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J.B. Ghuman Jr interview

Pip Ellwood-Hughes
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J.B. Ghuman Jr interview

J.B. Ghuman Jr is a writer/director from Miami Beach, Florida and his directorial debut Spork has just been released on DVD here in the UK.

The 31-year-old has been slowly making his mark in the movie industry starting off as an actor before moving behind-the-camera to explore directing and writing.

We caught up with J.B. to find out more about Spork, talk about the inspiration behind the movie and discover what else he has coming up. J.B. has his own unique writing style so we’ve edited the following as little as possible.

How are you today? Where does this Q&A find you?

Well I’m sitting here at 2am, just finishing up from reading the review you guys gave ma’lil world Spork…kinda made me smile. So I’d say I’m in a pretty good head space. Thank you for that, ox

‘Spork’ has just been released on DVD here in the UK. Tell us about the movie.

Well Spork is basically your every day “coming of age story of the local outcast” with some random angles…like a chic’ with a dick who scores some inner-strength via doing headspins on a Twister pad kinda angle. Jus sayin…

Where did the inspiration for the movie come from?

Well like most writers I simply pull from what I know. My life. And though I am not inner sexed, I did, like most of us, grow up a bit out of sorts with myself. I was a closeted, breakdancing, gold tooth wearing street kid in Miami, Fl. who’d go home and blast some enigma while jerkin’ off to K-Mart underwear ads. I’d say fitting in was easy and impossible all at the same time for me. So when I wrote the short Wheeler, a story about a girl in a wheel chair who books it down the hallways in anger, etc, I thought I’d re-envision the central character and try to come up with a protagonist that is uber left of centre while entirely relatable to us all. Spork…not’a spoon…not’a fork. So from there I simply went down memory lane and had fun with my realities mixed in with some booty poppin’ kids along side witty, bitchy white girls. In the end…you got me shoving twizzlers down my throat in a giant movie theatre hoping people get my art.

J.B. Ghuman Jr

Your young cast do a fantastic job in the movie. Tell us about the casting process for the movie.

Jeremy Gordon was my casting director. He did a wonderful job, fer’sure! Each kid you see on screen pretty much came in and brought their A game. I mean a lot of kids did, really. But just for the sake of the role and the energy being matched up…I kinda new on the spot when they walked in. Though Tootsie Roll, played by Syd Park, threw me at first. I honestly said “no” cause she looked like friggin “Chilli” from TLC and I specifically said I wanted a ghetto, black girl from the streets. She came back and braided all her hair and basically pulled the character out of my script word for word…an..well..obviously it worked. She did amazing.

Tootsie Roll is our favourite character in the movie. Give us some background on how that character came to be and where you found the inspiration for her hilarious dialogue.

Aw, well first off, thank you! She was based on my first kiss, actually. Like I said, I grew up in Miami and in a bit of a humbled neighbourhood…with that said, I was one of the only white kids an so…ya know. Though it’d be funny as hell if she could see me now…I mean…I’m gayer than Christmas for pete’s sake, lol! But yea…she was this kind of loud mouth girl who was always charged, etc. She’d make me laugh so much…that I was able to shove aside my love of cock and simply be her boyfriend. And though I didn’t end up coming out to myself till I was already 20, she left a lasting impression. The dialogue is kinda from all over. I love…love love…the strength in African American women. Or, if I can suspend PC talk, black girls! They have such a sense of power about them and it still, to this day, just inspires me at how funny and silly they can be with lives that most other women would be miserable in. Speaking of course of the street side of things. I’m well aware that the colour of your skin makes no difference with how you react to life’s ups and downs, so I get it. But it’s more of a cultural thing really. From tight knit families to funny jokes in the middle of dark times…they seem to just always…glow with self confidence. All in all…if and when I come back to this planet..I’d like to be a dark, beautiful black women. (insert snap over my head with a smack of my lips) shoooot! (insert Oprah sitting across of me, looking horrified at my impression) omg…calm down, Oprah…you know what I mean!!

