Category: culture
Culpable dimensions (Part 1)
| March 31, 2013 | Posted by John James under creative writing |
“I hate funerals” Jason blurted out as his mother flicked his left ear across his cheeks. Jason rubbed his ear and sensed that it was his cue to be quiet. All eyes in the church turned their heads in unison to witness a beaten boy; drowning in his own tears, he treaded down the aisle, and each step he took he tried to pick up pieces of he and his brother’s shattered lives. He had approached the top of the church. Nathan made eye contact with his brother Marcus and ambled across to sit next to him. Marcus shifted from Nathan. Nathan noticing this held his head in his hands and looked down. This fatality was his entire fault, everyone… more
The Cyber Spelling War: all keyboards blazing
| March 25, 2013 | Posted by Jade Cuttle under culture, technology |
Nowadays, a simple spelling mistake on Twitter or Facebook is enough to land you a virtual shot in the head. A careless drop of an apostrophe, a letter used at the wrong time in the wrong place and mark my words, you’re stoned to death by a shower of exclamation marks and abuse before the computer-strained eyes of your ‘friends’ and ‘followers’. But what I want to know is why do we care? Surely an extra letter squatting in places it shouldn’t be isn’t the end of the world? Believe it or not, dictionaries haven’t been around forever. The first appeared in 1604 called ‘A Table Alphabeticall’ by Robert Cawdrey. However, a ‘table’ of barely 2,500 words accompanied by brief, single-word definitions may struggle to define… more
In the Picture: Cities
| March 24, 2013 | Posted by Alaa Jasim under culture, In the Picture |
Photographs are something we look at, comment on, and think about every day. A few of us even take photographs every day. Being able to see something, almost exactly how it was and being able to almost instantaneously create a piece of artwork while you’re out and about is quite a magical thing. Even the photos that go a bit wrong and look a bit odd are always engaging. Even being able to flip through photos and engage your brain with something visual will get it to work on a different level than, perhaps, reading something. So a group of us here at The Student Review have decided to team up and give you a weekly photo fix. Focusing on a… more
Book Review: The Bell Jar
| March 22, 2013 | Posted by Oscar Mealia under culture, reviews |
Fifty years ago a semi-autobiographical novel was published by a young woman called Victoria Lucas. Set back in the cold war years, a sexual war ensued; its legacy still endures today. Of course Victoria Lucas only turned out to be pseudonym used by Sylvia Plath until 1967, only adding to the mystique which still surrounds both Plath and her work today. Whilst discussing the novel with a friend I was told that it’s readership is predominantly depressed girls in Nirvana tees, crying along to the dissonant tones of Joy Division’s Disorder or Meg types from Family Guy. I myself never knew this was a thing, this was a stereotype I wished to dispel. The Bell Jar Plath’s only novel remains as haunting since my first reading five years… more
‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad
| March 19, 2013 | Posted by Lauren Tolley under culture, reviews |
Being an A-Level English student, it is, of course, required that I read the books on the curriculum. Last year’s class had the delight of reading and analysing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and ‘Alice in Wonderland’; unfortunately, my class is stuck with Blood River by Tim Butcher and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It is well known throughout my circle of friends that I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, so to say that I was disappointed to hear that I had missed out on those books by a year is a gross understatement, even though I have found reading these two works surprisingly pleasurable. Luckily, I had Heart of Darkness to save me from total boredom. This novella… more
Amentia
| March 18, 2013 | Posted by Tim Shelley under creative writing |
Caleb hated his job. It was boring, underpaid and he always left filthy. Not to mention how he ached. He was seventeen for crying out loud, a bad back was supposed to be an old man’s problem. Half of the time he wondered what the point was. Not just the job but everything. College? He sucked at anything even remotely academic. From maths to history he just couldn’t get his head round it. Family? His parents despised him. Just another mouth to feed, and a way of claiming more benefit money that would most likely be spent on fags and booze. What prospects did he have? He wasn’t gonna get the grades to get into uni, nor was he gifted… more
In Black and White
| March 15, 2013 | Posted by Sophie Wright under creative writing |
Maybe this is what happens when you have to keep secrets. It ends up spilling out somehow, and this is how I end up staring at the blank page with a pen in my hand. It might come out eventually, but everything always does. Some days, it was clear and easy what we were. Other days, the lines blurred so much that I had to squint to see. We were best friends, together from the forgotten start. I can’t remember how we met; it was a blur of jokes and indie love songs and chipped black nail polish tapping on my hand, and before long those fingers were tugging mine around, a glorified leash. Not that I minded, because I… more
Man vs Food?
| March 14, 2013 | Posted by Ellys Sugarman under culture, satire |
A lot has been going on in the news recently, the pope resigning, a meteor crashing into Russia, horse meat found in beef . I read the news everyday but recently despite everything that has been going off I can’t help opening the Guardian home page seeing the headlines and thinking: Who gives a damn? I have had this thought an unreasonable amount but it was prompted from a single headline “Russian meteor could have hit UK” – it didn’t, so why the heck the heck was this written about? Who decided that this was a more important piece of news than the actual NEWS? I get very worked up about the news and generally rant as much as I… more
‘Night’ by Elie Wiesel
| March 12, 2013 | Posted by Samantha Seto under culture, reviews |
In the novel Night, Wiesel introduces himself and his family to show a personal memory of his journey throughout the Holocaust. Wiesel characterises his family to show that he was among the many thousands of Jews that traveled on the journey of doom and experienced suffering and pain as the victims of the Holocaust. Wiesel portrays the innocence of the Jews through the fictional character, Eliezer, and his family. This represents the Jewish population at that time to have done nothing wrong to deserve the punishment burdened on them and later to be chosen as the master race to be exterminated in ghastly numbers. The book of Job centrally focuses on the idea of when bad things happened to a… more
Poetry of the Week – blank (part two)
| March 11, 2013 | Posted by Georgie Tindale under poetry |
Blank Dare I touch it? The crisp, clean sheet in front of me Creativity pours from every pore, but I still can’t put pen to paper Imagination whirls and transforms Colourful and alarmingly bright Fingers itching to begin, but I still can’t put pen to paper Eyes darting, palms sweating Heat rushing to my cheeks It calls my name, but I still can’t put pen to paper The ultimate rush when Finally the light peers through Free of the artist’s nightmare, Free of the blank canvas. By Josephine Mackell Blank: Leaving You Behind The Earth spits me out, My stomach left behind as I take off. Your world stretches at my feet, Like Legoland. My eyes close. Your lips… more
