As this voracious beast of a year continues to engulf some of our most iconic and endeared figures – none more deserving of that title than Prince – it’s easy to slip into a nihilistic resignation about 2016. Maybe the Mayans weren’t wrong about the apocalypse after all? Maybe they...
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This summer Reading Festival boasts a stellar line up with headliners like Disclosure, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Fall Out Boy all taking to the main stage. In previous years it has been the likes of Eminem – for one of his elusive UK performances – the Arctic Monkeys, and...
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As a pair of closed, mascara-clad eyes dominate the O2 Arena screen, the ubiquitous opening piano chords of ‘Hello’ ring out. The eyes flash open and the woman that emerges on a separate, central stage, elegant in a sparkling sequinned gown, is a far cry from the fresh-faced teen that...
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At the height of Thatcher’s government, a group of travellers – men, women and children – defy an injunction barring them from celebrating the Stonehenge Free Festival, and make their way southwards towards Wiltshire. In 2015, a group of young actors seek to stage a re-enactment of what happened next:...
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Victoria Wood was an incredibly versatile and multi-talented artist whose inimitable wit and boundless warmth infused our lives with the joyful reassurance that we weren’t the only ones who hadn’t figured it all out yet. She was a comedian, dramatist, composer, singer and actress with a creative output that transcended...
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Coffee in hand, tickets ready, I caught the 8.35am train to New Street station ready to begin my first shift at Flatpack Film Festival. Finding the Parkside building of Birmingham City University, I discovered what was to be my home for the day – the Flatpack desk. “Hi, er… yeah,...
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There has been heated debates over the Hollywood adaptations of two iconic Japanese anime franchises: cyberpunk classic Ghost in the Shell, and supernatural thriller Death Note respectively. Scarlett Johansson has been cast to play Ghost in the Shell’s protagonist, Major Mokoto Kusanagi and Nat Wolff has been cast as lead role...
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A new study has been making the headlines which claims that a fertility tracking app is as effective as the hormonal contraceptive pill for prevention of pregnancy. But although these results sound exciting, is it really time for women to ditch the pill? Fertility-tracking apps are on the rise –...
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[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here are several ways of getting to Prague from our small, midlands campus on a Saturday night: plane, train, luxury private jet. We opted for the for the 22-hour coach ride. Five countries and too many hours later, we piled out of the bus and into our beautiful hostel in...
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At the end of February, Netflix released a new spin off series called Fuller House. You may not be like me and share my unprecedented love for 80s and 90s TV shows, so if you don’t know, this is the next generation series of Full House. The premise of Full...
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Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert) is a philosophy teacher, teaching in a France going through changes. It is still the Sarkozy era and students are reliving the spirit of the 60s by striking outside her school. She is unperturbed by these left-wingers, saying that is up to her to teach philosophy without...
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[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s I proudly showed my ‘HistSoc Hits Berlin’ photo album to my family, I found myself looking at photos of things that I didn’t remember seeing myself. “Were you even there?”, I was asked, as I justified another over-edited picture of a unknown statue with, “I don’t remember what it...
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We all have that one book which changed the way we look at our lives forever. Six Boar Books writers share theirs… Sohini Kumar I remember reading once that Roald Dahl wanted to make his readers laugh — “actual loud belly laughs.” Fittingly, Dahl’s Matilda is one of the first books...
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