The Embryonic Tale: Hugo, Enjolras and Les Misères
Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables has travelled far from its father’s pen. Eager for material, contemporary culture seems to regularly lead it astray, projecting simplification (or mere fabrication) onto its surface. However, as it rolled from the press in 1862, Hugo’s novel had already strayed fr
From East to West: Yu-Gi-Oh and its Censorship Laws
I was first called into student politics when I was 8 years old, protesting with great bitterness the blanket ban of Yu-Gi-Oh cards by my junior school. Considering the regular break-time arguments and high-profile thefts, the ban was hardly unexpected. Yet I took it particularly hard because Yu-Gi-
Grave Talk
“Can you imagine how hard it is to get a dead body into skinny jeans?” I’m talking to Liz Roberts, an unapologetic murder mystery enthusiast and a funeral director at my local family-run parlour. “Bury me in my finest pyjamas, that’s my only wish. And don’t let the
Off-Foot
It’s the eighty-seventh minute and Newcastle United are down 3-4 in front of their fans. A defensive clearance puts Coloccini out of reach, and spins the ball up in the air. It falls outside the box to the unlikely Cheick Tiotè, “who beans it low and curves it into the bottom corner,” almost
To Live Forever
The average child born in the United Kingdom today can expect to live to ninety-two. Fifty years ago, this figure was eighty-four, while it has been predicted that in fifty years time, almost half of newborns can hope to make it to make it to triple digits. This staggering increase is the product of
Pirates of the League: FC St Pauli and its hooligan activists
I was sitting by the harbour in Hamburg this summer when I heard the familiar siren of chants and shouting coming from the other side of Landungsbrucken station: football fans, and lots of them. An ordered troop of twenty riot police trailed behind a less ordered mass of flags, banners, and 300 fans
The Museum of Broken Relationships
What do a noseless garden dwarf, a pair of pink fluffy handcuffs, a cuddly caterpillar with some of its legs torn off, and a dunce cap all have in common? Each of these objects forms an individual exhibit in what is unquestionably one of Europe’s most innovative, original, and daring museums. The
Wenjiang
When I lived in Wenjiang District, Sichuan province, I used to walk home along the river. The reflections from the lamps lining the riverbank created golden pools of light, calling to mind the meaning of Wenjiang, ‘warm river’. Walking past groups of dancers, I would attract stares from old men
The Meaning of Arts Cuts
I am waiting to go onstage during my secondary school’s adaptation of The Canterbury Tales, wearing a shop-bought fancy dress costume that is meant to transform me into Geoffrey Chaucer. Other schools are putting on Hairspray and West Side Story. In whispers and gasps, news flits around the backst