contentsEditorial

Hello!

Welcome to the March edition of the GUUi. Before I launch in to what we have in store for you this month, let me fi rst intro-duce myself. I’m Claire Flynn, the newly elected Convener of Libraries at GUU, which makes me the Editor-in-Chief of this

very magazine.

Enough about me- lets talk about what we have for you this issue. With exams creep-ing up we thought it only fair to provide all you stressed out stu-dents with some advice on how to deal with revision hell. From Lucy Keown’s How-To Survive Exams to Harriet Johnstone’s Ultimate Revision Playlist we should have you covered. Plus in order to procrastinate you can continue to read on about the latest fi lm releases, the news

from GUSA and much more.

And remember if you ever want to get more involved with the magazine then don’t hesitate to

get in touch!

Happy reading!

Claire FlynnEditor-in-Chief

Convener of LibrariesEditor-in-ChiefClaire Flynn

ContributorsOwen MartinEva MilneHarriet JohnstoneLucy KeownBreffni O’ConnorLinus SiolandKate WhitakerJames YatesRachel DaviesCaitlin Kelly

If you’d like to contribute to the GUUi in any way (editorially, writing or photography) e-mail: libraries@guu.co.uk

The opinions expressed in this publication do not represent those of Glasgow University Union.

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The Board - Owen Martin, Assistant Honorary SecretaryThis Month We Love... Discovering AmericaFeature- Don’t Let Exams Get You DownFeature - The Ultimate Revision PlaylistHow-To- Survive ExamsFeature - Beer Bar Banter Comment- Student Democracy At Its FinestComment - One Dress, One Month

Comment - Digesting the Referendum: A Tenta-tive Post-Game AnalysisFilm - Stoker & FlightComment - And The Award Goes To...Music- Macklemore: Not as F**cking Awesome As You Might ThinkEvents - The GUVMA Rodeo 2013GUSA- The Glasgow Taxis Cup

The Board

www. .co.uk

Hello and welcome to the fi rst edition of the GUUi from the brand new Board of Management 2013/14. Our new Libraries Convener, Claire Flynn, deserves a very warm welcome for putting this fantastic issue together in just a number of days. From what I’ve seen in this week alone I am positive the magazine is in great hands and I think she’s going to do a Flynncredible job!

My name is Owen Martin and I’m the new Assistant Honorary Secretary of the wonderful Glasgow University Union. I’ve now been on the Executive for the best part of 3 days and I can confi rm already it is an extremely hard working trio made up of Gavin Tulloch, the new President, Imogen Dewar, the Honorary Secretary and myself. I was a PSM last year so have gotten to know the place extremely well and have grown to love it in a way I never could have imagined; spending most of my days here doing everything I can to please all you guys, the members.

One of my main focus areas is working with as many clubs and societies as I can to secure affi liation with the Union. My goal is to save these clubs and societies as much money as possible through many means such as free room hire on certain days and discounts on booze! If you are on the committee for any club or society I really would love for you to get in contact with me so I could talk you through all the perks of affi liating with GUU. All you have to do is send an email to assthonsec@guu.co.uk if you have any questions at all and I can talk you through the affi liation process.

So enough about me, we have loads of exciting events coming up at GUU over the next couple of months and I would urge you to come along to them if you haven’t been to much since the Hive closed. GUU is still the place to be on a Thursday night with the Beer Bar open and buzzing until 2am. We also still have karaoke, now in the Reading Room, and a DJ playing in the newly kitted out Debates Chamber. Open Mic also has a new home in the beautifully fairy lit Reading Room on Friday nights. When we come back after Easter, the Libraries will be a great study area with free tea and coffee and the Beer Bar will be have lots of drinks promotions for those who need a break from the hellishness of exams!

So please come down and have fun cause that’s really what we do best here!

Owen Martin Assistant Honorary Secretaryassthonsec@guu.co.uk

This Month We Love...

Discovering America

This Month

Discovering the Kelvin Ensemble...

I can’t sing, but that’s not the end of my failures. My parents, bless ‘em, in a desperate effort to affix any degree of musi-cal talent to me, threw a magnitude of instruments my way when I was a kid: a recorder, keyboard, violin lessons... and er, bongo drums. I think we realised at that point, through my inability to even create a half-tolerable melody with the palms of my hands, that I was indeed, and always will be, a lost cause to the world of song.

Alas, I am no Beethoven, nor Guetta. But this profound lack of musical talent does not rob me of the inherent human love for the beauty of sound. In fact, I’ll clap my hands to just about every genre out there from Em-inem to Dido, some good ol’ 1D or the metal waves of Led Zepp-lin – hell, I’m even a prominent Belieber. But it doesn’t peak there.

My favourite genre? Well, that just so happens to start resonat-ing itself through the adrenaline pumping tracks by Hans Zimmer in The Dark Knight and Gladiator soundtracks, or the melancholy scores of Ludovico Einaudi in I Giorni and Nuvole Bianche... Going a bit further, I do in fact fancy Debaussy. And Bach. Maybe Mozart too. And well, I’m quite honestly madly in love with classical mu-sic. For me it’s not about snobbery or elitism, because, for one thing, who even knows what a concerto or oratio actually is? Nope. It’s about taking your mind on an entirely emotional journey; a road that, let’s admit, has been caution taped off if you try to get there via Call Me Maybe.