What’s your favourite memory from shooting the movie?

Hands down the kissing scene with Charlie and Spork. I had grown up being a HUMOUNGUS fan of The Never Ending Story and at the very end, when the child like empress has only one wish left of her beloved world…she sits across from Sebastian and hands him this tiny, little..spec of glitter. They both sit in utter darkness and it has always been burned into my mind as sucha powerful moment. So, I wanted to pay homage to the film maker and bring that same energy, only my twist, into Spork. Cut to me literally on the fucking floor with my feet on the dolly, both hands on both actors backs to push lean them towards each other as I have a walkie-talkie up my ass so I can quietly whisper to my outside lighting rigs to dim and come up with lights at the same time, each movement, from the kids to the pull in to the lighting change…in sync. I felt like the gay Shiva of directors! Though if you want something this precise and your working with an indie film…it clearly takes each limb and I was more than willing. Especially as I was so excited when we landed the shot…after 5 sweaty takes of course!

Were you nervous about ‘Spork’ as this is your feature film debut?

Ah, dude…Was I ever! I moved to NYC after HS to be an installation artist….but money kept coming my way via acting gigs and all the while all I wanted to do was create my own worlds vs. be placed into them. So after making countless of installation art videos, pushing my handmade music videos and such, I was almost distraught when I found out I had a shot at showing the world my take on things, especially visually and on the scale of a feature film.

To be honest, I was uber insecure at first and a bit nervous to really shine on set with all these veterans of a crew around me, most older than myself as well as producers who’ve worked with previous more seasoned directors…though as the days went by and I saw that if I didn’t grow some balls…pun intended…I was going to piss away my first and maybe only shot at seeing just what my gut could create. So I remember having this one on one moment with my reflection in the bathroom on a day where my takes kept taking too long and people kept treating me like I was this wacko-artist who didn’t know anything. Told myself in the mirror that if this fails and looks like shit…it’s your bad, bud. So either call it or make it shine!” (what..I’m an artist..I like to be dramatic…so what!) I walked out and with a giant smile said “k…break it all down..I wanna move everything to the far left wall and make this a bit more fun looking…) picked up the equipment and started to jus…I dunno…go for it. What’s even rad’er…3 days later…my DP came up to me, who’s now one of my close buds, and said the crew is uber excited with what there doing…we’re with you, man…so just keep it up! I got teary eyed the next talk I had with myself…very, very cool! Note to self…never be insecure with your heart…or your art!

J.B. Ghuman Jr

It’s refreshing to see a coming-of-age movie that feels truly original. Are you happy with the reception the movie has received?

Sigh…I dunno if “happy” is really the right word for me…to be honest…I’d say the word for me..is humbled! I know it’s a bit deep and a lil’debby-downer style, but during Spork, my father had transformed into star dust. What’s worse is he made the choice to do so…so….obviously it rocked my family off it’s feet and of course will always change us…but before that I had also come out to my birth father who reacted uber cruel and though he wasn’t a big part of my life, it did something weird to my ego…blah blah blah….me me me…so sad, I know….so long story short…Spork comes and here I am now flinging my hands in the air, making shit happen on set and just doing what my heart tells me as I have all these terrible self-pity breakdowns an shit through-out my days…and then all of a sudden I’m in the middle of Brazil of all places screening my film. At the end, they let a line form for hand shakes and questions…unlike in the States, they allow films to screen for free, which is amazing, so there was an plethora of people there. At the end, this homeless man is left and he keeps trying to get to me to ask his question, they start to force him out and I just asked why, and to please let him simply approach and say what he wants…once he did, he kept moving his hands in the air, trying to explain something and kept pointing at his chest. He got a bit teary eyed and then hugged me. I didn’t know what to make of it so as he held on to me, I asked my translator what the fuck this cat was saying to me and if I should punch him in the stomach and push him off of me?

