Laura Denham, Author at The Orbital

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Lifestyle

Venice: City of Masks

Renowned for its history of art, architecture and music, it is hard to find someone who hasn't fallen in love with Venice. It was the masks that first drew me in: the colours, the intricate, beautiful designs, the feathers and the doll-like delicacy in their features. Carnival masks are a part of the city as much as the canals, gondolas and St Marks Basilica. The actual wearing of masks in Venice has a chequered history. In the beginning they were allowed to be worn at all major events, bar religious festivals. But in 1339 the wearing of masks was limited to daytime and in 1608 the anonymity and immoral behaviour associated with wearing a mask led to them being banned apart for carnival and banquets. If you were going to Venice specifically to revel in the wonders of these beautiful works...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Heronshaw: One to Watch

With any luck, Heronshaw is a name you'll be hearing much more in the future. The best way to describe their genre is ‘Alternative Indie Folk Rock' but that doesn't quite do their varied music justice. As they say on their website, defining their music is like finding Wally – exciting, addictive and you can't quite put your finger on it! Most importantly, their drummer, Matt Arnold, is from Royal Holloway! Heronshaw's music is a melting pot of different genres that works a treat. The five band members – Tom Seebold (Vocals, Keyboard), James Gibson (Guitar, Banjo), Miles Walker (Guitar, Violin), Connor Guille (Bass, Vocals) and Matt Arnold (Drums & Percussion) – work together to make enchanting music that's already made an impact, and with their forward planning they look to make even mor...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Sports & Socs

RHUL Badminton Club: A Season of Uphill Battles

Looking at the fixture lists for all three badminton teams; men's first, women's and men's seconds, was not pleasant summer reading material. With long journeys to Portsmouth and Chichester on the horizon as well as visits to sport driven universities Surrey and Brunel, all three respective captains knew they had a hard task of managing their squads to get the very best from their players as they looked to once again secure divisional status for the 2013/14 season. All teams got off to a tough start, leaving it until the end of the second week of fixtures before the club earned their first point. A true captain's knock by Harriet Mortimer inspired her girls to a 4-4 draw at St. Mary's University. Not to be outdone by the girls, both men's teams would have their first points after two work...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Lifestyle

Vodka and Tomato Pasta

In my time as a university student I've done an awful lot of cooking with alcohol. Some of the alcohol even made its way into the food. This tomato vodka pasta is a simple, speedy recipe, and if you make it once I promise you will be craving it again soon. It's excellent food for a hangover, and this recipe makes enough for two servings so you can share it with a friend or pack some up and take it with you to the library for some great-tasting brain food. You won't get intoxicated from eating this recipe because the alcohol evaporates as it cooks, but it leaves the tomatoes tasting splendid. Ingredients 1 red onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 20g butter 200ml vodka 400g can of chopped tomatoes 1 vegetable stock cube 1 tsp of dried rosemary 100 ml double cream 125g p...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Rust and Bone: Review

Jacques Audiard's last feature, A Prophet, is seen by many as one of the best films of the last decade, resulting in a lot of buzz and excitement for his latest film, Rust and Bone, starring the wonderful Marion Cotillard. Arguably two of the best French film-makers of recent years, the film has been greatly revered by critics as a touching love story. However, the film is in many ways Audiard's worst to date. It tells the story of two people in tragic circumstances: Ali, a wannabe fighter, struggling to raise his young son in the absence of his mother and with little money made in illegal fighting rings, and Stephanie fighting through the pain of losing both her legs in a tragic killer whale accident. The two meet, fall in love and help each other correct their lives. It is a plot don...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Opinion

Postman Isaac: Where do you stand?

An acknowledgement: The Orbital would like to acknowledge that Isaac Masih strenuously denies creating the Islamophobic and homophobic tweets in question and, upon believing his Twitter account was hacked, has since disabled it. IN DEFENCE by Antonia King Before I begin, let it be made clear that no one is in defence of the prejudiced views which were allegedly expressed by Postman Isaac, myself included. They are clearly in no way representative of the student body. However, the campaign for him to be banned from the SU or otherwise reprimanded I do not agree with. As many have said on the matter, his supposed views have not been expressed to students at Royal Holloway in person. No students, to my knowledge, have felt personally victimized by Isaac. If this was the case, then of course ...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

News

Bangladesh Factory Fire

On May 10th the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, which produced clothes for Primark, H&M and Gap, collapsed in flames, killing 1,127 of its workers. This has triggered worldwide concern as to the standard of health and safety being kept to supply popular clothing brands as cheaply as possible. There is increasing pressure against chain stores such as Benetton and Zara, who source their clothing from the Bangladeshi factory, to move towards safer working conditions for the people who work in these ‘sweatshops'. By signing the binding Fire and Building Safety Agreement, the clothing companies make a promise to protect the garment workers by ensuring that all safety standards that are expected are kept. H&M were one of the first to sign the agreement, as other chains followed in their path ...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

The Great Gatsby: Review

Baz Lurhmann's take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is an explosion of colour, music and sexual tension, bringing to life what I consider to be a story that trails at a snail's pace. Behind all the glitz and glamour of Lurhmann's directorial style, it is his choice of actors that helps to give life to the otherwise lifeless portrayals of Fitzgerald. Leonardo DiCaprio does well in playing the infamous Jay Gatsby, a man both famous and mysterious for his regular mansion parties, whose relationship with Carey Mulligan's Daisy is made both awkward and increasingly addictive from their first encounter. My admiration of Gatsby's characterisation increases drastically alongside the rapid fall of Daisy's likability, a woman who frustratingly glides through life, child-like and i...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Opinion

Superficiality or ‘Social Networking’?

In 1917, Eliot wrote of a time “to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”. Despite Eliot writing just under one hundred years ago, he neatly encapsulates the essence of social media, and the cultural compulsion to convey a specific type of person: a surface, a “face”. Social networking insistently requires us to create this surface – to select our profile pictures, ask us what we're thinking/ how we're feeling, whether we're interested in men or women, where we live. Though we're entitled (and quite rightly) to withhold this information from public display, the fact that we're asked creates an increased self-awareness and the means to categorise ourselves. Social networking engenders an opportunity to technologically emulate society's obsession with “faces”. I finally created a T...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

News

The EU Referendum

As the Conservative government openly defy Cameron and ask for an EU referendum, the Prime Minister has to make a decision whether to hold the referendum in 2017. But what should he do? Cameron has been in a tight corner this month and no matter what decision he makes on the United Kingdom's remaining in the EU, he will upset someone. While Cameron has already promised a referendum, this next step will place it in stone – in case anyone thought the Conservatives would go back on an election promise. There are 3 ways forward for the prime minister: If he holds the referendum tomorrow, the people will almost definitely vote ‘no' for EU participation. In this economic climate, there is just too much hatred and scapegoating of the EU. This will lose Britain her only place in a rapidly globali...