So, I was pretty darn delighted when I was offered a ticket to see the Glasgow’s own Kelvin Ensemble perform their latest

So, I was pretty darn delighted when I was offered a ticket to see the Glasgow’s own Kelvin Ensemble perform their latest concert in Bute Hall, “Discovering America”.

In truth, I was genuinely convinced that it was a CD playing when the orchestra began: it was just that perfect. I also kept thinking about what these guys would be like at Open Mic with all the fairy lights; that I probably would cry hysterically because I’m that sentimental. I sat there mostly green with envy at the flawless symphonies my peers so seamlessly piped out... why the bloody hell did I never learn to play a piccolo

or contrabassoon!? Meanwhile, Chris Swaffer led the orchestra of nearly 80 students impeccably through Our Town by Adam Co-pland, American Suite by Antonin Dvorak, and Symphony No. 2 by Charles Ives – 3 tunes by 3 out-standing American composers.

Certainly, the Kelvin Ensem-ble’s story is pretty remarkable... Founded in 1991 by a gang of impassioned students seeking to establish a standing source of clas-

sical music at the University of Glasgow, their dedication cannot be faulted: the ensemble is completely student-run, funded entirely by ticket revenue and bake-sales, donations from their mates and membership fees.

And they’re still here, over 20 years later – a subtle remind-er that classical music is neither inaccessible nor irrelevant, even to a digital generation instantly gratified at the click of a mouse on iTunes.

- Eva Milne

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Feature

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It’s that time of year… coursework has been fi nished and handed in, the Easter Holidays are about to start and sum-mer is only just around the corner. So everything’s great… right?

Wrong.

For students across the country this is probably the worst time of year due to one reason and one reason only. Exams. Silly, stupid, stressful exams.

Yep that’s right exams are looming right behind the end of the Easter holidays for many of us here at Glasgow Univer-sity. If you’re not already it won’t be long before you’re tear-ing your hair out or crying in frustration because you just can’t fi nd that set of notes that have suddenly become vital in your revision and without them you will, most defi nitely, fail everything.

The tears, the rants, the screams and even the panic at-tacks- I have experienced them all, from myself or from my friends. I understand the pain of exam stress.

The thing is we all laugh and joke about them, about how little we know and how we’ve done no revision and how we are completely and utterly screwed, maybe hoping that our smiles will hide the fact that we are freaking out on the inside.

Maybe you aren’t like that; maybe you are chilled out and confi dent about the upcoming assessments. However, I know, from personal experience, that this isn’t often the case.

Exam stress has become a far more serious and noticed is-sue in the last few years. The pressure students are under, either from themselves or from others has only increased if anything, making the weight of exam time all the heavier. It’s fi ne to joke but when students stress themselves out

to the point of harming their health and mental well-being, then things get a little less laughable.

So what’s the point in me getting all serious about this? After all you don’t need anything more to bring you down at this time of year and exam stress is an inevitable part of student life. But we should all be aware of the potential detriments.

Student Beans found in a survey of 1000 students that it im-pacts on a fair few even enough to affect their health. They discovered that 92% of students said they felt worried dur-ing exam time whilst one fi fth revealed they had suffered anxiety attacks before their exams as a result of the stress. Furthermore 61% cited lack of sleep or insomnia as a result of their worry, 51% claimed to suffer from headaches and migraines and 47% admitted turning to food to relieve their stress (53% obviously lied about that one).

So as we all knew, exams are not fun and games, in fact they are seriously stressful and can affect a student’s health and mental well-being.

So as hard as it is don’t let exams get you down. Do your best not to cry, scream or have a panic attack, either before the exam or, worse, during it and having to be led out of the hall (that actually happened to a friend of mine last year). Get through them and I’ll see you for a drink on the other side.

-Claire Flynn

Don’t Let Exams Get You Down

‘For students across the country this is probably the worst time of year due to one reason and

one reason only. Exams’.

Feature

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see why. so Give Married Life a try.

5) For those of you reading this who don’t know me…I am a huge Kanye West fan. When he got on stage and went crazy at Taylor Swift, I was like ‘YEAAAAH!’ (And guess what? He was right. Beyoncé did have one of the best videos of all time and should have won that award, whatever it was… Boo Taylor Swift). Better to go for old Kanye then now, something slower like All Falls Down. Not so sure how I feel about him since this whole Kim Kardashian phase. I trust that he’ll pull through though.

6) Au Seve - Julio Bashmore…or any Julio Bashmore. Because he’s just great. No other words needed.

7) Blood Bank – Bon Iver (Flic Flac remix). This is a song that’s become a classic on my iPod and has an in-teresting twist. A brilliant remix, and dare I say it, is possibly better than the original…

8) Blood – The Middle East. It’s the song from the end of Crazy Stupid Love; just to remind you that, even though you’re in the library, buried

in revision, people like Ryan Gosling exist.

9) High For This – Ellie Goulding’s cover of The Weeknd. I’m not even a big Ellie Goulding fan, I think she’s kind of an-noying and shrill, but this is an absolute blazer of a song; The Weeknd’s an artist who should receive wider recognition. I’m a big fan of acoustic covers anyway: Florence Welch’s Take Care, originally by Drake, anyone?

