Why you watch it?

I am by no means a proper film buff but I do enjoy films. I've seen three films in the last few days that I feel are worth talking about mainly because I enjoyed all three but for different reasons.

Jackass 3

Okay, so it's totally stupid but that is the whole point. I watched this after a few beers and it is a perfect drinking film as long you aren't too squeamish. I laughed lots and lots... particular favourites for me were them messing around with lots of superglue and one of them dressed as a gorilla. Also worth watching simply to see Knoxville get completely destroyed by an American football player. Jackass has always been a bit over the top and this unsurprisingly continues the theme from the other films of just taking it a bit further. You can see they are obviously loving just playing pranks on each other as well as the usual set piece stuff. I'm not saying you *MUST SEE* this film but if you have had a couple of beers and fancy watching something for a laugh then this is a great choice for you.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I saw this on Friday with my brother down at Chapter Arts Centre, the films is based on a book by John Le Carre. I spoke to my dad about the book yesterday and he said he'd enjoyed that when it came out. The film is a gem, great story, great writing, great acting and great cinema. Gary Oldman plays the lead role and he much like his accent is fantastic. I love the imagery of the film and the period it's set in is one I've always been interested in. You see what I'm sure is an intriguing view into how our intelligence services used to work. The cast is brilliant with Mark Strong and John Hurt both fantastic. I don't want to ruin this film for you so won't get any further but I will say you *REALLY MUST MUST MUST SEE THIS FILM* catch it at Chapter this week or at various other cinemas but really do catch it.


Transformers 3

Stupid, stupid, stupid and really really stupid! This isn't a great piece of cinema it's a barrel full of special effects and some kind of story that you don't notice much of thanks to all the stuff blowing up. I loved transformers as a kid and I quite enjoyed the first film. The second was a bit silly and this one takes silly to a whole new level. New bad buys, massive robot fights and even a bit of action on the moon. My best mate Dave has refused to watch it claiming it's just too stupid for him and making so quite funny comments about director Michael Bay. If you do watch this it won't be for the cast, the writing or the story it's just for a laugh. It's trash in many ways but when it comes to film I love a bit of trash, nothing better than a stupid story, wooden acting and pointless amounts of action to help you chill out.

Is it time to listen to...

I went to see Bob Dylan last week, the gig itself was a bit of a disappointment, the great man doesn't sound so great anymore. Still it's one of those things I can say I've done, bucket list achievement!

So the gig has set me a-thinking (a dangerous proposition) about music again so I thought I'd share a few thoughts (and by thoughts I mean artists/songs).

Leonard Cohen - The man is a bit of a legend in my eyes, doesn't pretend he's a great singer but he most certainly is a great lyricist. The first song I heard of by him was Everybody Knows, the circumstances of finding out about this song were slightly strange but I instantly loved it. I had his Live in London album on my mp3 player (note I DO NOT have an ipod!) and one of his songs was featured in The Boat That Rocks (one of my favourite films, largely for the music). The song was Marianne, a world away from Everybody Knows but that just shows the versatility of Cohen. I remember watching a music history show a few months back and it was talking about Cohen and how he developed, good story worth learning. Lots of people just know Cohen from the epic Hallelujah, which was a big hit for another solo star Jeff Buckley but there is much much more to him than that. Here's Marianne for your listening pleasure, enjoy! I know I did when I first heard it.

Ed Harcourt - I've seen Ed live twice although sadly both were a few years ago, still the music is as good now as it was then. Particular favourites include Shanghai, Whistle of a Distant Train and Black Dress. Thinking about it I guess what really interests me music wise are good lyrics, something that can get you in a good mood but also set you pondering all sorts of things. Ed has an ability to do that for me and I have very fond memories of seeing him live with my biggest disappointment being that I was so ill at one gig I had to leave half way through...

For your listening pleasure I've chosen a couple of his tracks, I hope you enjoy! The first is "She fell into my arms" and I really love the trumpet part in this one.

My second choice is from his most recent album, one which I'm sad to say I've not listened to, the song is the title track "Lustre".

