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Image Description: Album art for The Christmas Present: Williams in top hat and tails in front of a Christmassy shop window. Robbie Williams’ new Christmas album, The Christmas Present is, frankly, nothing less than awful. In case you’re reading this and thinking that it can’t be that bad, one example is enough. In the song, […]
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Image description: An open book and cup of tea resting on some wood in front of a lake As we enter further into second lockdown, and the evenings are getting darker and longer, no doubt many of us are finding things rather tedious. If living through these ‘unique times’ isn’t quite entertaining enough for you, […]
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Image description: Close up of artist Jorja Smith on stage The coronavirus pandemic has imposed restrictions on almost every part of our lives, music videos have been no different. Artists’ responses to the problems caused by coronavirus have been as diverse as the genres they occupy. The results have also varied massively, some are gorgeous, […]
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Image description: A screwed up piece of paper on a desk Before we re-entered lockdown, I went to the Ashmolean rooftop, and met a group of three writers (Struan Murray, Alex Bryant and David Leon) who were meeting up to celebrate something rather unusual – they were no longer ‘failed novelists’. The three friends originally […]
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Image Description: The start screen of rogue, showing an armoured adventurer fighting a tentacled head. In 1980, Rogue, an ASCII-art Dungeon-Crawler was released. Designed by Michael Toy, Glenn Whichman and Ken Arnold1, the game sees the player navigate their sprite through a randomly generated maze, gathering equipment, learning magic and fighting monsters in an effort […]
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Image description: A globe showing part of the world map including Africa. The 5th installment of Sid Meier’s popular Civilization turn-based strategy game was released back in 2010. Overall, it’s a fun if mildly repetitive play, that’s most enjoyable on multiplayer with friends. I certainly wouldn’t rank it among my favourite titles, but its still […]
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Image Credit: CD Projekt Anyone familiar with video games won’t need me to explain what expansion packs and DLC are. For anyone who isn’t, expansion packs and DLC are basically the same thing, with the latter being the more usual name these days. They provide more content for a game, be it superficial content like […]
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Image Description: A number of pots sculpted by Grayson Perry are exhibited in a gallery, with one in the foreground reading ‘This Artwork Will Regenerate the Local Economy’ It hardly needs to be said that the arts industry has been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Whilst many sectors, such as the hospitality industry, have been […]
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Image description: A person dressed in a space suit standing in front of cliffs. As you start the game, the screen goes black and a low discordant tone plays. Before you, a line of brightly coloured, cartoonish space suits appear. “Crewmate,” it reads, “There is one imposter among us.” The gameplay of Among Us is […]
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Image Description: the publicity poster for V-Card (a pink background, with ‘V-Card’ written in white and filled with peach, banana, and water drop emojis). It’s Michaelmas Term 2019, and preparations are underway for V-Card, a comedy I’ve written about sexuality and the virginity myth, which I’m hoping to put on at the Burton Taylor Studio next […]
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From literary classics to YA guilty pleasures, these reads will help you pass the long afternoons of lockdown. If you’re itching to travel: Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell Take an escapist tour of time and space with Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell’s mind-bending, genre-defying book about reincarnation. Split into six different narratives in six different times […]
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Destiny, a gaming franchise that many declared dead for over half a decade, has a thriving community and player base. Both games in the Destiny franchise, D1 and D2, have had very rocky launches. D1 was marred by behind the scenes drama that ultimately resulted in a disjointed narrative and severely underdeveloped campaign, which many […]
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Image description: Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Borat, on a bus Sacha Baron Cohen’s films are always difficult to pin down, being weird and often uncomfortable mixtures of straight comedy, satire, sketch-show, and documentary. I can confidently say that no one watching Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Prime) is doing so for the plot. Nor, […]
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Image description: A person meditating while sitting on a cliff near some mountains. The representation of video games throughout mainstream Western media, particularly conservative outlets, has long been negative. Simply Googling ‘Fox News’ and ‘video games’ reveals numerous articles connecting video games to “mental health hazards”1 for children, with columns establishing tenuous links between violent […]
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Image description: A chessboard seen from above. A player is moving a piece. When I saw that there was a new show on Netflix, set during the 1950s and 1960s, and starring Anya Taylor-Joy (star of Emma) I was excited. I was less excited when I realised The Queen’s Gambit was about chess- a game […]
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Image Description: Salehe Bembury during a photoshoot. CW: discussion of racism “What’s unfortunate is I literally designed the shoes that are in the bag, and I’m fucking being searched for them.” – Salehe Bembury The fashion industry has seen a lot of changes over the past couple of decades. The faces we see on magazines, […]
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Image description: Ariana Grande in mid-performance. Ariana Grande is probably the only artist of the moment who can truly be identified as a ‘pop star’. There are other pop artists, to be sure – Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello, Doja Cat – but none of them come with the glittery sparkle and cult of personality that […]
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Image description: A sand dune in the desert with a blue sky behind it. Acting phenomenon Timothée Chalamet, who rocketed to prominence back in 2018 by starring alongside Armie Hammer in Director Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name, and has since starred in Netflix’s retelling of Henry V’s ascension to power in The King […]
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Image description: A red PlayStation 4 controller against a red background. Microsoft and Sony fanatics should lay down their arms, for the console wars are over. Or, at least, they are set to be completely different this upcoming generation. Despite what the fact that GTA V getting its fourth release on its third generation of […]
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