Finally, 10) In The Sun – Weezer. Because let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to day dream a bit about the heat of summer and drinking in beer gardens?

-Harriet Johnstone

With the assistance of YouTube, Spotify, 8tracks and Soundcloud music feels so much more available through any medium, pretty much however you want it. And you know what they say, it’s been scientifically proven that music helps you concentrate…or something. So crack on the tunes and get your head down in the library; here are my top ten go-to study songs.

1) Stay (Moss Remix) – Rihanna. Rihanna pulls it out the bag once again, and this is something I can have on repeat for hours. The remix makes it a little more interesting and, if you’re in need of procrastination, the video’s one to watch. She looks incredible.

2) Let Her Go – Passenger. I’m glad Passenger seems to be getting a bit more exposure. He performed at Arches last month and apparently is even more stunning live. He’s some-one to look out for in the coming months. His recent cover of No Dig-gity/Thrift Shop with Ed Sheeran is great too.

3) Love You So – Delilah. She’s the girl who sang on Chase and Status’s song Time, but her 2012 album From The Roots Up is beautiful, simple music from a British artist with a stunning voice. I’ll be first in line to get whatever she gives us next.

4) Apparently you’re supposed to listen to instrumental music to help concentration, so various exam prep lessons at school taught, and I stumbled across something great the other day (give it a chance). A playlist on 8tracks led me to the Disney Pixar Up Soundtrack; soft instrumentals that you know you’ve heard before, but that may not necessarily have been on your iPod. In the year it came out the film score won a Golden Globe, Oscar, BAFTA and a Grammy. It’s not hard to

The Ultimate Revision Playlist

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How-to

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How-to Survive Your Exams

“Oh well. There’s plenty more dick in the sea.”

“I JUST WANT SOME GOOD SEX!”

YOU WILL NEED a positive attitude

TIPS1. Be prepared. Print out and colour code your exam timetable, write it into your diary, or tattoo it onto your forehead; if it makes you remember it, do it.

2. Stock up on stationary - it’s a great excuse to go crazy and buy every possible colour of post-it notes and sparkly gel pens (defi nite necessities)

3. Take short 5 minute breaks every hour of studying to keep yourself energised. This might include a walk around your fl at, a few sit-ups... or my personal favourite, singing the Mulan soundtrack with my fl atmates. Knowing ‘Be a Man’ is on the cards after another hour of study is a terrifi c motivator.

4. You’ve probably worked out your best studying environment by now, so make sure you actually work there; be it at home or in the library, with or without music, or whatever – now is not the time to try and change these habits; stick to what you know works and you’ll be more likely to succeed. Or if not fail miserably at least.

5. Reward yourself every time you get a certain amount done. For example, when I cover a topic I reward myself by watching Maury videos (you know, the American Jeremy Kyle). The people on this can only make you feel infi nitely better about your life as they are mostly 13 years old, pregnant, have around 7 potential baby daddys and wear the worst clothes ever. Funny and self-esteem boosting.

6. Eat well, ‘cause exams are bad enough without the inevitable comfort-eating weight gain or face full of spots. And getting your 5-a-day makes your brain work better apparently.

•

Name one person who enjoys exams. Just one. Stuck? That’s what I thought. Exams have to be, without a doubt, the absolute worst time of the year. Forget the annual trip to your great aunt Doreen’s for broccoli soup, the day when you fi nd out you’ve lost your fl at’s security deposit, or the entire month of January – exam time sucks so much more than all of the above, and has to be the most stressful, depressing and downright unpleasant part of your year. Who invented testing as a fair form of working out how much someone knows anyway? They ought to be tied to a lamp-post every exam time and be subjected to exam questions from every exam-hating passer-by. Which will include the whole population, obviously.

There are ways, however, to make exam season less tragically painful. Although they are extremely few and very far between, they do exist – and may just save your sanity for the upcoming weeks of testing.

There’s no denying that exams will always be horrendous, no matter how you approach them – but doing even some of the above may help you feel a bit less stressed or at least less suicidal. Preparation is key when tackling them, so stop leaving things to the last minute, we all know cramming is never the answer. Go all Bear Grylls and view exams as being a situation you can make the most of to survive and succeed. But for the love of God, don’t ever try to drink your own piss. Please.

-Lucy Keown

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Feature

‘I’m a massive GUSA lad so to relieve stress I like to exercise before and during exams. ‘

-Sean Kelly

I’m actually highly intelligient so I don’t wor-ry about exams.’

-Stuart Morrison

‘WE HAVE EXAMS?!’

-James Yates

‘I get my hairband on to keep my lovely blonde locks out of my face and I get to work.’

-Rory Slater

‘I tend to rock back and forth in the foetal posi-tion.’

David Robinson

‘I bite my nails and drink excessively. Class A drugs also help.’

-Jamie Cousland

‘I refuse to study the day before- it never works. Also one time I just took a ton of lucozade tab-lets, which kept me buzzing the whole way through the exam.’

-Holly

‘I stay relaxed by getting massages and fa-cials... and also consuming a lot of alcohol.’

-Heather

‘I just eat lots and lots of crap, unhealthy food.’

