• Books A beginners guide to… Marvel films
    In the eighties/nineties, Marvel comics was on the verge of bankruptcy. They were kept afloat because they had the license to produce Star Wars comics but otherwise they were literally selling filing cabinets to stay in business. So for a bit of a cash boost, Marvel sold the film rights to their most valuable characters […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Mamma Mia, here we go again Theresa May danced onto the stage to give her speech at the Conservative Party Conference. She came out wriggling to ABBA’s Dancing Queen and even warmed up the crowd with a few jokes. In reference to her embarrassing speech last year, she quipped that if she coughed, it would be because […]
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  • Movies Film review: Venom
    Regular readers of these reviews may remember when I predicted how bad Solo: A Star Wars story was going to be. Then I ended up enjoying it and had to eat my words. Similarly, I’ve been saying how bad I thought Venom was going to be based on the trailers, plot and (chiefly) Sony. But […]
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  • Movies A beginners guide to… Venom
    Sony’s Venom oozes into cinemas next Friday and so it’s time for a refresher course on a character whose image is as iconic as his previous adaptations have been botched. Venom As far as the actual character goes, Venom is a little complicated. He’s part of an alien race called Symbiotes. These creatures are basically […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Virgin Fail We begin this week with US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He has claimed that the sexual assault allegations against him cannot be true because he was a virgin in high school. Now these two things, obviously, are completely unrelated. This, of course, caused every satirist and left-leaning Twitter user to engage in […]
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  • Movies Film review: A Simple Favor
    Or is it favour? It’s an American film so I guess I’ll stoop to that unsettling spelling. A Simple Favour is the latest attempt to do Gone Girl again after The Girl on the Train failed. It’s directed by Paul Feig and stars Anna Kendrick while she searches for her missing friend Blake Lively. Along the way, […]
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  • News A week in wild bemusement
    Toad in the hole Let’s talk about Stormy Daniels. Now, I could spend this whole section droning on about the lewd descriptions she gave this week about Donald Trump’s genitals… so I’m going to. Apologies for the imagery some of this may bestow in your mind. Frequently repeated is her depiction of Donnie’s penis as […]
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  • Movies Film review: The Predator
    What is it with studios and the word ‘the’ nowadays? You reckon that’s really gonna adequately distinguish this movie from 1987’s Predator? The Predator is the fourth film in the franchise of the same name (not counting Alien vs Predator). It stars one of the villains from Logan and one of the villains from X-Men: […]
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  • Movies The Predator for beginners
    With the newest film in the Predator franchise out, it occurred to me that people might require a refresher course on the series. So I’m going to do my best to explain just what their whole deal is. That way, anyone who’s interested can go in studied up with all the knowledge they need to […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Entering the single market So Boris Johnson’s getting a divorce. He and his wife are separating after 25 years. While she can no longer live in his house, he does expect her to cook, clean and allow low tariff imports for no benefit. Drawing comparisons with Johnson’s own separation and Brexit is obviously fun but not […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Olympic Games The President of the International Olympic Committee says esports are too violent to be part of the Olympics. Thomas Bach, who won an Olympic gold in fencing, says the games promote violence. Unlike fencing, of course. Real life sword-fighting is far less violent than pressing X to delete CGI robots on a screen. […]
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  • Books Four worst fictional holiday destinations
    I’m aware that the majority of you are just coming to the end of your holidays and packing bags for school/uni. I, however, I have completed my MA this morning and, rather than celebrate this, I felt I’d waste your time with 500 words or so. I’m looking through travel mags and airline sites to […]
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  • Movies Film review: The Festival
    Wow. Bet the marketing team took the Friday off when they thought-up of the name for this one. The Festival is a mercifully short comedy film directed by Inbetweeners writer Iain Morris. It stars Joe Thomas as he attempts to get over his ex-girlfriend at an unnamed (clearly Leeds Fest) festival. And it’s not very […]
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  • Movies Film review: Slender Man
    Here it is. For your viewing pleasure, the most anticipated video game movie of 2013. This won’t take long. Slender Man is a steaming pile of hot garbage masquerading as a half-hearted cash grab to capitalise on a meme from half a decade ago. It features a cast of twenty-somethings poorly acting as teenagers who are attempting […]
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  • Movies 4 best pop-culture misanthropes
    After going to see Christopher Robin this weekend, it struck me how much I enjoyed the character of Eeyore. The idea of a perpetually gloomy pessimist, I realised, is one of my favourite archetypes. We’re all hit by moments when we can’t be bothered with people and a misanthropic grump is a great vicarious antidote. Here are […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Level up It was A-level results day for students all across the country this week. The length and breadth of Britain, there were some teens taking to Twitter to express their joy, and others taking to vodka to express their disappointment… and also their joy. For those directly involved it can seem like the most […]
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  • Other Edinburgh Fringe 2018
    So I spent last weekend in the Scottish capital for my first ever experience at the world’s largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Fringe. And I thought I’d briefly share my experience with the class with a few tips, reviews and not so subtle plugs. If you like unstructured ramblings then, boy, have I got the […]
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  • Movies Film review: The Meg
