Joanne Archer, Author at The Orbital

Royal Holloway Alumna Makes The Apprentice final

17Dec

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

News

Royal Holloway Alumna Makes The Apprentice final

Lord Alan Sugar is searching for his next business partner in the BBC’s popular reality game show, The Apprentice. The series, which spans 14 weeks, puts businesspeople through tough trials of elimination to find the candidate with the best skills and business model. The winner will secure a £250,000 investment into their business, shared with Lord Sugar as a 50% stake holder. Former Royal Holloway student, Sarah Lynn, has made it to the final round against competitor James White. Sarah Lynn studied at Royal Holloway from 1999, graduating with a degree in History and Politics in 2002. In June 2010 Lynn set up her business, Sweets in the City, which she has been working to improve over the past 7 years. The company produces “hand-picked and hand-packed” sweet b...

13Apr

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Coffee House Sessions: Sonia Stein

The Orbital’s Arts Editor, Joanne Archer, reviews Sonia Stein’s performance at Coffee House sessions. If you are still unfamiliar with Coffee House sessions, you need to rock up at Tommy’s at 5pm on a Monday, order yourself a burger, sit back and enjoy. Each week, a new, up-and-coming artist sets up their makeshift stage on the staircase in the SU. You may not know these artists now, but with most signed to major record labels, they are bound to get big. The brand that organises the intimate gigs, Coffee House Sessions, promise to serve up “a fix of #newmusic ones to watch, & live acoustic tours”. To give you an idea of what this means in the industry, the likes of Izzy Bizu began their careers by touring universities with Coffee House Sessions. This month, Sonia Stein graced...

30Mar

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Disney and Diversity

Joanne Archer discusses the developments and diversification in Disney’s films. If you know me well, it is no secret that I am a huge fan of Disney, probably the most obsessed person you will meet. That said, I am able to see the faults in the company, and diversification is a matter that Disney has often fallen short with. Although Disney have been including diverse characters in their films and TV programmes for a while, Princess Tiana was Disney’s first black princess, joining Jasmine and Mulan in the line-up of diverse females. Released in 2009, I can’t help but agree that this revelation came far later than it should have. The Princess and the Frog is one of my favourite Disney films, but it was considered a Box office failure when it made ‘only’ 267 million USD. That may still see...

Exclusive: The all-access guide to RHUL’s new library

22Mar

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Features

Exclusive: The all-access guide to RHUL’s new library

The Orbital’s Joanne Archer gives you the low down on the new Library and Student Services Centre. We promise you it’s cooler than it sounds. The latest addition to campus, the Emily Wilding Davison Building, has certainly caused quite the storm. The chaos of an ever-expanding building site has made walking anywhere in a 2-minute radius feel like a pilgrimage. It’s certainly not been a silent development. The Orbital magazine was lucky enough to be given an exclusive tour of the site in its early stages. At first I was reluctant, the building looked like a mismatch of cardboard and glass, not exactly the stuff that fuels Hogwarts-esque dreams. Stepping inside, however, I realised the full potential of the building. It towered in its skeletal form, lacking any protection from the weat...

New Information released about RHUL libraries: the future of Founder’s and Bedford is undecided

16Mar

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

News

New Information released about RHUL libraries: the future of Founder’s and Bedford is undecided

Joanne Archer reports on the latest rumours surrounding Founder's and Bedford. "Use of the East Reading Room hasn’t been decided yet so we wouldn’t be able to say whether it will be study space or not at this time," says Amy Sutton, Head of PR. Amy Sutton states that “While the community is excited about the opening of this fantastic addition to campus, we know how important the library in Founder’s is to the College community. We can assure current, past and future students and staff that, once the Emily Wilding Davison Building opens, the Founder’s West Reading Room will remain a Library Reading Room, with study spaces, connectivity and books on shelves and will continue to provide students with space to study and reflect in historic surroundings.” The Emily Wilding Davison buil...

Look At Me: Get Involved in Student Film

16Mar

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Look At Me: Get Involved in Student Film

The Orbital’s Joanne Archer interviews the producer, Ellie Glover, and crew of Look At Me, a student film in the making. Tell us more about the film project. The film is very much in the works at the moment, but here’s a synopsis: Following the aftermath of the assault of her son, Jane begins to question the choices she has made as a mother. Meanwhile Jake, her son, decides whether he should be honest about the secrets that have been quietly tearing him apart. Jake and Jane’s relationship begins to crumble as resentment of one another rises leading to terrifying consequences. We have a crew of four people and are looking for a cast to get involved in this very exciting project. The film will be about 10 minutes long, it's a collaboration project and it's our graduation film....

Reviewed: Great Gatsby at the Vault Festival

20Feb

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Reviewed: Great Gatsby at the Vault Festival

Ever since I was introduced to the concept of time travel, from spending my Saturday nights as a boy watching Doctor Who and Back to the Future marathons, I've always wondered which time periods I'd travel back to. But after attending The Guild of Misrule’s immersive Great Gatsby play at Vault Festival, the Roaring 1920s will definitely be added to my list. My experience began by knocking on a door with a sign reading ‘’Drugstore closed, knock for deliveries’’ at which point I was greeted by a doorman asking if I was here for the drugstore, to which I replied, ’Yes, Sir, I’am’, in my GCSE Drama level American accent. I was then led into a dance hall filled with audience members in their best 1920s attire and characters from The Great Gatsby like Daisy, George, Mr Buchanan and Mr Gatsby...

25Jan

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

McFly: It’s All About Egham

Four-piece boyband McFly have been spotted in Waitrose Egham during their writing trip. Joanne Archer charts the recent developments of the band. In September 2016 I saw McFly play their anthology tour in London. Watching the boys play every song in their discography over the course of three nights was a delight. I was even lucky enough to catch Tom Fletcher’s guitar pick. The band had been joint at the hip with Busted for three years, forming super-group McBusted. Many fans, myself included, enjoyed the novelty of McBusted, a blend of their childhood favourites, but found that this soon wore off when McFly faded out of existence. There was no new McFly music and no McFly tours. That all changed in 2016 with the announcement that Busted would be touring alone with the likes of Emma Blac...

19Jan

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

A Mainstream Love Affair

Joanne Archer discusses the inevitability of cheating in mainstream film. I’m pretty lucky really. Unlike a lot of lonely souls out there, I have been in a very happy relationship for the last four years. You would think this can only mean Happily Ever After. My life is a Disney film and my days are filled with birdsong and baking apple pies. Reality check. We live in the 21st century and as much the above is fairly accurate, I am very aware that the course of true love never did run smooth. What exactly, I hear you ask, is it that fills me with a perpetual dread for the future? The normalisation and romanticising of cheating in mainstream film. You only have to look as far as Alan Rickman in Love Actually to see what I mean. Evidently we are supposed to feel bad for Em...

The Top 5 Most Instagrammable Locations Near You

10Jan

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Visual Arts

The Top 5 Most Instagrammable Locations Near You

You’ve returned to Royal Holloway after Christmas and to get back into the swing of uni life you need to find a way to show your friends and family just how much Royal Holloway slays. One setback: despite Holloway being the ‘University of London’, perhaps the most exciting thing outside of campus walls is Runnymede Chicken and Ribs. Never fear. Orbital has rounded up the very best spots, both on campus and the surrounding area, to fill your Instagram feed. Founder's Very cliché and predictable but, no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to avoid uploading a photo of the Victorian architecture from one of the numerous angles. There is no doubt that Founder's Building played a huge part in your decision to attend Royal Holloway. My personal favourite angle is from the bus sto...