-Gordon

-Interviews By Lucy Keown and Claire Flynn

Beer Bar Banter

Just to give you that little bit of extra assurance that there are people are in the same situation as you are and to give you a few more tips on how to cope with revision hell we asked some stu-

dents in the beer bar how they cope with the stress of exams. Here’s what they said:

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Comment

Student Democracy At It’s FinestIt’s been almost impossible in the past few weeks NOT to know that elections were coming up. I don’t know about you but it was ALL OVER MY FACEBOOK NEWSFEED. Now I’m as guilty as the next person; I shared pages for several friends, urging people who didn’t really care to vote for them, even drawing a picture of my friend Teddy winged and topless, riding a horse and holding a fl aming sword (I have to do something in lectures). For many students, elections feel like a day or two when annoying people in t-shirts leap at you and bribe you with drumstick lollies and force leafl ets into your hands. For some, it’s a day when you are incredibly annoying and loud, approaching anyone and everyone, wearing at least three jumpers to protect yourself from the standard Glasgow weather. But for a rare few, it is incredibly tough and nerve-wracking. Putting yourself up and out there for any position is admirable. Regardless of whether you win or lose, everyone should be praised for their bravery and at least having a go.

Queen Margaret Union

Let’s kick off election season on February 28th at the QMU, who gained a brand new shiny board. It was a race of Obama/Romney proportion for president, James Ansell, and Calum MacInnes, ending with Calum triumphing by just 13 votes. The Honorary Secretary posi-tionswas also contested between Emma Jewson and Eugene Zhdanov with Emma Jewson emerging victorious. Sean McFadden was elected uncontested as Honorary Assistant Secre-tary, alongside Emmalenna Käkelä for Campaigns and Charities, Yasmynn Llyod for Events, Alasdair Beard-I-Mean-Begg for Publications and Jo Reid for Social The roles of two year cur-rent student representatives were awarded to Emily Boldry, Craig Cuthbertson, Aonghas Max-well and Melanie Schwab whilst Shaun Patterson, Suki McFarland and Kathryn Duncan all achieved the role of one year Current Student Representative. There are, however, still two seats available, as well as two fi rst year Current Student Representative Roles and a position as a former student member for those life members. QMU have just announced they’ll be hold-ing a By-Election for these positions on Tuesday 16th April. Nominations open on Monday the 18th of March and close Friday 22nd.

Student Representatives Council

This was an intense two day race for the candidates running for SRC this year. Jess McGrellis was uncontested as SRC President, as was Louise Graham for VP Student Support, and, fortunately. Oli Coombs (the one with awesome hair) and the political force that is Viper asked people to ‘Vote For The Fro’, and succeeded in being elected VP Education with over 1000 votes secured. Breffni O’Connor (formerly a PSM at GUU) was also elected as VP of Student Activities...She’ll be a Bref of fresh air for the SRC…ha ha ha. The College Convener positions were fi lled by Natalie Mos-son, for Arts, John Williamson, for Science and Engineering and Donald Mackay, for Social Sciences. There are far too many more positions to talk about all of them but it is interesting to note that, as well as several positions being uncontested, Age and Race Equality Offi cers remained unfi lled as did many of the school representatives, the MVLS position and all the Postgraduate Convener positions... Election Watch, everyone favorite election commentary station, asked people to make a sweepstakes of how many people voted; Rosie Doyle guessed bang on the dot 3350 votes were cast. Hope they’ve sent you those Haribo by now Rosie. Not that anyone ever needs to eat Haribo EVER AGAIN after this week…

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Comment

Student Democracy At It’s FinestGlasgow University Sports Association Council

Trying to get to the Stevie was a battle of wading through leaflets, dodging people’s eyes and flailing arms to get your at-tention, and attempting to get sweets (DRUMSTICKS WAHOO) without anyone seeing you. Stuart Law will be taking over from Chris Millar as President, having served on GUSA Council for three years previously and Kirsty Nicoll is now Vice President. This meant the highest position competed for on GUSA Council this year was Secretary. Both Tom Gebbie and Chris Clarke had incredible campaigns, and it was another exceptionally close contest with 34 votes in it, and Tom secur-ing his position. Maybe if Chris had slapped on some fake tan and a V-neck, and had gone back to his Geordie roots? Or was it once again, the case that the power of Viper was just too much to compete with? There were only three uncontested Convener positions: Finance went to Caitlin ‘HOCKEY’ Kelly, Travel went to Sean ‘doesn’t know how to get to Newcastle’ Kelly (and, before you ask, YES he can drive a minibus) and Health and Fitness went to Connie ‘the Germanator’ Zehent-meier. The contested Convener position results were as follows: Olivia Edgar was elected as Alumni Convener, Chiara

Biscontin as Club Sport Convener, Sandra Perry as Recreation Convener, Chloe Duffus as Welfare Convener, Alison Eadie as Funding and Outreach Convener and Stuart Morrison was elected as Publicity Convener.

