Connection – The Orbital

The Worst Person In The World: the Nordic highs and lows of human connection

24Jun

By Olivia TaylorNo Comments

Features, Film & TV

The Worst Person In The World: the Nordic highs and lows of human connection

Joachim Trier’s Oslo trilogy may not follow stories that are directly linked, but there is a connection between them that even Anders Danielsen Lie, who stars in each film, noticed ‘feels just like a continuation’. That continuation may be loss, love, or loneliness, three themes that follow the central characters through each story. But whilst they aren’t always resolved, they haunt audiences with a sense of realism, often hitting close to home. ‘The Worst Person in the World’ or ‘Verdens verste menneske’ is Trier’s final installment, and a cinematic masterpiece in its own right. It captures the fragility of life through the lens of Julie, a 20-something woman who gets stuck in the indecisiveness of her ambition, a cultivated indication of what it means to be young and conflicted. “I f...

21Jun

By Hannah ArmourNo Comments

News, Opinion

The Be Real App: The Next Big Thing?

It’s deadline season, and for the third day in a row, the ‘Be Real’ notification goes off while you’re in the library. You take the picture, capturing your front and back camera views: an exhausted face in one corner, an empty coffee cup, and a computer with God only knows how many tabs open. This isn’t the life you wanted to portray online. Be Real, a new social media app, sets itself apart by going for pure authenticity. With the tagline “Your friends for real”, the app sends out a notification everyday at a different time to capture and share a photo in two minutes. The only problem? It’s exposing how mundane our lives really are. It should be refreshing; isn’t this what social media was supposed to be? After all, isn’t there beauty in the everyday? Without the potent...

21Jun

By Jessica WattsNo Comments

Lifestyle

Because you’re worth it.

You’ve probably heard the saying, before you can love someone else, you need to learn to love yourself… Well, the same is true of connections. Before you can create meaningful and lasting connections with anyone else, you must first connect with yourself. In today’s frantic world, we may forget to take the time to check in with ourselves, and we end up neglecting the most important relationship we have. Self-connection is the process of being in touch with the worthiness and wholeness of yourself. This may sound like a scary prospect, especially if you purposefully avoid being alone with your thoughts. However, forming deeper connections with yourself can boost your mood, help you understand yourself, and can even have a positive effect on other relationships in your life. If you ...

Connectivity through understanding: Emetophobia and relationships

21Jun

By Millie DraperNo Comments

Lifestyle

Connectivity through understanding: Emetophobia and relationships

Trigger Warning: Discussions of vomiting and anxiety. Note: the purpose of this piece is to bring awareness to Emetophobia and the effects it has on making connections and forming relationships. It is from my experience, and I do not aim to speak for everybody. Emetophobia is a debilitating phobia of vomiting which affects my everyday life and leaves me completely panicked whenever I feel sick. My experience with Emetophobia has not been easy; even the thought of sickness sends shivers down my spine. No one likes being sick, but for me, this fear is next level. Emetophobia isn’t easy to deal with, and it is certainly not easy to explain. It can put massive strain on relationships and friendships because, naturally, it isn’t easy to empathise with a phobia you haven’t personal...

21Jun

By Max FlemingNo Comments

Lifestyle

Mummy’s Boys

What really defines a Mummy’s Boy? Reluctantly independent? Stupidly stubborn? The fact that mummy’s opinion trumps everything else? Can these qualities define YOU? The connection between mothers and their sons is possibly the strongest bond there is. So why aren’t all boys Mummy’s Boys? The answer changes from person to person, but the one element that is shared between all Mummy’s Boys is love. Who else are you going to gossip to about your latest love affairs, or run to when the other kids take your football off you at break? Mummy is the one that solves all your issues, whether it be with a hug or with a bowl of your favourite food made with an extra dollop of mummy’s pity. These are the foundations of what it means to be a Mummy’s Boy. If you’ve ever heard any of the following,...

An Honest Discussion About Queerness and Connection

21Jun

By Beth McCowenNo Comments

Lifestyle

An Honest Discussion About Queerness and Connection

Relationships can be difficult to navigate for anyone, but finding your place as a Queer person can present quite the challenge. Not only can it be more difficult to meet a love interest, but it is also common for LGBTQ+ individuals to feel less comfortable discussing their romantic prospects with friends and family, even if they are confidently ‘out and proud’. It can be difficult not to feel like an outsider when friends are frequently discussing their heterosexual crushes and flings. Particularly for lesbian and gay students, the loneliness of being on a night out, surrounded by straight couples and afraid to approach someone of the same sex for fear of being seen as predatory (an insecurity ingrained into those who fall outside of ‘the norm’), is quite an upsetting experience. Not ...

Issue Five Introduction: The Friend Game

21Jun

By Bridget OSullivanNo Comments

Features, Lifestyle

Issue Five Introduction: The Friend Game

At six, I pledged to a girl named Isabel that she’d be my best friend forever. She was blonde. I was brunette. Despite this, Isabel always insisted on playing Gabriella when we re-enacted scenes from our beloved High School Musical. I started to hate her a tiny bit. At fourteen, we fell out over boys. When I was nine, I told myself my best friend was a girl called Aoife. She was a bitch in the making, and something about that drew me in. She had a strength that I didn’t. But, like any blossoming bitch, she wanted to surround herself with other bitches (and despite my efforts, I was just a bit too off-the-wall to fit the bitch criteria). I haven’t spoken to Aoife since I was twelve, when her parents shipped her off to boarding school. When I was thirteen, my best friend w...

Is there a link between video games and violence?

7Jul

By Ryan GullifordNo Comments

Science & Technology

Is there a link between video games and violence?

Following the events of the tragic high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, issues surrounding school safety are widely discussed amongst the Trump administration. Amongst his many statements, President Trump has made several comments suggesting video games are linked to real-world gun violence and are “shaping young people’s thoughts”. Currently, despite the reports, there are no scheduled meetings between Trump and games industry executives, clarified by the Entertainment Software Association. The general consensus is that these statements are completely false and negatively portray an otherwise extremely lucrative global industry. “The current issue with school safety being discussed is not a global issue, it’s a USA issue. If video games were the problem, then every country would be...