The Divine Comedy - Yes, that's right I'm harping on about them again, but as I'm doing video's I thought it was different enough to get away with...

I will get straight into the video's, three Divine Comedy classics coming up... First off possibly their most famous song and definitely the most fun video National Express.

Now for two more quick fire video's... One new, one older.

Long time coming

This piece was originally published in the Freshers Editon of the Courier this September...

So you've just been accepted to the delightful seaside university town of Aberystwyth, just you, the sea, the sun (okay...maybe not) and 8000 other students. It all sounds so good and to be fair it is but the first crisis of the new university term will be upon you before you even arrive. When I arrived at Aber in 2005 there were a wide range of options for Halls, from the seafront to PJM and even halls in Llanbadarn. During four years in Aber however things changed, big time. My first three were spent in the relative peace and quiet of student life, graduating eventually and spending far too much time working on this fine publication you see before you. The 4^th year however was something a bit different, I had somehow managed to wind up as Guild President and this is when the learning curve really shot up. I would sit in a recruitment meeting hearing the various university staff talk about targets for student numbers but the real situation wasn't immediately apparent. Student numbers in Aber have risen hugely in the last twenty years and the current intakes are the largest ever seen.

The problems started in 2006, the university had decided to close the halls on the Llanbadarn Campus, these halls are pretty much gone now mostly knocked down. I had friends who stayed there and they had plenty of good tales about the friendly atmosphere and despite looking a bit faded on the outside the halls they said weren't all that bad. The thing is, it didn't stop there, the university has in the last twenty years gradually disposed of a large number of the former seat front residences as well. New accommodation has been built in the form of PJM, Trefloyne and Rosser but with student numbers rising was this really going to be enough? Fast forward to 2008, just elected as a sabbatical and polishing off my final edition of The Courier I had no idea what awaited students in the coming years. Freshers came and there were no major disasters but there were problems, international students arriving with no where to live and students forced to stay in temporary accommodation. We were told at the time that this was all temporary and that by Christmas it would all have settled down and so it did. Still there was a hint of problems to come, recruitment up, accommodation forgotten. The myth was that the private sector could expand to fill the gap left by higher recruitment and insufficient university accommodation.

Throughout my year we met on a regular basis with the staff of the accommodation office and were briefed on plans for further residences. The plans were grand and very impressive but in the short term the university still had to fit an increasing number of first students into the existing accommodation. Fast forward to September 2009, I'd left the Guild but new president Jon Antoniazzi was friend so I was able to watch the problems of 2008 made to look like childs play. This wasn't something new, I remember being told tales of students camped out in the sports hall while they waited for accommodation to become available. Surely a university that prided itself on it's “excellent student experience” could never have treated students in such a way. And now we fast forward to today, it's 2011 and three years after the I began to see what was really going students are once again getting messed around and the accommodation office is cashing in.

If there is one lesson to be learnt here it's that the university never changes. Students are paying increasingly large amounts to attend university and increasing amounts for accommodation, in the end something will have to give. So next time there is “unexpected levels of recruitment” don't be so surprised, we've been here before and sadly it looks like we'll be there again.

Ben Hallett was editor of the Courier from 2007-2008 and President of the Guild from 2008-2009.

The more things change, the more things stay the same

Wow, a real cliché title isn't it? but it's okay because it's a really thought provoking one. I wrote an article for The Courier a few weeks back, for those of you who don't know The Courier is Aberystwyth's Student Newspaper/Magazine, it's also been a huge part of my university life. This post is in some ways a follow up to that article which you can find a link to down the page (read on!).

Humble beginnings
It all started back in 2005, my best mate Dave instantly roped me into writing for the (then) magazine, I ended up pretty quickly become the web editor, basically re-designing the website. I wrote some articles and at the end of the year decided (thanks to Dave mostly) to run for News editor, little did I know what I was actually letting myself in for. The second year began, to be honest pretty badly for the editorial team, putting together a freshers edition with no internet and no writers was probably beyond us and was not helped by a massive lack of advertising. We muddled on producing a second edition but by this point we had hit crisis point, no money, few writers and an editorial team well out of it's depth. Juliet the editor resigned and in the following election I decided to take the plunge and won!