Glasgow University Union

Having been fairly merry the night before, I can’t say I felt brilliant heading to the Union on elec-tion day to help with some flyer waving, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. However, the atmos-phere at GUU was uplifting; everyone was so supportive of one another. It was unfortunate that every campaign team was so huddled around the front door as it became almost impossible for anyone to even enter the Union to vote. But clearly some people made it through the crowd of cir-cus-tricks and bubbles as 7pm rolled by and th ballots were counted. Many of the positions were already filled unopposed; Gavin Tulloch as President, Davinder Bedi as Vice President, Imogen Dewar as Honorary Secretary, Stephen White as Honorary Treasurer and Owen Martin as Assist-ant Honorary Secretary, as well as Heather Whiteside for Convener of Debates, Thirsty-Eyes (Joe Sutherland) for Convener of Games and Tom Deering as Convener of Entertainments. Thus the highest position contested for was Libraries Convener, a position we’re assured is EQUALLY as important as others. Ultimately this went to Claire Flynn, who’s pun-easy surname (Flynncredible

anyone?) allowed her to scoop up a win., despite her campaign team spending most of election day providing her with tissues to stem the ever-flowing tears. It was incredibly close in both categories for Presidential Student Members but one year positions went to Douglas Robb (someone I remember from my own freshers week and I probably bugged around the Hive for months after), Saoirse Toner and James Yates. I suppose now we will never know whether Teddy could have manufactured a new Hive out of balloon art. Two freshers were elected for 2 year PSM positions- Catriona Clarke and Holly Ferguson- along with Christen Lauder, Ross Lilley and Rory Slater. FYI Rory’s got boy band hair.

Now we LITERALLY don’t have to think about elections EVER AGAIN…till about 1st March 2014, when all the madness will start all over again.

-Harriet Johnstone

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One Dress, One Month

For the entire month of February I decided to take part in the peculiar and strange challenge of wearing the exact same dress every day, for 28 days. Cue internal debate about my sanity. All to raise much needed funds for Glas-gow Women’s Aid an organisation that provides infor-mation, support and refuge services to those affected by domestic violence. I took part in this along with others and opened myself up to issues that are a lot more prevalent than we think. Women, children and young people can all be affected by domestic violence and even once they have removed themselves from the situation there are still many obstacles for them to overcome.

Now I know what you’re thinking, I must have really stunk up any room I entered and my hygiene levels must have hit rock bottom for the month; but with daily wash-ing of said garment and plenty of body spray I think I managed to make myself presentable each day.

‘Preparation is key.’

If only I’d taken this simple statement more seriously before choosing my dress. February just so happened to be a busy month for ceilidhs and special occasions. One major issue that I didn’t take into consideration before purchas-ing the dress was the sweat factor. So deodorant became best friend and never left my side for the month. Many other hassles came up throughout the time, for instance the more I washed the dress the more faded it got; this would have been a bigger problem if I had actually liked the dress but after a week my fondness for it was diminishing day by day.

Right smack bang in the middle of the month I had the added challenge of GUSA Ball, a black tie event for sport-ing clubs at Glasgow University. I think I coped with this quite well, mostly because the novelty of the dress hadn’t worn off yet.

Each day I and Louise, another girl participating, blogged about our activity, accompanied with pictures of how we accessorised our dress. My creative side came out as I lay-ered it up with skirts, jumpers and jewellery that usually

never see the light of day. A morning even came when I forgot to wear the dress; it just completely slipped my mind.

Where there is negative there is also positive; at the end of the challenge we had raised a whopping £1,800. This was the result of the fantastic effort of all those involved. I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who donated. I don’t think any of us could ever have anticipated a total like that.

Funnily enough, I didn’t keep my new year’s resolution of actually using the gym membership I bought back in September, which everyone should be grateful for. I would have likely had no friends left and this would have made for a totally different story.

-Breffni O’Connor

Breffni transformed her dress for GUSA ball.

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As it turned out, the Glasgow University mock independence referendum turned out a happy affair for Unionists and a dis-appointment to the Nationalists. Rejecting the referendum’s question on whether they think Scotland should be an inde-pendent country with 1614 votes to 967, the student electorate not only provided the first large-scale, public polling result on the matter, but also managed to defy some pessimists’ – myself included, I’m forced to admit – gloomy predictions of rampant apathy. Some form of electoral fatigue is bound to strike the Scottish electorate before the actual referendum next year, but hopefully the fact so many defied the long lines at the polling booths to cast their vote is an indication that when the time comes, any such feelings will be overcome by the desire to have a say.

Engaging some 11% of the student body is an impressive feat (which is depressing in itself, but a discussion for another time). It’s as much an illustration of student interest in the matter, as of the Yes Scotland and Better Together campaigns ability to en-gage them. Prima facie our referendum was a grave read for the Nationalist camp at Glasgow University or elsewhere, but there is more to any electoral result than just numbers. The first thing to consider, and perhaps the most important for our interpreta-tion of the outcome, is that of the designated electorate.

Most universities are highly diverse institutions, and Glasgow is no exception. The student body includes a large amount of international students, European students, temporary ex-change students, and – perhaps, crucially – a large amount of students from the rest of the UK. While the opinions of anyone resident in Scotland ought to count equally, the composition of our Gilmorehill microcosm differs significantly from that of the rest of Scotland.

Likewise, our part of Glasgow differs socially: the West End is more affluent than other parts of the city, and the perspective of a person spending four years at one of Scotland’s top uni-

versities is likely to be very different to that of the high school graduate walking unemployed in Govan or Pollokshields. Scot-tish Labour has lost a lot of disillusioned working-class sup-porters to the SNP – could the generally more comfortable life situation of students at a prominent university have skewed the result in favour of a stable status quo, rather than radical change?