He said what he is saying is that “my film is like medicine, medicine for the heart.” My eyes instantly swelled up with tears and I grabbed him back and we both had our lil”moment” From there on I saw first-hand just what it means to push past the shadow and create from a place that shines in each of us. I saw first hand that even a shade like myself can somehow inspire someone to this level with a simple dark comedy of misfits on an indie-level scale. I knew right then I was not only going to be okay but that we all were. And I’d spend the rest of my life jumping more hurdles if it means I’d be able to give back what power the universe is giving me. Spork in the end wasn’t and isn’t just a movie to me and my creative life but a giant, neon bolt of lighting. And I intend to seek out even more of these jolts and share them with anyone who will listen each time.

As well as writing and directing you act too. If you could only choose one of those three jobs which would you pick and why?

Oh my…well I’ve hung up my acting shoes for some years now. Ya know I used to love acting but it was mostly because I really wanted to be told how pretty I was and talented. Making people laugh was so beyond important to me and as I started the journey to really become a more self-assured and evolved man, I started more and more to no longer have the itch or even the like to be on set unless it was to create a world of my own that would carry with it things that I’d hope do some good here and there. I know there are actors out there who aren’t just insecure humans starved for attention…I mean…let’s face it a lot of them are and any actor who says otherwise is lying. But out of respect to those that are not, of which there are also many, I have no place among them. It’s my belief that art should come from a place of confidence and truth. And as I constantly hide from crowds and sit on the ocean side figuring out what the hell I’m gonna do to get these days dreams off the ground and out to the masses, acting just doesn’t seem to be a part of that. So yea…the short of it…directing….(and writing…though I am obsessed with music videos so I guess I’ll just say directing….holy shit I ramble a lot!)

What else do you have coming up in 2012?

Well…after Spork I wrote a film titled Rhino! It’s another dark comedy that has a giant back bone of a message running through it only this time a different world and style. I don’t want to say too much as ideas these days are as common as the Nike swoosh and equally as replicated but what I will say is this. If your into humans who like to fling there hair in dirty mop water while jamming vintage prince music and wearing way to much make-up…then give me about 1-3million bucks and I’ll show you the ride of your life! Other than that, just finished the soundtrack to Sporkthat’s about to be released, as well as directed a music video for Lady Tigra who did all my original music so more will be to come. I’m putting together a cartoon, graphic novel, feature doc on some weird dudes who paint their faces and help the poor, a docu-series on the 90’s group SWV (Sistas With Voices), watching porn, working out, surfing, breakdancing on ma’roof, throwing glitter into the ocean, ya know….crazy gay artist shit. You can always keep up with me via JBGhumanJr.com cheesy, I know but whatevez…I’m a freak out there in the creative world…gotta push my own path with all these suits who only see dollar signs, kidz. All I ask is for you to do the same. Shizzam! Ox jb jr.

‘Spork’ is available now on DVD through TLA Releasing.

Claire Richards – All of Me review

Pip Ellwood-Hughes
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Claire Richards – All of Me review

If someone had said to us a year or so ago that Steps would make a triumphant comeback we would have told them they were talking nonsense. Despite being one of the biggest bands of the late 90s, we would never have imagined the band would be able to sell-out a UK arena tour and score a number 1 album 10 years after their bitter split. With The Steps machine back up and running, its 5 members are making the most of their second chance.

With the release of Claire Richards’ autobiography All Of Me this week it strikes us odd that none of the Steps band members have released a book in the last decade. Surely each one of them could have got interest from a publisher in exchange for the juicy details of Steps’ demise? All Of Me isn’t by any means a sensationalist account of Richards’ days in the pop juggernaut. Instead it’s a refreshingly honest, sincere and heartfelt memoir of the high and lows of fame, as well as revealing the battle with food that Richards has had her entire life.