Editor
This is where my degree really began to suffer and the magazine thankfully began to rebuild. We managed one more edition in my second year and I had to make a pretty hard breaking decision to scrap another due to a lack of advertising. I'd learnt tons and luckily had started to gather people together and build a bit of a team, for the third year I ran for Editor once more and we had a strong team ready to get moving. The year started well and despite plenty of ups and downs we really formed a strong team, the magazine took over my life but it was worth it. We ended the year in a reasonable position, financially messy but with a well briefed team ready to take over.

President
I spend the following year as the Guild president and had a fairly limited interaction with the magazine, one editor quit and money continued to be a problem, the same problems... just a different year. I guess now this brings us to today and returns to my original point in posting, the Courier has been reborn, this time as a Newspaper with plenty of help from ex-president Jon Antoniazzi the man who very ably took over from me at the Guild.

In the process of started this blog I also submitted an article for the first edition of the paper and am proud to hear it's been published, the ideas in the article are similar to the ideas in this post, the more things change the more they stay the same, you can read it on their website. The Courier goes on with no doubt similar problems to the one's I experienced just like the housing crisis in Aber goes on this year like is has in countless other ones...

Give up now, you are doomed

Had a meeting with my personal adviser at the job centre today and left very feeling that the title of today's blog piece seems apt. I remember searching for work two years ago and although it was hard going there didn't seem to be such a negative view on the situation that faced me. I guess in many ways my thinking now returns to my previous blog on degree marks and what they really mean in real life. In the end I didn't get the job I had the interview from, I was obviously disappointed but it's not something to dwell on. The job market is quite honestly, awful, the jobs are either low paid admin or pretty skilled (and well paid) but a bit beyond where I am at the moment. I guess you have to feel for the job centre people, they're just expected to shuffle you back into work, it isn't their problem if that work isn't really suitable for you.

It's set me thinking about how this is affecting other people and where exactly the jobs are. London is the obvious answer to the second part of this but the first is more depressing. Seeing friends working in pubs, shops and call centres is frustrating, people with huge potential and an expensive education wasting away in unchallenging jobs. The one successful line seems to be those who've gone into teaching, this is something I want to do in future although I realise I need to get some practical experience to see if it suits me. There is something here that concerns me a bit and that is the large numbers of people seeing teaching as the only option, surely at some point the jobs will just run out? I guess it depends what you want to go in to it for.

I had a moment about 9 months ago now, I had been thinking about my job and what I wanted to do in the future. I realised that I actually really want to teach... I guess the thought had been in my mind before but since then I've been sure it's what I want to do in my future. The only thing that remains is to get my CRB and do some school time just to make sure I know what I'm letting myself in for. Oh and to find a job to get some money together to survive another year of education. I just hope all those friends I met in Uni manage to get on and find something that they really want to do, they're certainly well qualified now...

Final thought...is it surprising that after spending 17 years in full time education (and one part time) out of mine 27 that teaching seems a natural fit?

Get me some food and get it fast

I have to be honest I love eating out and I love getting takeaway. It isn't that I don't enjoy cooking but sometimes you just aren't in the mood to cook up something that you will actually want to eat. With this in mind I've started thinking about which places I like best and what food I'd recommend, as ever comments gratefully received.

Fancy a Chinese? Try the New Champagne, Canton.

New Champagne looks a tad shabby on the outside by the food is anything but. It's only takeaway but they do delivery (most of the time) and it is on the always useful http://www.just-eat.co.uk/. Myself and my housemates have managed to work our way through a good amount of the menu so far, personal favourites are probably Lemon Chicken, any of their friend rice dishes and the pork chow mein. The food is of a very good quality and I've never had a bad meal from them. You will have to wait a while sometimes up to 90 mins but they make this clear when you're ordering. The best tip here is that it's much quicker to go in to order and wait for your food, normally no more than 15 mins. If you want really tasty food and don't fancy cooking it's well worth a visit a definite 9/10 for me.

