film. It’s a very rare thing
indeed to come out of a cinema floating on a cloud of goodwill,
and an ever rarer one to come out of Kim Ki-Duk film in such a
state. But Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… and Springseems to
be able to transfer some of the calm and inner peace of the
Buddhist faith on which it meditates, even as far as Jericho.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

Avril Lavigne
Under My Skin
Out Now Avril Lavigne is a strikingly attractive woman. Her huge dark
eyes, lank hair and ripped jeans make her the perfect
‘alternative’ preteen crush. She is so attractive, in
fact, that she is positively diverting. Which is more than can be
said of her music. For those with extremely short memories, Radio 2 picked up her
debut single ‘Complicated’ back in 2002 and unwittingly
created a phenomenon. Fourteen million copies of her first album
Let’s Go later, and she returns with her sophomore effort,
Under My Skin. Lavigne is now at the same crossroads faced by
artists like Alanis Morissette, who sold a similarly staggering
number of her debut Jagged Little Pill. Her follow-up Supposedly
Former Infatuation Junkie took a risk in exploring a less
commercial sound. Lavigne has taken no such a gamble. Under My Skin feels distinctly like a retread of Let’s
Go. There is the merest hint of a heavier direction thanks to the
crunching guitars on ‘I Always Get What I Want’ and
‘Freak Out’. Production duo ‘The Matrix’ have
been replaced after a wrangle over song-crediting by Chantal
Kreviazuk, most recognizable for songs featured on Dawson’s
Creek. Whilst the guitar amps have been turned up, lyrically Lavigne
is back in the same safe territory – the traumas of being a
teenager. First single and album highlight ‘Don’t Tell
Me’ describes the perils of an oversexed boyfriend and is
probably a reference to Lavigne’s vow of chastity.
‘Forgotten’ describes the end of a messy relationship,
and ‘Fall to Pieces’ tells of becoming emotionally
dependent on someone else. It’s as generic and as universal
as any record label executive could want. Lavigne has a writing credit on every song, but this is no
guarantee of quality. ‘Slipped Away’, dedicated to her
dead grandfather, does her no favours, (“I miss you/I miss
you so bad/I don’t forget you/Oh it’s so sad”).
Poetry it ain’t. Lavigne is a talented singer , but the
overall impression is of a pretty face acting as a front for the
boardroom, targeting a specific demographic. There is nothing
that suggests Under My Skin won’t shift another few million
CDs to a misunderstood youth. The irony is that the record
companies understand them enough to produce albums perfectly
targeted to prise away their pocket money.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

Contrary to understandable but misguided popular belief, PJ
Harvey does not belong in the waify indie chick-rocker
department. Her second of two sold-out shows at the Zodiac
demonstrated that she is straight-ahead hardcore. Unlike other alternative female acts that are gaining fans and
press attention, PJ Harvey doesn’t do onstage mind games or
hysteria; with her it’s all professionalism and power.
Thursday’s performance was an elegant example of lo-fi
purity. The band, as revealingly minimal yet unyieldingly tight as
Harvey’s yellow tube-tee dress, maximized the Zodiac’s
primitive overkill sound system with forceful, stripped,
percussion- driven renditions of old favorites, along with newer
songs. Harvey’s unique vocals ran their gamut from the
controlled schizophrenia of ‘Taut’ to the lovely,
lyrical energy of ‘Good Fortune’. If this show is any indication, Harvey’s sixth studio
release, Uh Huh Her, will be more of a return to her earlier work
than the lush production of Stories. ‘Who The Fuck’ and
‘Uh Huh Her’ showcase Harvey’s selfdeprecating
angry freak-outs; ‘Shame’ and ‘You Come
Through’ (played during the second encore) recall the dark
lo-fi mastery of earlier albums while achieving the accessibility
of Stories. The two encores may have been the highlights of the show. The
building persistence of the percussion on ‘A Perfect Day
Elise’ and ‘To Bring You My Love’ empowered two of
Harvey’s most ethereal and wrenching songs, respectively, to
new, hardhitting heights of catharsis. And, we got to see the
dress again.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

Nothing beats the good old days of 1977. How the 17-year-olds
managed to come up with classic, catchy rock is anyone’s
guess. Pity they blew it. Ash’s follow-up to their pop album
Free All Angels is certainly truer to their old rock roots.