What we liked about All Of Me is that Richards doesn’t sugarcoat her stories and says what she really thinks. From the early days of her career in first band TSD Richards recounts being noticed for her looks rather than her talent. When the story moves on from her first failed attempt at cracking pop, the stories about Steps come thick and fast, and you can understand from her perspective why she felt the way she did by the end of the band’s time together the first time round.

Careful not to directly slag off any of her former band mates, Richards puts across her perception of what happened during her time in Steps. Feeling like she always had to compare herself to Faye and Lisa, Richards also butted heads with Lee whilst finding a friend in H (although that turned sour after he accused her of revealing his affair with the band’s manager). Battling an unhealthy relationship with food and body image, Richards simply couldn’t cope with life in the spotlight.

Her battle with food is really the heart of the book. In more recent years she’s been more famous for yo-yo dieting than singing, and she details her struggle here with honesty. It’s heartbreaking reading how she used to binge eat to hide her unhappiness and she veers into dangerous territory by making herself sick on occasion after binging. She details how eating became her comfort after her career fell down around her ears. She openly discusses the various weight loss deals she had with magazines that encouraged her to fluctuate with her weight admitting that she could maintain a smaller dress size when the incentive and pressure was there.

Another strong strand of the book is Richards’ love life. Her love story with now husband Reece runs throughout and we hadn’t realised how long the two had been moving in and out of each other’s lives before they finally got together. Again you have to admire Richards’ honesty as she admits to having an affair with him whilst he was with someone else. She doesn’t defend or condone her actions, only detailing them factually as they are integral to her story. There are a couple of celebrity flings revealed and she goes into some detail about her first marriage to backing dancer Mark.

All Of Me is an honest account of a life that has had more ups and downs than most people will realise. at no point does Richards asks for sympathy instead telling her story in a factual and engaging way. Towards the end of the book she talks about her return to the spotlight through a series of TV show appearances before rejoining Steps. All Of Meis a fantastic read and Richards is an inspirational woman. Flying the flag for average-sized women Richards aims to discredit the theory that size 8 is the norm. She does that with ease and she looks simply stunning on the cover too.

Our Paradise DVD review

Pip Ellwood-Hughes
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Our Paradise DVD review

Vassili (Stephane Rideau) is an ageing prostitute who happens upon handsome young Angelo (Dimitri Durdaine) after committing a murder. Taking the younger prostitute under his wing, Vassili soon realises the benefits of his new young friend as a way to make lots of money. As the two men become very passionate about each other very quickly, they embark on a whirlwind adventure filled with sex, drugs and murder.

Our Paradise is the latest movie from writer/director Gael Morel. The dark psycho-sexual thriller combines sizzling sex scenes with rather shocking scenes of murder. As sexy as it is disturbing, the movie has a cohesive story that slowly builds. There are plenty of things that don’t quite get explained but it doesn’t really matter. Angelo’s understanding of what his new lover is up to is never particularly clear and as their relationship continues it seems Angelo falls into bad behaviour without any hesitation. His character isn’t developed from a backstory point of view and we do learn early on that Angelo isn’t actually his name.

Direction-wise we actually thought Our Paradise was quite bold. There’s some beautiful camera-work and the sculpted body of Dimitri Durdaine provides plenty of lingering shots from all angles to tease and tantalise.

Stephane Rideau looks almost unrecognisable as Vassili. We were surprised to see the gut he’s carrying about in the film but he perfectly encapsulates the has-been character. He plays the role with an edge of menace and frequently comes across as disturbing. Dimitri Durdaine on the other hand is simply stunning and his sex appeal oozes from the screen. Looking a bit like a young Justin Timberlake, the youngster makes quite the impression. Rideau and Durdaine have a great chemistry and their sex scenes in particular are sizzling.