A proper burger with Byron, Byron, London (various).
The real tragedy is that my nearest Byron is (according to their website) 125.2 miles away. I like a good burger but perhaps that is a bit far to go. However... if you find yourself out in London and want somewhere to get some really good food try Byron. I went to one near my old work near Old Street at lunchtime with some work colleagues. Their man draw in the burgers but they also do really good sides I especially enjoyed the courgette fries. They also apparently do take-away so even if you're in a rush you've no excuse. It's a bit far away for me sadly but the food was really tasty I'd give Byron a 7/10

Seren does Turkish with a bit of Welsh flair, Canton.

I've been to Seren a few times over the years previously mostly with my parents and decided to go there for my work leaving do. I love Greek and Turkish food and Seren does a great selection with food from both countries. Always get a starter at Seren and maybe even just get starters but lots of them turning a meal into a meze meal. I had the mixed grill and it was beautiful, especially the lamb chops, next time I'll be having them on their own! The atmosphere is good and the staff are really friendly, for me the location couldn't be much better. I'd give Seren 8/10

Not just another chain restaurant, Sale Pepe, St Davids 2, Cardiff.

There are so many soulless Italian restaurants around now it's great to visit somewhere that has it's own character and style. I went there with Kristina about a month ago and was really glad we tried something different. The menu has a huge choice of dishes and their speciality seems to be Risottos. Being someone who really enjoys risotto i couldn't resist and they even give you a choice of size, I had a large and it was HUGE. The restaurant was a bit quite so lacked in atmosphere but the waiter was good and the food was lovely. I definitely want to visit again but this time I'll take some of my friends with me. I'd give Sale Pepe a very solid 7/10, I can however see this going up the more I go.


The one thing really missing from this list is a good curry house, I quite like Kardamon in Canton but it's not really anything that special, I'm hoping you can help me with this one...

What's in a word?

During my recent 'downtime' (unemployment) I've found myself returning to one of my favourite activities. I've always enjoyed reading but have often found I just get out of the habit of it especially whilst at Uni where all the academic reading drowned the enjoyment of a good book.

Currently I'm re-reading the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series, all are easy reading which I find quite relaxing but sometimes I find it's good to challenge yourself with a good book.

A couple of years ago I decided to try to read more classic novels, when I was a bit younger I read some Dickens and Austen but ended up returning to reading my more usual books. This time around Having fairly well gorged myself on my favourite type of books (Napolionic military stuff, Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell and CS Forrester) I sought the advice of some English Lit friends at uni. I've found the experience to be a good one and have managed a good mix of old and new books largely thanks to recommendations from friends. Books are often steeped in history and so are the books that I love to read. Below find some of my recommendations for you...

Robert Harris - Archangel

The first Robert Harris book I heard of was Fatherland but this wasn't the first I got around to buying and neither was Archangel. The first I read was Pompeii which proved a fine introduction to his brand of historical story telling. Archangel takes a slightly different tack, the book is steeped in cold war history and for anyone interested in the cold war is definitely worth a read. It takes themes that could easily have happened and expands on them, it isn't a bold as Fatherland and doesn't expand on things that have already happened in the way that Enigma or Pompeii did but it is that balance that makes it so interesting. Read it yourself and see.

Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart

I honestly believe that this book will come to be seen as a classic in the same way that we think of Dickens or Bronte. The book is centred around colonisation in Africa and features an engaging main character and tragic yet almost real story. The book is apparently one of the most widely read pieces of African literature and so it should be, it showcases what we (Europeans mostly) did to Africa and looks into the world that we destroyed with our "civilising" approach. I wish I'd read the book whilst at University as I'm sure it would have helped me with the work I did on the 3rd world especially on colonisation. Definitely a good one if you are in a thought provoking kind of mood.


Samantha Hunt - The Invention of Everything Else

I bought this book by chance and was glad I did. It centres around the life of Nikola Tesla one of the greatest scientists of his age. The story of his life and his interactions with the books other central character a young chambermaid make for engaging reading. I love finding new books by chance and often find myself picking up books at WH Smiths on my way somewhere on the train. This book is probably my favourite that I've picked up on the go and I hope you enjoy it like I have.