Classic, scandalously repetitive lyrics remain, with catchy,
cheap rhyming choruses in full sway. Tim’s voice is still as recognisable as ever, and having
enjoyed the American pure rock influences they experienced on
their ‘Free All Angels Tour’, they teamed up with the
former Foo Fighters producer to create this heavier album. Opening with the Metallica-esque ‘Meltdown’, they
move seamlessly into ‘Orpheus’, the recent single, this
was exactly the rock vibe Ash needed to perform. Feisty drumming,
catchy melodies and the strong bass that runs through into
‘Evil Eye’ reveal Ash’s new, but nostalgic,
direction. They have also, re-discovered their ability to mix
rock with pure unashamed beauty. ‘Starcrossed’ is a
classic Ash track with a strong chorus reminiscent of Free All
Angels, with the youthful exuberance of 1977. This leads onto the
darker ‘Renegrade Cavalcade’ and ends with the mournful
tone of ‘Vampire Love’. Ash have learnt from their starry pre-“Nu-Clear
Sounds” sound. 1977 was pivotal, whilst Free All
Angels’ classic pop showed Ash selling their souls, in order
to have something worth fighting for. Meltdown sees another
change. They have created their own battle trying not to blow it.
Ash have returned to their rock roots, but not as far back as
their 1977days – maybe only 1987?ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

They told us Quiet is the New Loud in 2001. Now, the Kings of
Convenience are back with their Riot on an Empty Street. As the
title might suggest, the vibe hasn’t changed. The record
opens with ‘Homesick’, its fuzzy, layered vocals and
lilting guitar setting effectively the hazy tone for the rest of
the album. With the next track, ‘Misread’, we move swiftly from
a folk feel to the gentle groove of lounge music. After another
few tracks of sleepy introduction, the pace picks up and
‘I’d Rather Dance with You’, a lo-fi pop ditty
whose naively expressed sentiments cannot help but endear the
listener, provides a mid-album wake up call. Lyrically, the album is based in narrative and notably
self-conscious; “Space for us to shake in here like this
tune” At times, this can seem prosaic, even stilted, but it
sits well as a neat contrast with the dreamy quality of the
music. One of the standout tracks of this record is definitely its
finale, ‘The Build Up’, with guest vocals by Leslie
Feist, whose voice, strong but resonating with the warmth of such
emotionally powerful artists as Jeff Buckley, soars over the
simple instrumental. With her debut release Let it Die, the climax of her already
rich musical history, out in the UK from 28 June, Feist is
definitely worth keeping an eye on. All in all, this album may not be entirely what you’re
used to listening to. Saying that, however, it’s well worth
a listen and would certainly make a great soundtrack to some slow
motion summer sun.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

The Imps and the Revue are the two main branches of Oxford student comedy. The more famous Revue has existed for 50 years and its members have included people such as Michael Palin, Dudley Moore and Rowan Atkinson. The Imps have, surprisingly, only existed since the beginning of this academic year, following
inspiration at the Edinburgh fringe festival during the summer, although they seem to have been around forever and have already made themselves into an Oxford institution. It seems, therefore, logical that the two should come together to create one Kaboomshow at the end of what has been a very successful year for the two groups. The problem facing these groups is that it is so easy to rubbish what they do, especially if one starts comparing the Revue’s sketches to those of Monty Python or the Imps to Whose Line is It Anywaybut this would be to overlook what they are actually trying to do: to create new comedy and, more
importantly, to entertain. This is not a bunch of pretentious students trying to be the next Chris Morris but a group of people having fun and trying to be humorous. One of the main criticisms banded around about the Revue and the Imps is that they appeal to a low sense of humour; that they just are not clever enough for the educated Oxford audiences, but this is part of what they are trying to do. They want to move away from the pretentious and, in places, incomprehensible comedy of their predecessors to get people laughing again, and from the response they get, they seem to have achieved this. The fact is, that despite the sneers that the comedy groups will inevitably get, they are both on the whole very funny. This is helped by the huge amount of talent in the two groups. A central circle of extremely talented people unites the two groups, but in both the stand out performance comes from the
director of the Imps, Jon Dick. Although his confidence and ability can tend to overpower the weaker members of the groups, this in no way harms the performances, it just makes the fact that he is going from Oxford to start improvisational comedy in the big world of Chicago, the home of the art, seem like a pretty smart move. There are other stand-out performances, in the Imps – the fantastically energetic Rachel Ball and, in both the Revue and the Imps, the brilliant Jim Grant and the director of the Revue, the delightful Drummond Muir. If any criticism can be made it is that some of the Revue sketches, or the characters within the sketches, are slightly derivative or clichéd but this does not make the performances any less enjoyable or funny. Since the main point of Kaboom is to entertain, as long as it does this, what is the problem?ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

Texas is the backdrop for this remarkable collection of short stories, which portray characters including drug addicts, out of work actors and a porn movie director, all trapped in barren existences and haunted by memories of their past. The tales, operating on the margins of a degenerate society, are dark and unmitigating, and just brimming with suburban savagery.
