Gaming at university can be tough if you haven’t got a console with you to play.
Many computer games can largely be single player, particularly if, like me, you aren’t into the whole online gaming thing. But if you are lucky enough to have a console with you, a great game to play is any of the Worms games.
When I first encountered this game, I played ‘Worms 3D’ on the PS2. And I really didn’t get into it. I couldn’t understand what to do, and there didn’t seem to be anything to tell me. But now I realise the reason I didn’t enjoy it was because I was trying to play it on my own, which with this game is a big mistake.
It is a great game to play with a group of friends, and has certainly kept my friends entertained for hours on end.
For those who don’t know, the Worms games are a series of artillery strategy games, where the playable characters are a platoon of earthworms. During the game you each get a small platoon of worms and, during your turn, you select one of you worms and use whatever weapons available to take out your opponents team within a set time limit.
After you’ve made your move, it is the next players turn, and you continue until it is the last player standing. The weapons both damage the worms as well as the terrain, making for more interesting game play.
What I really like about these games though is the graphics and audio. Each worm is given a different name, which in my case means I get very attached to them, and the audio is bizarrely light hearted for what is actually happening. The worms also tend to pipe up during the game with high-pitched catchphrases, which make the characters pretty amusing.
Each reincarnation of the game is pretty similar, with the style of gameplay remaining consistent while adding to the quality of the graphics (particularly moving from 2D to 3D for a few games in the series) and to the quantity and variety of weapons.
I have mostly had experience of one of the early worms games on the PS, ‘Worms Armageddon’, a 2D side-scroller which many of my friends swear by as one of the best. But in all honesty I think any of the games will be great fun to play.
If you and a group of friends are stuck for something to do, try getting hold of a copy of a Worms game. It is definitely worth a play!
Going out on the town is the most important part of university. Don’t trouble yourself with lectures, societies or that essay on hegemonic power structures in the first half of the twentieth century due in tomorrow. They are all a frivolous waste of time. No, the real reason you’re spewing away £9,000 a year is to guzzle down Co-op’s own brand vodka (or a bottle of Blossom Hill Rose for you sophisticated few), get sweaty, pour your heart out to that girl/guy you’ve never have the courage to talk to at 3 o’clock after the 2-4-1’s undone the writer’s block, and then resign yourself to the fact that the only thing touching your lips that evening will be a consoling burger on the stumble back to halls. And then wake up the following day feeling like a pig has shat in your head while you search for a definition of ‘hegemony’ on the internet. Or maybe that’s just me?
Image Credit: technomaster.co.uk
Regardless, Exeter boasts an eclectic and enjoyable nightlife that belies its reputation and small size. Sounded out below is an extensive menu of what some of Exeter’s finest establishments have to offer on Mondays and Tuesdays. Whether you love to mash along to those chart bangers or are edgier than a dodecahedron, Exeposé Music has you covered as we guide you through the options available to a go-getting night crawler.
This wonderfully named night is the obvious choice for any students feeling dirty and, er, sexy. DJ Will B spins an sporadically enjoyable blend of crowd-pleasing chart with the odd dubstep-lite mash up. He also champions crowd participation through taking requests on Twitter (although he’s never dropped Usher’s ‘Climax’ in spite of my relentless pleading). Arena boasts a decent size arena that fills up after 11pm. Drinks are reasonably priced but queues can be sober-inducing.
Inside tip: get a stamp early and head to Monkey Suit for 2-4-1 cocktails and a good atmosphere.
Although memories of what the heat of the sun feels like are fading quicker than our tans, Clique, a new student night held at Timepiece, is kicking off its weekly events with a beach party for the start of Freshers. Expect a lot of sand, cocktails and speedos. Clique is putting on a month of themed nights including a UV Rave, N.E.R.D. party (let’s hope Pharell actually turns up) and a ‘celebrity’ night. It may not be one for the music elite, but with cheap drinks deals, an incentive to dress up and a promotional pass available to students (£16 for a month), Clique could well be the new go-to event for students on Monday nights.
Inside tip: I use ‘celebrity’ in the loosest sense of the word.
4Play (what is it with Mondays and crudely sexualised event names?) takes place across town in Mosaic. The night is cut from the same frilly lingerie cloth as Dirty Sexy People: expect big queues, very attractive drinks deals (2-4-1 cocktails, £1 shots, cheap mixers) and a heady mix of recognisable pseudo-dubstep, house, RnB and Hip Hop anthems. Queues can be a big problem, spanning three levels as students agonisingly wait to enter the top top floor (think that staircase at Hogwarts if the fire alarm went off). You’ll get more second and third years attending this night along with a healthy portion of the Exetah brigade in their Z-list ‘VIP’ booths.
Inside tip: buy a few drinks downstairs if there’s long queues.