Our Paradise is an intriguing and involving adventure that takes darker twists and turns than you’d expect. The opening sequence is a bit of a shocker and the mix between sex and murder ramps up as the film progresses to its shocking climax. If you’re a prude we wouldn’t recommend this movie but if you’re open to a bit of graphic sex with a decent storyline supporting it then you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

High Definition 2012 review

Sarah Bargiela
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High Definition 2012 review

High Definition Festival was back for the second year running at Forest Farm in Essex. High Definition Festival prides itself on taking absolutely no shortcuts when it comes to the quality of featured acts, sound systems and production values involved. Featuring five specialist stages, the event will showcase a wide variety of the finest talent across the spectrum of electronic music. Fedde Le Grand one of the biggest break-through acts from Holland was headlining the festival alongside Mark Knight, Ms Dynamite, Maceo Plex and many, many more. This year was no different and EF was there to tell you all about it.

The sun was shining and the festival crowd seemed up for a dance when we arrived on site. Bringing the best of dance and electro acts High Definition Festival was determined to come back with a bang. Our first impression of High Definition Festival was that it was a pretty laid back atmosphere on site, the small festival was crowded with a lot of punters lying around in the grass enjoying the weather alongside the beats that were coming from so many directions.

For a small festival High Definition had a huge selection of tents with the best sound systems we heard in a while. For a dance/electro festival sound is key and High Definition certainly seemed to pull all the stops.

We spent a fair amount of time in the main stage/tent enjoying acts like Mark Knight and Redlight. Grammy nominee Mark Knight didn’t seem to be on form with a mild set of mainly mainstream house. The beats were still banging though and there were a few highlights during his set. We also spent a lot time in the Too Damn Glam tent, which had a huge selection of funky house DJs, Darius Syrossian, Mark Fanciulli all delighted a crowd of avid dancers. Elsewhere on the Digital Stage BBC DJ MistaJam promised energy and such he delivered with a selection of old school garage and drum and bass tune the crowd was ecstatic. Also on the Digital Stage Ms Dynamite delivered a vibrant set and provided a bit of variety after a lot of DJ sets.

As a whole High Definition Festival was a pleasant experience, the atmosphere was quite laid back but felt edgy towards the end of the day. As a new festival High Definition Festival has potential lets see if they’ll bring more variety next year.

 

Michael Palin – The Truth review

Greg Jameson
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Michael Palin – The Truth review

The Truth is only Michael Palin’s second novel. This comes as a surprise considering the literacy of his best-selling travel books and the timelessness of his comedy writing for Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Ripping Yarns. UnlikeHemingway’s Chair (his first novel that appeared in 1994) The Truth concerns important global issues close to the author’s heart that were presumably brought to his attention during his extensive globe-trotting.

Keith Mabbut is a journalistic writer with a social conscience. A while ago he was briefly flavour of the month for exposing a water company whose illegal toxic emissions led to several deaths; but he’s never managed to recapture his early success, his career instead ticking over as a hack for hire. Trying to take his mind off his marital breakup he returns to fiction writing and starts work on his masterpiece ‘Albana’, a trilogy about the dawn of man, which definitelyisn’t a science-fiction novel.

Out of the blue, his agent asks him to pen a biography of the elusive Hamish Melville (not to be confused with Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick), an elderly anthropologist and environmental activist loved the world over (except by big greedy corporations) for his campaigning work which protects local communities from eviction by wealthy conglomerates. The only trouble being that Melville’s a difficult man to track down and fiercely private. But with a huge sum of money in the offing  for a guaranteed bestseller about a living legend, and needing something to take his mind from the open wound of his failed marriage, Mabbut soon realises it’s an offer he can’t refuse.

Embarking on his quest to find Melville and pen his exclusive biography, Mabbut travels to India where he attempts to secretly penetrate the inner circle of the enigmatic Melville. There, he witnesses for himself the devastating consequences on the landscape that would result from Astramex being granted permission to mine for bauxite. Melville is a difficult man to find, let alone win over, and standing in the way of multinationals is a lethal game. Both sides are well-armed and prepared for violence. There’s more at stake for Mabbut than delivering his manuscript when he goes in search of the truth.