These are just a few of the questions that can, and indeed should be asked now that we’ve got the numbers. Much online discus-sion in the wake of the referendum concerns what’s to be done next, either to keep or gain the momentum, and it’s encourag-ing to think that our referendum has forced discussion on the matter into the open, hopefully raising the tone of debate above emotive screaming. Maybe it’ll turn out that our referendum perfectly predicted the outcome of the national debate, but I doubt it.

In the end, whether it caught a snapshot of the national mood or not will not matter much: the University owes the Dialectic Society and its co-organizing societies, as well as all the vol-unteers, great thanks. It showed the university and its student body from its best side, and should be rightly remembered ac-cordingly.

-Linus Sioland

Digesting the Referendum:

A Tentative Post-Game Analysis

One Dress, One Month

“Engaging some 11% of the stu-dent body is an impressive feat

(which is depressing in itself, but a discussion for another time). It’s as much an illustration of

student interest in the matter, as of the Yes Scotland and Better Together campaigns ability to

engage them.”

Breffni transformed her dress for GUSA ball.

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And The Award Goes Stoker is a fascinatingly dark and stunning psychological thriller centred on an extremely unconventional love triangle be-tween daughter, mother and uncle. It thoroughly disregards typical family values, combining harrowing violence and social taboos with a breathtakingly beautiful style of fi lming to create an intriguing watch.

The English-speaking debut of Korean director Park Chan-Wook follows the style of Korean ‘extreme cinema’ that shapes his other productions, such as the horrifying Old Boy. Park uses stock characters and archetypal horror fi lm imagery, such as spiders and dark cellars, but with a twist. The cast echoes the beautiful cinematography; the quiet, friendless and strange teenager, India Stoker, is played by Mia Wasikowska, most commonly known for her role as Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland; Nicole Kidman plays the sultry and stunning but emotionally unstable mother, Evelyn Stoker; and the gorgeous Matthew Goode fi lls the part of the aptly named Uncle Charlie, an allusion to the suspicious Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, foreshadowing the fi lm’s sinister plot.

However, Stoker could be described as a ‘style over substance’ feature. It is relatively slow paced, with much emphasis on the build-up of tension. Park regularly uses silence and creepy scenery to create suspense making it not the most comfortable fi lm to watch, but expertly crafting an intently macabre atmosphere. Admittedly, the plot is not completely solid and lacks expla-nation of some events which can leave the viewer feeling slightly unsatisfi ed. It isn’t the brain-teasing, murder mystery that the trailer seems to imply.

Overall though, Stoker is a fantastic watch. The cinematography is truly stunning and more than makes up for any lack of substance. Furthermore, it is seriously freaky and has the shock factor than can be hard to achieve in modern exposed-to-eve-rything audiences.

-Kate Whitaker

Stoker

Flight

Film

Everyone loves a bit of Denzel Washington… I have tried to fi nd a fault with him over the years and I just can’t. He is simply brilliant.

And no less so in his latest feature Flight, in which he plays William “Whip” Whitaker, a pilot who manages to, against the odds, land his crashing plane to avoid many casualties and becomes an automatic, old-fashioned American hero.

However, he is also an alcoholic, cocaine user and generally messed up guy, having little contact with his former wife and son, who have both given up on him. The crash forces him to face up to his shortcomings as it is revealed that he had a high level of alcohol and cocaine in his system on the day of the fl ight, leading to potential charges of manslaughter and jail time. As he fi ghts with lawyers and co-workers to prevent being sent to prison his dependency on alcohol and drugs become more and more apparent.

Despite the fi lm being overly long and arguably anti-climactic at the end, it is still a good watch. Both the writing and Denzel’s acting abilities manage to draw you further and further into a poor man’s fi ght- not against the authorities- but against the dam-age he does to himself. Managing to touch on religious infl uence and other American societal issues as well, the director, Robert Zemeckis, is able to keep the viewer engaged throughout.

So what are you waiting for? Go and get your Denzel fi x for the week.

-Claire Flynn

GUUi

Comment

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Through the dreariness that surrounds the months of Janu-ary and February, with crappy weather and truckloads of as-signments, shines a beacon of glamour which injects jealousy and resentment into the hearts of the majority of us normal folk. Awards Season, be it in Hollywood, New York or Lon-don, interests many of us because lets face it, our lives are boring; we want to see which singer can’t hide their bitter jealousy when losing out on a Grammy, which actor gives the most mind-numbingly monoto-nous monologue thanking his great grandfather’s extensive stamp col-lection, and how much more creepy Quentin Tarantino looks every sin-gle year. We are offered on a glit-tering platter an escape from real-ity; beautiful people in expensive clothes with envy inducing talent, which we can longingly sigh after and wish ‘one day...’. Personally, this year I couldn’t tear my eyes away from George Clooney’s beard, he just gets sexier and sexier as the years go on. Bastard.