Lara Turner Slept Here tells of a woman’s fruitless search for a brother who disappeared from an amusement park in LA when they were teenagers, only to reinvent himself as a notorious drag queen, Cunt A Kinte; The Cheerleader’s Kiss showcases a failing screenwriter, Jed, who scrapes a living by plagiarism. When his wife Mia leaves him, he is forced to address his latent feelings for his gay best friend, Carter.
Levinson’s delivers his stories with punch and intensity, and this swift style goes a fair way to explaining their immediate popularity. Sure, it feels like the kind of writing that ought to command praise and evoke interest, yet time and time again Levinson misses the mark and leaves us searching desperately for non-existent depths of profundity. Levinson’s intention is to trigger misunderstanding and a sense that his tales defy comprehension by any “outsider”.
To alienate the reader in such a way is ill-advised at the best of times but any slim chance of success is undermined by poor prose; at times, Levinson’s syntax itself, let alone his stories, demand of the reader a vivid imagination. We encounter such pretensions as “crepuscular dark” and sentences like “Damon thought suddenly of Suzanne and how he’d expressed to her his concerns about growing into his father” are all too prevalent and should never have been allowed into print.
The title story, in which friends seek help from a group called “How to write your way out of hysteria” is easily the best of a shoddy bunch, carrying with it more than a suggestion of the author’s own solace amongst words, but doesn’t quite redeem the general lack of clarity and resonance.
Levinson’s first work ultimately falls by its own hand, as its surfeit of detail and melodrama undermine a manful attempt to address hidden aspects of society.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

I was handed this book on the way to the gym. Wandering
through sun-dappled cloisters, the sounds of birdsong and cricket
practise enveloping me, I thumbed idly through the first chapter.
Nothing could quite prepare me for the hard-hitting nature of
this novel. By the third page I am deeply involved in lesbian sex
with a hooker in a graveyard. As if that wasn’t shocking enough, by page ten I am
trying desperately to hold my own in a world of strobe-lit flings
and comedowns from drugs I have never heard of, described in
language I never knew existed. I totally and utterly fail. Having thrown the Oxford English Dictionary into the nearest
skip in a rage of apoplexy at its inadequacy, however, I resolve
to plough on nonetheless. So, enthroned on the left-hand exercise
bike in LA fitness, I follow foul-mouthed, fouler-tempered Millie
O’Reilly from solitary drinking binges to molesting
teenagers in club toilets, on a trail of selfdestruction
punctuated by passages of amazingly evocative description. One
such passage depicting an ecstasy-enhanced thunderstorm over the
Merseyside docks is spellbinding; those expressing the ineffable
joy of voiding one’s bowels when coked up, less so. Alluringly promising "a female perspective on the harsh
truth of growing up in today’s Britain", the author,
though sufficiently compassionate, fails to create a character
which those eager to discover this new perspective can identify
with. Arena may have called Walsh the female Irvine Welsh but she
falls far short of this title in Brass. Insufficient depth is
given to the emotional build-up to Millie’s odyssey of
self-abuse, and her eventual break-down, though inevitable
enough, seems to come when the author’s, rather than the
heroine’s, stamina fails. That said, however, Walsh presents a shocking portrait of the
underbelly of Liverpool Cathedral’s area; an understanding
of which creeps up slowly but suddenly overpowers, much like,
Walsh assures me, a particularly pure Ecstasy tablet.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004 

Summer Eights 2004 After last year’s historic double headship, Pembroke
College came down to earth with a bump or two during this
year’s Summer Eights, with New College W1 and Magdalen
College M1 sitting at the top of the tables come the close of
racing on Saturday. Magdalen M1 had started fourth on the river on Wednesday, and
