Other Side Comedy Club
Every Sunday, 7.30 for 8.00 start
City Screen Basement Bar
Acts including Steve Day, Dan Atkinson and Silky’s Christmas Baubles.
Entry: £8 or £7 in advance, student discount available

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Similar in plot to Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called It, this personal memoir gives a harrowing account of a young girl growing up surrounded by extreme abuse. At times upsetting, Briscoe relives her childhood and allows us to witness her growth from a terrified child into a strong and brave new woman.

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Full of sarcastic wit and satirical humour, Vanity Fair is a scathing social commentary that skewers the values of shallow, class-obsessed Victorian society.

This autumn has seen an impressive array of theatrical productions on campus, from the Drama Barn to the University’s Music department. Dead Meat looked as if it would win the mantle of Most Unlucky Production (until the cancellation of The Fire Raisers), with its final night postponed due to an injured actress and the lead [...]

Runtime: 118 min
Rating: * * * * *
The Third Man was directed by Carol Reed, from a story by Graham Greene. Starring such actors as Orson Welles and Trevor Howard, it could hardly fail to be great.

James Morrison – The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore

James Morrison tries to melt your brain with his new single as he replaces the upbeat soul of his previous releases with an aptly insipid ‘Christmas Number 1’-geared ballad.

Director: Christopher Nolan
With: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman
Runtime: 128mins

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Christopher Nolan has cornered the market in grim movies about zealously determined men and their obsessions. Where Batman Begins excelled in its contrast of theatricality and brooding introspection, and where Memento tormented the audience in its twisting plot, The Prestige trumps both, and by some way.

Director: Martin Campbell
With: Daniel Craig, Eva Green
Runtime: 144 min

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Die Another Day was a sham, a soulless slideshow of invisible sports cars, product placement and referential gags that plunged a once respectable franchise into the depths of self-parody.

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One year ago to the day, I saw Bob Dylan perform in Birmingham’s infamous NEC Arena. Impersonal and enormous, it’s the typical show after which old men brag about how much better it was when they saw the not-yet-famous band in a small, cosy café in the 60s. Lucky them.

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Once in a while a band comes along with a genuinely innovative, exciting sound - one that prompts you to think “wow” without even a tinge of irony. Blue October are not one of these bands. The album’s derivative mediocrity simply leaves you apathetically pondering “why?”.

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Following the underwhelming Simpatico, The Charlatans have decided (or perhaps been contractually obliged) to release a compilation of hit and not-so-hit singles drawn from their sixteen or so years of existence. The collection’s chronological order lends a strong feeling of the band’s development - important for a band that’s shown a constant willingness to change direction.

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Stepping onto the tiny stage at Night and Day, Shiny Toy Guns look as if they’ve just arrived from another world: one where emo fringes and face paint go hand in hand with throbbing synths and rave bass lines with such electrifying results you’re left wondering why nobody’s ever thought of it before.

Are you the sort of person that avoids restaurants to prevent an outbreak of dreaded “meal envy”, when you decide that the food you have chosen simply isn’t as good as that of your dining companion? Do you feel frustrated living in a society that declares that it is simply not good manners to reach over and help yourself to someone’s food as they are eating it?

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Gather round children, listen carefully and I shall tell you the story about the two blind restaurateurs. The blind restauranteurs travelled for miles to reach a small city east of the Humber, let’s call it York, because they had heard good things about its balmy climes, beautiful people and endless cultural diversity.

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Pieces of the Italian legacy lay dormant in every person’s mind. The history lessons of an earlier eruption are now seasoned in a thick ash, preserving a taste of youth. Today, legions have turned to legend. This age of an army, epoch of empire and realm of the Romans is now remembered in their vast cultural influence across Europe.