So what most tickled your fancy in this year’s awards cer-emonies? Was it Tina Fey’s particular brand of comedy, Jenni-fer Lawrence’s so-boring-it’s-funny approach to her speeches, or the plethora of beards on hot men we were graced with (shout out to my boy George)? There was so much to choose from, but these were the crucial ones. And the nominees are:

3. In at third place is Adele. Although she’s just generally great, during the Grammys she outdid herself. As Frank Ocean was awarded Best Urban Contemporary Album, Chris Brown, whom was also nominated in that category, refused to stand up and give him an ovation like the rest of the au-dience. Upon seeing this, Adele stared out Chris, and as she determinedly strode over to give him a piece of her mind, he jumped up like a misbehaving schoolboy and begrudgingly started clapping, whilst darting glances at Adele to see if she

And The Award Goes

would go after him. Unfortunately she left it which is a pity; he deserves a slap more than most people, I know.

2. Coming in a narrow second is Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Boob Song’. Seth, the creator of Family Guy and Ted, hosted this years Oscars ceremony. For some reason he came to the con-clusion that in his duties hosting the show, he should sing about all the actresses which have gone topless in films, and

proceeded to do so, accompa-nied by backing dancers and a choir. What’s great about this is when he mentioned an actress’ name, the camera cut to them in the audience where they were squirming with discomfort; if looks could kill Seth MacFarlane would have died several times during that number. Charlize Theron was a particular favour-ite. Hilarious stuff.

1. In at first place was a brilliant and totally unexpected moment.

While Jennifer Lawrence was be-ing interviewed post Oscars victory, Jack Nicholson can be seen staring at her in the background and sidling closer to the interview. He interrupts her talking, unashamedly checks her out even when she’s noticed him, and proceeds to congratu-late her while stoking her arm and staring at her body. Jenni-fer tries to laugh it off, and looks horrified, but he keeps com-ing back to tell her he’ll wait for her and that he’s ‘thought about’ her. Now that is the definition of awkward.

If you haven’t seen these, get on Youtube immediately - they’re not to be missed. Another gem was Tina Fey’s opening com-ment about Tarantino at the Golden Globes, he is undoubt-edly the most disturbing man ever. Although Ricky Gervais definitely could have said it better. Got your back Rick.

-Lucy Keown

Flight

I wouldn’t mess with Adele if I were you Chris...

- 15 - www. .co.uk

Music Macklemore: Not as F**cking Awesome As You Might Think

2013 has been a good year for music so far. Beyoncé impressed at the SuperBowl. Adele impressed at the Oscars. And Macklemore impressed on YouTube.Yet Macklemore has gone further than appearing in our suggested videos list, with his music video for ‘Thrift Shop’ reaching 140 million views before going on to sell 2.2 million copies in the US, leaving us walking down University Avenue subconsciously singing ‘What what… What… What...’ and very much curious for more.

Despite making it big this year, Macklemore a.k.a. Ben Haggerty, from Seattle, has been making music for 13 years, releasing an EP in 2000 under the name Profes-sor Macklemore. By 2005, he had dropped the ‘Profes-sor’ and released his fi rst studio album ‘The Language Of My World’. However, it wasn’t until his comeback in 2009 with ‘The Unplanned Mixtape’, after 4 years of substance abuse, that Macklemore starting making waves, leading to the beginning of a collaboration with producer Ryan Lewis that has lasted ever since.

More EPs followed, some with iTunes Hip Hop Chart suc-cess, giving us notable songs such as ‘And We Danced’ and ‘Can’t Hold Us’, until the release of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ latest album ‘The Heist’. Released in October 2012, the album reached #1 on the iTunes album chart within the space of hours. Including previously released songs from past EPs, ‘The Heist’ gave birth to the internet phenom-enon ‘Thrift Shop’, reviving business in vintage stores worldwide.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, in line with the entire hipster image they portray, pride themselves on the fact that they got to #1 unsigned, showing that you don’t need a major record label to make it to the top. As Macklemore tweeted soon after reaching #1, ’78,000 sold independently. I could never have dreamed this. Thank you all. #sharkfacegang’. In fairness, the last artist to reach this feat was Lisa Loeb in 1994. However, as revealed in a recent report by Planet Money, this feat wasn’t achieved by Macklemore as much as he makes it out to be.

Macklemore in his video for, smash hit, ‘Thrift Shop’

GUUi

Music

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Macklemore: Not as F**cking Awesome As You Might Think

Yes, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis started off with small shows in Seattle, spreading the word with Facebook, Twit-ter, Tumblr and YouTube, making enough money to hire a booking agent, who with strategic bookings, spread the word about the two. By this point, they had received inter-est from major record labels, but made the decision to not sign and use the money from touring to fund the making of their album, something much easier today with the soft-ware available on a MacBook.

Although Macklemore & Ryan Lewis made the album in-dependently, even with mediums like iTunes and YouTube, they needed help to get on the charts. It was at this point where they signed to Alternative Distribution Alliance, who would distribute the album for a cut of the profits. Despite sounding like a quasi-independent company, ADA are actually a branch of the Warner Music Group, one of the largest record labels in the world, representing signed acts such as Bruno Mars, Green Day and Wiz Khalifa.

.Don’t get me wrong, I would be one of the first to put Macklemore on the Beer Bar jukebox. It would be naive to think that someone can get 2.2 million copies sold through the power of social media and a good song. However, as Gary Trust from Billboard says, ‘You really cannot get a radio hit at this point without major label backing’. If any-thing, this says a great deal about the power artists have in today’s music industry. To record a #1 album with your own money, is still f**king awesome.

