Review: As You Like It (RSC, Stratford)

by Emily DuffAs You Like It, directed by Maria Aberg, music by Laura MarlingAs You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s best known comedies. My A2 English class travelled 3 hours to see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s performance of it on 20th April. Now, you may not know this, but 23rd April is Shakespeare’s birthday. We hadn’t really anticipated that Stratford, on a sunny weekend two days before, would therefore be absolutely heaving with Shakespeare...

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Review: "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk

by Hugh Summers Earlier this week, Daft Punk revealed the lead single from their upcoming album, Random Access Memories, which is set to be released this May. The album is said to show the human side of these robots, as we drift more away from humanity and more towards technology. This could be a very interesting turn for the French house music duo as almost all of their songs are electronic. Yet, after hearing their new song, I must say...

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Portsmouth Point Poetry: 'A Considerable Speck' by Robert Frost

by Gregory Walton-GreenIn Robert Frost's poem, 'A Considerable Speck', the narrator, having written on a piece of paper, sees a ‘mite’ run across the page. He first thinks of stabbing it, then realises it is intelligent, so he lets the scared ‘mite’ rest. Then the narrator tells us he didn’t save the mite because of a general principle of equal kindness, but because it had done him no harm. He ends the poem by saying he is glad to find signs of intelligence in any form on pieces of paper. A speck that would have been beneath my sightOn...

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Photography Club: Blossom

by Grace GoodfellowPhotography Club, run by Mr Stone, meets every Friday lunch ti...

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"Wrenching Ballads of Disintegrating Love": George Jones

George Jones (centre) with Roy Acuff, 1950s"His recordings that will endure are about the permutations of sorrow"George Jones, seen by many as the greatest male country singer since Hank Williams, died on April 26, 2013, aged 81. "George Jones was twenty-four, had been singing in gutbucket bars in Texas for years and was already a twice-married former housepainter, shoe-shiner and soda-truck driver when the up-tempo "Why Baby...

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Perfect Storm

by Mark RichardsonIt's downloads now. Sure, sometimes CDs, but mostly it's iTunes, or Amazon, or streaming via YouTube or Spotify. All that lovely music, often just a click away. What's not to like? Good question. But with change can also come unexpected consequences, and the change that I am thinking about here is to do with artwork: the cover. First it was the CD: tiny, so the artwork had to be tiny, and was rarely inspected in any case by the...

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Film Review: Argo

by Will Hine(source: fact.co.uk)Set in the dusty capital of 1980’s Iran, Ben Affleck’s Argo is a gripping account of the extraction of US diplomats from an extremely hostile part of the world. With a deep historical context, Argo sets the scene with an introduction briefing the audience on the history of the nation. A time and part of the world ravaged with an overturned throne, an aggravated, politically disillusioned populous with a great hatred...

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Photography Club: Spring

Today's warm, sunny weather made it seem as if Spring had finally arrived after the bleak and extended winter of 2012-13. Elicia Seebold celebrates the joy of Spring. See Spring by Nick Graham. See Spring and All by William Carlos Williams, with a commentary by George Laver....

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The Sky is the Limit

by Callum CrossSky boss Dave Brailsford(wiki commons)This term, "the Sky is the limit", in cycling has now been coined in reference to anything that Team Sky want they get. They “want” the Tour de France, so they go out and get the best riders and give them lots of money to ride very hard on the front. Now, this is a well proven tactic in stage races, more so this year that 2012. Ritchie Porte was given more responsibility early on this season, the...

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Sur le Pont d'Avignon

by Sally FilhoAn expectant audience awaits Portsmouth Grammar School'sforthcoming production of The Exonerated at Festival d'Avignon 2013The often mispronounced lyrics of this simple XVth century French song belong to Everyman’s knowledge of Gallic musical culture, together with two lines of Piaf’s ‘Non, rien de rien’ and half a line of ‘La Marseillaise’.  A group of students from The Portsmouth Grammar School will propulse  inter-cultural...

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Show Your Parents You Love Them --- By Not Buying Them Gifts.

by Katherine TobinTraditionally, in our family, we don’t buy gifts for Mother’s and Father’s Day. This is obviously not because I feel any less thankful for them, or love them any less, but just because the sentiment of a card is enough to show thanks to one another. However, for many people, Father’s and Mother’s Days are days to spoil and treat their parents to chocolates, toys and multiple gifts. I am not saying this is wrong, but it is a subject...

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Review: Macbeth (Trafalgar Studios, London)

by Fay DaviesJames McAvoy and Claire Foy in 'Macbeth' at Trafalgar StudiosSitting in the theatre, before the performance had even started, I was worried. I was worried because I thought no one would ever stop talking. Consisting primarily of groups of students like us, the audience was emitting a constant excited chatter that I didn’t believe could ever cease. Occasionally there would be a sudden panicked hush – a false alarm – but it would be followed...

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Formula One 2013: Bahrain Grand Prix and the Season So Far

by Tim BustinPaul di Resta(Wiki Commons)Turning on the news this Saturday was a repeat of what was seen a year ago: controversy over the Bahrain Grand Prix going ahead despite riots and protests over democracy and the view that the Grand Prix is being used to cover rights abuse by the government. In response to these views, Bernie Ecclestone said "I don't think it's for us to decide the politics, good or bad. It's a good circuit, a good race, and...

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