some thought that despite the obvious speed in the boat, the
inherently unfair nature of bumps racing might deny the
Blue-stacked crew the headship. Magdalen proved all doubters
wrong by bumping Exeter, Pembroke and Oriel on successive days,
to go head for the first time in fifty years, with a day to
spare. Pembroke had lost the headship on Wednesday to Oriel, having
been bumped well past the boat houses on the opening day. But
despite bringing Theology finalist Basil Dixon into the boat for
the rest of the week, Pembroke could neither gain revenge on
Oriel nor hold off Magdalen as they dropped to third. Whilst the decidedly iffy weather meant that tow-path support
was not what it might have been, Magdalen’s bump on Oriel
was met by scenes of jubilation on the banks and boat house
island, with Magdalen supporters and neutral observers alike
happy to see a crew other than Oriel or Pembroke at the top of
the table. Of course, it could have all been very different
– Magdalen, along with Catz men and Somerville women, had
failed to enter their boats into Eights on time, and the college
captains could have voted to bar them from racing or impose
penalty bumps – but in the end the fastest men’s crew
on the river finished head, something that all too often does not
occur. Oriel M1 have often been accused of arrogance, and are
certainly not the most popular crew on the river. However, the
entire crew, led by captain Alisdair Robbie, made a trip to
Magdalen boat house after racing on Saturday to congratulate the
headship holders (along with many other first division rowers),
an action that deserves acknowledgement and commendation. Further down the men’s first division, renowned for the
number of row-overs normally recorded, there were a surprising
number of bumps, with both New College and Balliol moving up
three places, although New’s bump on Christ Church on
Thursday was marred by a pile up on the Green Bank which left the
House’s cox Charles Thorogood in the Isis. Although
everybody involved appeared anxious not to apportion blame for
the incident, Thorogood had a very lucky escape as the rest of
the racing boats thundered towards him before the division was
eventually klaxoned. Balliol captain Andrew Crawford was
overjoyed with his crew’s success after they bounced back
from gaining spoons last year, demonstrating how quickly fortunes
can change. Much the same could be said for Christ Church, who gained
spoons to end up ninth, only three years after they had gained
blades after starting in that position. Captain Lenny Martin was
obviously upset by his crew’s fortunes, but took heart from
Balliol’s comeback. With college stalwart Robin
Bourne-Taylor returning from Olympic duty next year, the House
should find it easier to persuade their other men’s Blues
back in to college boats, something that they had been unable to
do this summer, and real improvement is possible. But as a member of this year’s crew noted, ‘Whilst
we are all obviously disappointed that we have gone down, other
events this week have helped us to keep things in perspective.
We’ve got spoons. It’s hardly the end of the world,
compared to what happened to that poor girl from Catz.’
Indeed, a one minute silence before men’s division one on
Thursday, in memory of Emilie Harris, a rower from St
Catherine’s tragically killed the day before, was kept by
one and all, with crews still on the river from the previous
division easy-ing to show their respects. If women’s rowing ever takes second place to men’s,
it certainly was not the case during this year’s Eights. In
the women’s divisions New College kept us biting our nails,
having to wait three days to gain the headship. Osiris coach Karl
Offord reported that New had come within a foot of bumping
Pembroke on the first day, and the girls in pink did not have an
easy ride on Thursday either. Their downfall was to come on Friday however, when a crew
member crabbed off the start and New took advantage of the
mistake to make an easy bump. They then rowed over comfortably on
Saturday. Other performances of note in the women’s first division
were that of Teddy Hall who won blades and moved up six places on
the river, including an overbump on St Hilda’s on day one,
after the Christ Church and Catz had bumped out in front of them.