TUESDAY
TaT are kicking off the term with an exciting boat party Image Credit: tatexeter.co.uk
The pioneering Thieves have been at the forefront of Exeter’s growing dance music scene since 2011. The bi-weekly night offers the best in underground music at a suitably dark and dingy underground cellar by the quay. Resident DJ’s spin a luscious blend of DnB, Garage, Jungle and, most prominently, Bass music. Big name acts draw heavy crowds, with the likes of Duke Dumont, Shadow Child and Fred V & Grafix performing last year. And this term you can expect even bigger artists, bigger bass and bigger boat parties. The prices are more dear and the wide eyed snap back wearing crowd sometimes a little too hip, but the Thieves consistently lay down quality nights for those seeking something else besides mainstream monotony.
Cheesy Tuesdays does what it says on the tin: it plays cheesy music every, um, Tuesday. Stacking more of the smelly stuff than Wallace’s fridge, the Arena DJ’s fart out a thick, rich mix of shameless pop for an eager audience that consistently laps up every last morsel. Although seasoned with occasional enjoyable classics (Eminem, Kate Nash etc), the night descends into an full-fat cheese fest, with Bob the Builder and Barbie Girl frequently polluting the airwaves. Stodgier than these cheese analogies, Cheesy Tuesdays is the number one night for those seeking to indulge in a cheap slice of gorganzola strength madness.
Inside tip: book tickets via the Arena site to avoid loooong queues.
Beats & Bass have moved from The Cavern to alternate weeks with TaT at The Cellar Door. A strong dose of luscious House, boomtastic Bass, rolling Jungle and deep minimal Techno promises to reach new levels of darkness in the Cellar’s eerie doldrums. If you’re a proper basshead, be sure to join the B&B family by signing up to the society for cheap entry prices, brilliant DJ workshops and festival promotions. If you know your Boddika’s from your Bondax’s, then Tuesday nights will become your favourite of the week.
Feast Your Ears is a brand spanking new night looking to bring students more live music. The night will be held every week at Mama Stones and promises to feature a range of local acts, buskers and critically acclaimed bands. Mama Stones will be the perfect venue for an event that looks to offer a more intimate and nuanced musical experience and, with impressive acts including The Deets and Sam Mayo and X Factor’s Luke Friend already confirmed, the night looks set to become a firm favourite for Exeter’s indie faithful.
‘Legends’ is for the ‘Lads’. All the lads that make up the sports teams don their finest chinos and shirts for a night of being lads with the lads ’cause they’re all lads! (For an accurate representation, have a look at this enjoyable video). Joking aside, you don’t have to be a sports team member to contribute to the carnage. The club is always packed out to ensure a frenetic and fun atmosphere. The big floor lays down generic mainstream beats, while upstairs showcases more enjoyable slick RnB grooves offset by club bangers. TP Wednesdays will become a permanent feature in the fixture list of sportsmen and women, but it might just be worth popping along to if you fancy a bit of mid week madness. Or to pull a fit rugby player. Plus the burgers ain’t bad either.
KINK is another newborn student night looking to redress the balance regarding the live music in Exeter. The bi-weekly night will showcase some of the best new UK musical talent at one of Exeter’s most famous and finest underground venues, The Cavern. The intimate cave will form the perfect backdrop for the up-and-coming acts who promise to cover all genres and interests. With cheap prices and a genuinely exciting alternative to the TP sportsfest, we are very excited about getting up close and personal to a host of brilliant live acts like Mausi and Wolf Alice.
Previews for the rest of the week will follow shortly. Like our Facebook to keep up to date with everything musical in Exeter.
In light of the ‘slut-shaming’ phenomenon sweeping the web, Madeleine Berry looks at what it says about how we perceive women in our society and asks whether our perspective needs to change.
Around 50 per cent of the people reading this will have experienced the feeling of being named a ‘slut’, or worried that it would happen perhaps because of their clothing or casual relationships. The phenomenon of ‘slut-shaming’ which has cascaded its way into our culture has perhaps got much to answer for this constant fear. Girls in particular are pressured to behave in a certain way and express a certain sexuality that society and those around them deems acceptable. ‘Slut-shaming’ is defined as the act of making an individual feel inferior or guilty for engaging in certain sexual behaviours that deviate from traditional gender expectations. These can include using sex as a form of power control, having casual sex outside of marriage, or even dressing in a way that is deemed to be provocative in its overly sexual nature.
Throughout the social-networking and blogosphere this has escalated to worrying highs, with memes existing to dictate the acceptability of revealing female dress. We all know what I’m talking about; stalking through photos of friends of friends, or maybe that hottie you’ve seen in the library, and deeming that the girls in them look ‘slutty’ or ‘slaggy’. But why do we do this? As women especially, should we really be encouraging the cultural norm that girls who act in a hypersexual way have something to answer for? It’s not dissimilar to buying into the idea that dressing provocatively leads inevitably to rape, and the surrounding tendency of victim blaming. Women are ultimately blamed for being the bearers of attack, because of their audacity to choose to wear a low-cut top or short skirt. But why shouldn’t we choose? By admitting that behaving in such a way that could conjure up the label of ‘slut’, we are consequently pandering to society’s call for a woman that is both sexually experienced and innocent at the same time. And surely, they can’t have it all. Covering up and denying sexual activity outside of the accepted norms throws off the threat of being slut-shamed, but returns the individual to the so-called ‘fantasy’ of innocence and virginity. And if this is the case, once again women are behaving in a way which panders to the desires of men, rather than taking control of their own bodies.