    I was more excited about this film than I was for Infinity War. It’s a shark, but it’s really big. It’s so stupid it couldn’t possibly be anything less than hilarious. The Meg is the latest film that will try to convince you that you’re watching Jaws. Sidenote: Does anyone else think it’s weird that […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Berk: A row Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (better known as Boris) caused a stir this week when he compared women wearing the burqa to ‘letterbox[es]’. Proving, once again, that no one in this country knows what a burqa is. A burqa has a full face covering. What Boris is referring to is a niqab. […]
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  • Movies Oscars introduce new ‘popular’ film category
    Anyone who keeps up with my nonsensical ramblings on this site will know I have a morbid fascination with the Academy Awards. Despite viewing them as an irrelevant, indulgent festival of snobbery, I can’t deny I’m always interested to see what the whitest, most octogenarian film of the year was. I think it’s this perception […]
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  • Movies Film review: Ant-Man and the Wasp
    And finally… with this… I can finally stop being mad at the World Cup for delaying releases. Ant-Man and the Wasp is the sequel to the 2015 movie which was the definition of average Marvel. It’s also the first post-Infinity War MCU project. It, again, stars Paul Rudd as the eponymous miniature superhero alongside Evangeline […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    *Editors note* Because Kieran is still in hiding from all the Welsh people he upset last week, he was unable to complete this week’s column. Luckily though, as he was bolting out the door holding facepaint and water-reeds, he managed to book a few guest writers. We think you’ll recognise a few big names here but […]
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  • Movies Film review: Mission Impossible – Fallout
    Finally, in theatres! Come one! Come all! See the moustache that ruined Justice League! Mission Impossible: Fallout is the sixth film in the franchise and the first to have a returning director in Christopher McQuarrie. It features Ethan Hunt and the MI gang dealing with a plot to nuke the world or something. Look, the […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Not so smartphones New research suggests that students who have smartphones in class achieve lower grades- even if they don’t use them. That’s right, the mere presence of laptops or phones is enough to divide your attention from course content. As a young lad, I believed that a phone in my pocket could affect my ability […]
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  • Movies Film review: Mamma Mia! Here we go again
    I have a dream of enjoying this franchise so I took a chance on it with a voulez view. One of us is loving this riff and I’ll try and keep it up, knowing me… knowing you. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is the sequel to the 2008 jukebox musical and stars mostly everybody from […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Gunn control Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was sacked by Disney for a series of bad jokes (and one good one) he made in 2009. Because that’s apparently a reasonable response. If we can be liable for idiotic things we said on Twitter in 2009 (and apologised for in 2012, by the way) […]
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  • Movies Film review: Skyscraper
    OK, I think I owe Incredibles 2 an apology. I didn’t know how good I had it. Skyscraper is the family-friendly Die Hard. That’s it. Normally, I’ll spend a paragraph detailing the plot, some of the actors, perhaps the director. Not today, I’ve got too much to say about this mile high garbage fire. Let’s […]
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  • Movies Film review: Incredibles 2
    Oh, you finally saw fit to release it here now the world cup’s over did you, Disney? A full month after the rest of the planet? Yeah, cheers you hacks. Incredibles 2 (confusingly not titled THE Incredibles 2) is the sequel to the 2004 Pixar film that’s better than every other Pixar film. Don’t @ me. […]
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  • News Nelson Mandela’s 100th Birthday
    Today marks what would have been the 100th birthday of South African revolutionary Nelson Mandela. And, unbeknownst to me, he did more for us than just leaving us with a funky tune by The Specials. Mandela was famously imprisoned for 27 years before the public voted him President to end racism. It’s basically Donald Trump […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Something a little different this week. In honour of St. Patrick’s day occurring roughly four months ago (a tenuous link, I know) I’m going full poet. I’m going to attempt to express each of this week’s mildly amusing stories in the form of the greatest incarnation of literature: the limerick.  An AABBA folk poem structure which […]
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  • Movies Film review- Sicario 2: Soldado
    It’s at this point I realise Josh Brolin stars in three of my top ten films this year so far. Sicario 2: Soldado is the sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s teeth-gritting tour-de-force from 2015. It stars Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro as two terrible people in a terrible world where terrible things happen. These two […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Booked for diving In an incident reminiscent of the 2010 story of the Chilean miners comes the 2018 story of the chilly young minors. 12 young boys and their football coach in Thailand have been rescued from an underwater cave they were trapped in for 17 days. The team is in such a weakened state […]
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  • Movies 4 films to talk about on your first day in prison
    We’ve all been there. It’s day one, we’ve got our orange onesie and our toothbrush. We step out into the yard but we don’t fancy punching the biggest guy there because we’re a coward. How should we break the ice to ensure a pleasant stay in the big house? The answer: appeal to the artistic […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    Fridge geezer A South African woman is recovering in hospital after she was discovered alive in a mortuary fridge. Paramedics had declared her dead following a road accident. The ambulance company retains that she had shown ‘no signs of life’, which as a student, is more than can be said for some of the things […]
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  • Other A ginger’s guide to the sunny weather
    I’m not saying I wish the sun would get lost. But as one of those blessed with ginger locks, I sort of wish the sun would get lost. It’s not a stereotype that at least a large portion of we who are kissed by fire, don’t tan. We make an almost instantaneous transition from two […]
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  • News 8am lectures..really?