-James Yates

‘To record a #1 album with your own money, is still f##king awe-

some.’

Macklemore and, producer, Ryan Lewis

- 17 www. .co.uk

Events

The GUVMA Rodeo 2013

The GUVMA (Glasgow University Veterinary Medical As-sociation) Rodeo is held annually in April to raise funds for 4 main charities and donations to a few smaller chari-ties. The Rodeo is organised solely by 2nd year veterinary students and we began our preparations for the event this year, on Saturday the 13th of April 2013, way back in October! We meet every Monday evening to ensure coordination between the sub-committees, which consist of: advertising, events organisation, sponsorship, animal tent, raffl e, bag pack organisation, and odd jobs! The Vet School Rodeo itself is held on the Garscube Estate right beside the vet school and the small animal hospital. Last year we had 3,000 people attend the event and we man-aged to raise over £30,000 for the committee’s selected charities.

This year we are hoping to raise even more for our se-lected charities, which are:

SSPCARiding for the Disabled Association.Vet school development fund

And our 3 smaller charities: Lanta Animal Welfare, The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust and The Josh Project.

So what’s been going on so far?

To fund this charity event, the sponsorship committee has been emailing and meeting up with companies organis-ing donations from 4 generous sponsors: Merial animal health company, Vets4Pets, Burns Pet Food and Hynd-land Street Veterinary Surgery; as well as smaller dona-tions from several other companies.

On the 23rd February, 1st year students and committee members raised money for the event by bag packing in

•••

ASDA Bearsden, as well as handing out fl yers and chatting to the public in Anniesland and the West End. Students expertly packed bags and chatted to the public about the GUVMA Rodeo. We received a fantastic response from the public and would like to thank everyone who donated on the day!

The raffl e committee has received a wide range of gifts for the Rodeo raffl e, tickets will be available to buy on the day with prizes ranging from a fl ying lesson, a signed Scottish Rugby Shirt, a Bikram yoga session, afternoon tea at the Hilton to a family ticket to Camera Obscura.

On Wednesday 10th April, the committee has organised a sub-crawl for all veterinary students to raise money and awareness of the event, as well as selling raffl e tickets to the public. A fi nal de-stress prior to our professional ex-ams!

The Rodeo will be on 13th April at the Glasgow Vet School Campus, Garscube Estate G61 1QH. Parking: West of Scotland Science Park G20 0SP (both sides), and on Maryhill Road. Open: 11am – 5pm Admission: Adult £7 Concession £3 Family £15

The events this year are better than ever before with:

‘Riders of the Storm’ – Scotland’s Elite horse vaulting teamA cheerleading display from Glasgow University Cheerleading ClubA husky demonstration Falconry displays Duck Herding Chainsaw Sculpturing Small animal and exotic animal tents.Infl atable laser questA bungee runA rodeo bull A climbing wall Face paintersA public Dog ShowPony RidesOver 25 charity stalls

And many more!

Find us on Facebook and Twitter – search GUVMA rodeo 2013 / @GUVMA_Rodeo

-Rachel Davies

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- 18 -GUUi

The Glasgow Taxis CupOn Wednesday the 13th of March the city’s three universities, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Caledonian, came together for a fantastic all day sporting competition, The Glasgow Taxis Cup is Scotland’s largest one day sports event (‘750

students, 18 sports, 3 universities, ONE winner!’)

Sports took place at venues across the city (indoor and outdoor) with the final and the presentation taking place at the new Emirates Arena. Glasgow went into the main day of competition on equal points with Strathclyde after coming second in the weekend’s cricket event and then dominating the Athletics event on Tuesday evening. Spirits

and expectations were high from all of the athletes, and they did not disappoint.

Glasgow took an early lead at the Emirates Arena winning both women’s volleyball and netball. Positive results continued to pour in throughout the day with highlights such as the men’s hockey team winning in their

event for the first time in a number of years and the swimming team who put in a fantastic effort to take the number one spot.

There were a number of exhibition events taking place this year, which will hopefully be added to the competitive programme for next year’s event. A particular highlight was the track cycling competition, held in the new Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. The use of the new Commonwealth facilities such as the Velodrome and the Emirates Arena really

added to the atmosphere of the day and gave the athletes a further boost to compete to their very best. All of the athletes gathered at the Emirates to watch the final showdown in men’s and women’s basketball before the presen-tation of the all-important trophy. Previous years had seen Glasgow win with a margin of just one point, but with the constant stream of winning results all day the Glasgow University athletes were on top form and in true Glas-

gow style created a great party atmosphere in the stands.

With Glasgow winning 13 out of 18 events, one of the best results the university has had in the competition, Presi-dent Chris Millar lifted the trophy with pride to retain the Glasgow cup for a third year. The hard work and dedica-

tion from all of the Glasgow University athletes throughout the year was evident with everyone performing to a fantastic standard. Winning the competition in such style is a testimony to this and all competitors should be proud

of their achievements. This truly is the cherry on the cake of a fantastic year of sport at Glasgow University.

-Caitlin Kelly

GLASGOW UNIVERSITY

SPORTS ASSOCIATION