Culture

Culture

Push, Breathe, & Pose

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Arnelle Paterson-Mensah looks at the grueling psychological fight against bodyimage and the media during pregnancy inflicted by insolent expectations. Pregnancy is arguably the most overwhelming challenge that a woman undertakes, as it pushes mental, physical and emotional boundaries. Additionally, both mother-to-be and her partner must prepare for welcoming their new arrival with that feeling of lifelong responsibility. Despite this life-changing event, women are forced to focus on their outer being as opposed to their bun in the oven. In recent years, we have been exposed to an unhealthy cult, catapulted by celebrity mothers in the name of trend and vanity that is reductive of the importance of pregnancy. The media…

Automotive, Culture, Interviews

15th Anniversary Gumball Rally

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I remember being 16 years old it was a suitably dull day in my home town so i decided to head into town and loiter as the rest of the youths did. The loitering led to boredom so some twenty minutes later i found myself in GAME purchasing a copy of Gumball3000 for the PS2. A fast paced game that involved driving a range of different vehicles across various countries whilst trying not to crash or get nicked by the eastern European rozzers. This year we were asked by the team at Twisted Land Rover if we should like to join them on the 15 year anniversary of the Gumball Rally travelling…

Culture

VIOLENTANGO

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A revolutionary new concept for tango arrives this summer with the sensational new act from Buenos Aires. VIOLENTANGO are a five-piece instrumental band from Argentina currently taking South America by storm with an exciting rock-influenced tango defining a revolutionary new chapter for contemporary tango music. A new album “Escape” will be presented on a forthcoming U.K Tour. This fifth independent album commands a definitive release from the constraints of conventional tango music, revealing an exciting outlet of expression and the liberation of an alternative form. This discovery of innovative arrangements proclaims the emergence of a new genre. Recorded at ION, the premier studio of Buenos Aires, Produced by Jorge “Portuguese” Da Silva. Since their last visit to the…

Culture

Up in Smoke

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One night in 1961, shortly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was planning one final, covert action in mainland Cuba. An action, he assumed, that would go slightly more smoothly than the last CIA funded effort. Two years earlier, in 1959, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro came to power and began the process of seizing all foreign property, businesses and land, using the newly created ministry for the recovery of misappropriated assets. Many of the seized assets were American-owned. In response to this, the US administration attempted and failed at numerous covert ground-based guerrilla-tactics, attempting to overthrow the newly created communist party in Cuba. As Fidel Castro struggled…

Culture

Keep the Faith

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Paloma Faith is not a woman known for doing things by halves. Giant gold palm trees, pianos and suited band members lined the stage at her recent show at Reading’s Hexagon; an exotic, seductive atmosphere cranked up even more when the lady herself arrived in sparkles and fur, an elegant retro-throwback which Faith has become famous for conjuring. But it’s her voice, that voice, which charges the crowd after a rather sedate support act. It’s a wonder that she even needs a microphone as she soars through opener Let Your Love Walk In, the band behind her tight and sharply dressed. This may not be Wembley Stadium, but you wouldn’t…

Culture

Push The Sky Away

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In 1971 two tourists arrived on Thailand’s third largest island via a coconut boat from the mainland and stumbled across what can only be described as the modern mass interpretation of paradise – white-sand beaches with palms blowing in the breeze, clear blue water lapping the unspoilt shoreline. All set against a scene of lush green hills and rough wooden shacks, a viewing gallery to a simpler time.