A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange was released in 1971 by director Stanley Kubrick, as an adaptation of Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel. The story follows psychopathic delinquent Alex Delarge and his gang of 'Droogs', whose interests and lifestyle largely revolve around a combination of classical music, rape and violence.

There's no question that the film is very controversial and disturbing at times, proven by the fact that it was originally banned in the U.K. and was largely censored in the U.S. However, what interests me most about the film is Kubrick's use of contrasting sound. Particularly during scenes of extreme violence and molestation, Kubrick has chosen to use classical pieces of music - particularly Beethoven - in order to portray the character's enjoyment. By using lively, classical pieces of music that the majority of the audience will recognise, Kubrick manages to enhance the shock factor of his film. This is also the case when Alex serenades his victims with 'Singing in the rain' whilst attacking and violently raping them - successfully creating unease within the audience.

2012 Sham?

It's a debate that's been going on since 2005 when Britain won the international competition to host the 2012 Olympic games. I for one agree with thousands that Britain simply can't afford to hold the games, and it is likely to look like an amateur school fete in comparison to Beijing's stunning - yet extortionate - display in 2008.

China spent a reported $44 billion hosting the games last year, whilst Britain's budget has already been pushed to an estimated $17.4 billion, $981.8 million of which has been spent on building the stadium alone.

I struggle to see the logic here, as surely a city with an existing stadium, the required free space and even half of the money needed to host the games would have been a much more practical winner.

Britain faces both future financial problems and the fear of another terrorist attack, not to mention the embarrassment of hosting a much less spectacular event than the previous years' - although let's face it, it was pretty much set to be a disaster when the 2012 logo was released.

Stop Crime Ballooning

The Knowledge Campaign works with other organisations within Leeds in order to help students get the best out of their time in Leeds, and to stay safe.

In May 2009, local police and Leeds' Student's Union combined forces to launch 'Operation Balloon' in an attempt to raise student's awareness of how often burglars are practically invited into their homes. The campaign consisted of police and students visiting student houses to speak to the residents about crime prevention. In certain cases where nobody answered the door, one of two things would happen: If all the doors and windows were secure and locked, a deflated balloon would be posted through the letter box - almost a 'well done' for being safety aware. If a door or window was found to be open or unlocked, an inflated balloon would be later found floating around the student's home.

This campaign was definitely a good idea - and a great success! It has made students more aware of the liklihood of burglaries in this area, and has made them think twice about leaving their doors and windows open - particularly over the summer when many houses are empty.

It can only be hoped that the burglars weren't following the campaigners around as they helped pick out their victims' houses...

Liverpool One

'The Paradise Project' aimed to redevelop a large section of underutilised land in Liverpool City Centre, beginning in 2008 during Liverpool's year of European Capital of Culture. A £500 million reconstruction meant that the 42 acres of land - previously consisting of a bus station, a car park and large areas of wasteland - has now become an economy-boosting retail led project, also including a huge leisure complex.


The design style of Liverpool One is much more modern than the rest of the city centre, with two floors of popular (mostly expensive) retail stores, and even outdoor escalators. It has recently been shortlisted for the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Stirling Prize 2009, the winner of which is to be announced in October 2009.

It's certainly an experience visiting Liverpool One, but I often wonder if it's really worth all the money that was spent on it. After all, the project has ensured duplication of many of the shops already existing in Liverpool City Centre, and has been criticised for alienating local business' (ie. Lewis' Department Store), and generally moving the location of Liverpool's central shopping district, creating empty units across the rest of Liverpool.

There's no question that the project has lifted Liverpool in the ranking of British retail destinations, however it's definitely caused a fall in the success of other businesses in the rest of the city centre. It's easy to see where the £500 million has been spent, but I'm not sure the simple - slightly tacky - Liverpool One logo reflects the project's high class and distinction.

Beauty in ugliness

Freelance photographer Namiko Kitaura focuses on visualising the invisible human condition behind appearance. She creates eerie, solemn scenes through use of minimal tones and lack of colour, and portrays the world in a bleak, cold and lonely way - possibly showing it for what it really is.

The images are powerful, and have been described as showing 'passion in depression, comfort in sadness, tranquility in chaos and beauty in ugliness.'

The juxtaposition shown in Kitaura's photographs is very captivating, and have successfully been used within influential advert campaigns, making a huge impression on their viewers.

Environmental WALL.E?

After watching Pixar's animated WALL.E for the second time recently, I started thinking about the messages within the film, as opposed to just enjoying light-hearted story of a garbage-cleaning robot.

The film tells the story of a not so unrealistic future, where mankind has abandoned Earth due to it becoming overrun with rubbish, leaving WALL.E to clean up the mess. It seems on watching the film, that the main message is about what might happen in the future, with all of mankind becoming lazy and obese. However, after reading an interview with Andrew Stanton, the animator, it seems that this might not have been his intention.

He was interested in showing the most human thing in the world as a machine; as WALL.E is more interested in finding out the point of living than an actual person is. According to Stanton, the entire film is based around relationships, and the fact that humans are not engaging in them, when two robots are.

It's not a bad thing that kids might only get enjoyment and a glimpse of an environmental message out of this film; however, a deeper meaning of the film is that humans live to be cared for rather than to care. In contrast, a robotic trash collector comes to love the creatures that inhabit the Earth.

I'd say that's something to watch out for...

Da' Sh'no Masterpiece

Elusive street-artist Dash Snow's work has in the past created some controversy due to it depicting scenes of a candid and illicit nature. In 2007, the New York Magazine published an article entitled 'Dashing Dash Snow'. It describes Snow's then-most recent piece of art 'Nest', whereby:

"To make a Hamster’s Nest, Snow and [Dan] Colen shred up 30 to 50 phone books, yank around all the blankets and drapes, turn on the taps, take off their clothes, and do drugs—mushrooms, coke, ecstasy—until they feel like hamsters."

The end result is displayed in the picture above. Since first hearing about this, I have now discovered that these 'Nest' creations are quite a regular occurrence, and frequently take place in hotel rooms, before the artists make a quick escape, leaving the mess they've spent so long creating. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't exactly call this art. I'm also pretty sure there's not a lot of talent involved. Lock anyone in a room with 50 phonebooks and a bunch of drugs; it wouldn't surprise me if a similar scene was created...