    Students at Durham University are angry at plans that could require them to start at 8 am to attend lectures. To put it another way, an institution whose purpose is to prepare young people for work is asking those young people to get up at a fairly standard working time. To put it another way, Kieran […]
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  • Books 4 people we hated more than the villain
    There are some truly reprehensible villains out there. In both fiction and reality. Sometimes though, the bloke posited as our ultimate bad guy isn’t half as bad as the slimeball in the background. Here are our picks for the characters who, honestly, were worse than the official antagonist. Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter) If you’ve ever […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    *Rubs eyes* I only took a couple of weeks off, I wonder what I missed. *Checks news* Oh Christ. Arbeit Macht cry So Trump was keeping children in camps at the border without their parents. Constant clips of crying younglings, distraught at the removal of their loved ones, shocked the world. The last time a […]
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  • Movies Film review: Hereditary
    A modern wide-release horror that doesn’t rely solely on jump scares? Next, you’ll be telling me it features a creepy and well-done performance from a child. What’s that? Oh well, now you’ve got me. Hereditary is the first feature film from writer/director Ari Aster. It’s an intense horror that centres on a grieving family after […]
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  • Movies Film review: Ocean’s Eight
    An all-female reboot of a respected franchise? With no huge online backlash campaign against the creators? Must not be a sci-fi or fantasy property. Ocean’s Eight is the sequel and thinly veiled reboot to the Ocean’s franchise of heist films. It stars Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, the estranged sister of legendary criminal and George […]
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  • Other The Newcastle comedy scene
    With Consett-born comic Lee Ridley (Lost Voice Guy) the freshest face on the mainstream comedy circuit, Newcastle comedy is in the spotlight. But Lee has been known widely amongst comedy-going audiences in Newcastle for years. So we’re here to answer the question of where you go in the city to see the newest and best […]
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  • Movies Film review- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
    I tell you what they didn’t half waste Jeff Goldblum. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the sequel to the 2015 megahit which was itself the fourth in the Jurassic Park franchise. In this film, the heroes need to evacuate dinosaurs from an exploding island and get them to a safe haven. And obviously, at some […]
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  • Movies 4 worst universes to move to
    With all that’s going on in our world, it’s easy to see the grass as greener on the other side. Trump, Brexit and the incoming barrage of tweets concerning Love Island are enough to make me want to steal Rick’s portal gun and jump ship. That said though, we could definitely have it worse. Here […]
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  • Other Solitude is not loneliness
    Look, I’m not the type for a hugely introspective dive into my own psyche. I sort of just wander around the world hoping that I won’t be hit by a bus by the time I go to bed. Something I do wish to clarify though, on behalf of others who may be like me, is […]
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  • News A week in mild amusement
    BGLee The North-East’s own Lee Ridley, AKA Lost Voice Guy, won Britain’s Got Talent. The comedian, whose cerebral palsy affects his ability to speak uses a voice synthesiser to tell his gags. This places him as just the latest on Simon Cowell’s list of acts with electronically aided voices. The comic from Consett will perform […]
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  • Books 4 Sidekicks who are better than the hero
    It’s a thankless job being a sidekick. You have to go through the same adversity the protagonist does and at the end of it, all you get is a lousy pat on the head and (in Chewbacca’s case) not even a medal. What the hell Leia? For your viewing pleasure, here’s our list of sidekicks […]
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  • Movies 4D is terrible and bad
    Something a tad different this week. Because Solo, Deadpool and Infinity War are still stomping all over the box office, there are no new releases I’m interested in seeing. And I’m not seeing Show Dogs or Sherlock Gnomes and you can’t make me. So there. With that in mind, I thought I’d give my thoughts […]
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  • Games A week in mild amusement
    Royale with sleaze The makers of popular video game Fortnite are being sued by the studio behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for copying their game. With the best will in the world, this did raise my eyebrows slightly. The premise of both games is that a large number of players are dropped into an area and have […]
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