Photo credits to Anton Bieslousov
This attitude is what prompted the international SlutWalks in the last five years. Following an event in Canada in which a policeman told female students of a local university to “avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised”, scores of women have taken to the streets to demonstrate that those who experience sexual assault are not the ones at fault. The dress in tight clothes, shorts, backless dresses or underwear and ask ‘do our clothing choices perpetuate a cycle of violence and assault? Are we to blame?’ And the same can perhaps be said for slut-shaming. Should the way that girls dress and their chosen sexual behaviour, provided that it is safe, be to blame for their humiliation? Surely we should be fighting for the right for them to make that choice themselves. Especially when you consider that the male counterparts for slut, are almost exclusively positive, including ‘player’, ‘stud’ or ‘pimp’. Imposing the negative label of slut upon girls who behave in a sexualised way damages the reputation of all females within society; we must all be both chaste and sexy at the same time. And what is worse is that it is overwhelmingly other women who do the labelling. And of the females reading this, you will almost definitely be forced to admit that this is true.
So, maybe we should begin by avoiding the inevitable trawl through Facebook pictures after nights out to scrutinize the girls wearing skimpy skirts and boob tubes, and instead think ‘good for them’ for throwing off the regulations that are placed on them. Now I’m not saying that everyone should start wearing their underwear to the library, but if that’s what it takes to show that behaviour and dress doesn’t denote being a ‘slut’, then bring it on.
Imogen Watson discusses what it means to be patriotic in Britain today and shares her predictions for 2013.
After one or two false starts, 2012 was very much a year of flag-waving, national self-confidence and, dare it be said, patriotism here in the United Kingdom. Permit me if you will to put the state of the economy temporarily to one side. If you missed the coverage of the Thirtieth Olympiad and the Diamond Jubilee, you can only have been hiding under a rock; even being on the other side of the world does not constitute an excuse in this day and age with the global interest in these events being quite as it was. So with just under twelve months ahead of us, how can this year match the last? Should it? As a country viewed as somewhat self-deprecating and reserved, does this kind of national recognition even have a place in our everyday society or does it in fact turn us into something we are not?
The Brits are a cool, guarded, polite people; stoicism is our middle name. Everyone personally knows the Queen, perfect tea comes out of the taps, and we spend whole afternoons and evenings down in the pub drinking pints or out on the green playing cricket. This is all true of course only if you were to pay any attention to the rest of the world and, let us be honest here, that is not exactly a key British trait.
Our true eccentricities abounded during the summer months as we floated boats galore down the Thames and scared small children in hospital beds with giant versions of Lord Voldemort and the Child Catcher in the middle of a sports stadium. Someone even let Mr Bean play the piano. The humour and happiness of the London 2012 Games Makers have gone viral, and it seems that even if no one quite understands us, the vast majority of the international community enjoyed the spectacles, at least enough to broadcast them in all types of news coverage.
Photo credits to SouthEastern Star
Moreover, the Union Flag is popular again. In Britain, the British National Party has used it as their logo for years now, yet abroad it is fashionable to wear it on every item of clothing: bags, shoes, earrings, scarves, t-shirts. You name it, and it is out there. It may come as a surprise to know that it is even popular in France, that country which supposedly hates us. So if the rest of the world can love it, it is surely time to continue the trend of 2012 and take it back completely from the hands of the likes of the BNP. It has been a statement of being a racist, but no more. It must become again a statement of tolerance. The flag is ours if we want to use it and certainly not the property of a tiny minority that the majority cannot stand.
It is not that we ought to join the ranks of the countries which demonstrate their patriotic tendencies for everyone to see – after all there is only just about room for one United States of America on this planet – as flags around all our public buildings, for example, has simply never been, and never will be, our style. However we ought to lose our fear and embarrassment of proclaiming our national pride when appropriate, now we know our abilities in overcoming last-minute difficulties to put on a show.
2013 lacks the major national festivities of last year, and therefore opportunities for us to all unite and complain outwardly about everything that we secretly rather enjoy. But perhaps our patriotism is in fact best as it is: subtle and infrequent. It exists in everyday actions and helps make us what we are but big displays are just unnecessary (except the obligatory Last Night of the Proms). When the British come together in our own slightly bizarre way on an international scale, the surprise and puzzlement of the rest of the world is frankly one of the best bits. Now we are thoroughly aware of our successes in 2012 and will be able to repeat them when the time comes, without blowing our own trumpets. Instead we just accept it, and move on. So on reflection, then, maybe this article was badly thought-out. Maybe none of this should have ever been said. I apologise – I temporarily forgot how to be British. Please, forget that you ever read this.
exeposedev 