Christ Church were also extremely quick throughout the week,
moving up three for the third year in succession. With only two women’s crews achieving blades, the
competitiob was fierce at every level. As one observer noted,
‘Good crews go up three, lucky crews win blades.’
Queen’s also moved up from the seconds division, putting in
an excellent performance. In men’s division two St John’s, Worcester, and LMH
won blades, the latter moving up from the third division, and
looking assured in their new Stampfli. No blades were won in the
women’s second division, although both Oriel and Worcester
were impressive. Worcester’s chance of blades were foiled on
the first day by a klaxon while they were chasing an overbump on
LMH – the first time LMH had not been bumped in Eights for
over two years. At the end of the week, the top divisions of Eights had been
seriously shaken up. Whilst Oriel and Pembroke are unlikely to be
on the back foot for long, it was refreshing to see change and
the top of both first divisions. Almost as refreshing as that
pint of Pimm’s. racing on Saturday. Magdalen M1 had started fourth on the river on Wednesday, and
some thought that despite the obvious speed in the boat, the
inherently unfair nature of bumps racing might deny the
Blue-stacked crew the headship. Magdalen proved all doubters
wrong by bumping Exeter, Pembroke and Oriel on successive days,
to go head for the first time in fifty years, with a day to
spare. Pembroke had lost the headship on Wednesday to Oriel, having
been bumped well past the boat houses on the opening day. But
despite bringing Theology finalist Basil Dixon into the boat for
the rest of the week, Pembroke could neither gain revenge on
Oriel nor hold off Magdalen as they dropped to third. Whilst the decidedly iffy weather meant that tow-path support
was not what it might have been, Magdalen’s bump on Oriel
was met by scenes of jubilation on the banks and boat house
island, with Magdalen supporters and neutral observers alike
happy to see a crew other than Oriel or Pembroke at the top of
the table. Of course, it could have all been very different
– Magdalen, along with Catz men and Somerville women, had
failed to enter their boats into Eights on time, and the college
captains could have voted to bar them from racing or impose
penalty bumps – but in the end the fastest men’s crew
on the river finished head, something that all too often does not
occur. Oriel M1 have often been accused of arrogance, and are
certainly not the most popular crew on the river. However, the
entire crew, led by captain Alisdair Robbie, made a trip to
Magdalen boat house after racing on Saturday to congratulate the
headship holders (along with many other first division rowers),
an action that deserves acknowledgement and commendation. Further down the men’s first division, renowned for the
number of row-overs normally recorded, there were a surprising
number of bumps, with both New College and Balliol moving up
three places, although New’s bump on Christ Church on
Thursday was marred by a pile up on the Green Bank which left the
House’s cox Charles Thorogood in the Isis. Although
everybody involved appeared anxious not to apportion blame for
the incident, Thorogood had a very lucky escape as the rest of
the racing boats thundered towards him before the division was
eventually klaxoned. Balliol captain Andrew Crawford was
overjoyed with his crew’s success after they bounced back
from gaining spoons last year, demonstrating how quickly fortunes
can change. Much the same could be said for Christ Church, who gained
spoons to end up ninth, only three years after they had gained
blades after starting in that position. Captain Lenny Martin was
obviously upset by his crew’s fortunes, but took heart from
Balliol’s comeback. With college stalwart Robin
Bourne-Taylor returning from Olympic duty next year, the House
should find it easier to persuade their other men’s Blues
back in to college boats, something that they had been unable to
do this summer, and real improvement is possible. But as a member of this year’s crew noted, ‘Whilst
we are all obviously disappointed that we have gone down, other
events this week have helped us to keep things in perspective.
We’ve got spoons. It’s hardly the end of the world,
compared to what happened to that poor girl from Catz.’
Indeed, a one minute silence before men’s division one on
Thursday, in memory of Emilie Harris, a rower from St
Catherine’s tragically killed the day before, was kept by
one and all, with crews still on the river from the previous
division easy-ing to show their respects.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004