Palin’s story reads like a Graham Greene novel. It follows the time-honoured magic formula of having a protagonist who is a fish out of water, and a stranger in town. Palin’s backdrop of India is populated by characters our hero can’t trust. Inevitably, there are many humorous lines in the book – I suspect Palin can’t help himself – but they are never intrusive or at the expense of maintaining credibility. Rather, Palin uses deft comic touches to occasionally lighten what is a tense, oppressive and often uncomfortable story world.

The Truth has a cracking tale at the heart of it, and for the most part it’s skilfully told. It takes a while to get to the heart of the story, and a lot of the scene-setting would perhaps have been better drip-fed as backstory later in the narrative. For example it would prove a slicker read if Mabbut had only one child. His daughter Jay enjoys a well-earned subplot which keys in to the main theme of the book – never accept people at face value and the truth is more complicated than you may wish to believe – but his son Sam is extraneous. It’s undoubtedly true that Sam’s appalling self-obsessed stage shows, which poor Mabbut is obliged to support, enduring them with rigid embarrassment, are very funnily described, but the plot wouldn’t suffer from their excision and the story would be tighter. The same effect could be achieved by reducing Mabbut’s over-complicated private life to a more monastic level. There’s also a certain element of heavy-handed exposition, where Palin tells us what’s happening instead of showing us, but this is offset by a delicious turn of phrase and zinging dialogue. Certainly by the final third, the characters and the story demand your attention more than making the dinner or having an early night ever could.

The strength of The Truth is in its characters, who are very well-realised. Mabbut is hugely enjoyable company: essentially a nice chap, a touch overly-idealistic with a strong stubborn streak. It’s hard not to picture Palin himself in the part. Then again Mabbut is idealistically similar to Melville, the crusading environmentalist. Melville, although charismatic and charming, remains deliciously opaque and impossible to pin down to the very end of the book, and one can’t help but think he’s an overtly heroic variation of Palin himself, who seems to be a synthesis between the two characters. The females are well-written too, with Mabbut’s incompatible Polish ex-wife Krystyna, too pragmatic to put up with an idealist for life; and his long-suffering wine-guzzling agent Silla add nuance and alternate perspectives to the narrative.

The themes of the story are prescient and well-developed too. The Truth is designed as a call to arms about the disastrous environmental consequences of large-scale clearing of land, as well as the indefensible human cost on local tribes who are powerless to stop their homes being destroyed and their land ravaged. Palin isn’t naive about progress, he recognises its inevitability, but his anger is palpable over murky government deals at the expense of its citizens. The Truth leaves the reader wanting to do something worthwhile with life and make a difference – which is precisely Palin’s Melvillesque intention.

Ultimately, The Truth is also a comment about the difficulty of the concept itself, and the near-impossibility of unravelling multitudinous shades of grey. Mabbut’s task is cleverly chosen since any number of biographies could be written about the life of any one person and they could all be ‘true’ but paint the subject in wildly contrasting lights. How do we know what people are really like, and what motivates them; and how do we decide which external factors are guiding their actions? Put simply, whose truth do we accept?

The Truth undoubtedly achieves Palin’s ambition for it: it acts as a consciousness raiser about the debilitating effects of powerful companies on local communities and the environment, in this instance in India, and does so through the medium of a cracking good yarn. Michael Palin has proved himself a major talent at many things. Storytelling is another.

John Bradshaw – In Defence Of Dogs review

Greg Jameson
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John Bradshaw – In Defence Of Dogs review

John Bradshaw’s In Defence Of Dogs is a passionately-written and fascinating book, but it’s important to categorise it immediately as a popular science tome, and certainly not an anecdotal account of why dogs are so fantastic and man’s best friend.

Dr John Bradshaw founded the Anthrozoology Institute at Bristol University and remains actively involved in researching the science behind animal/human interactions. Thus his approach in In Defence of Dogs is as a scientist conveying the findings of his many years of professional research to a lay readership. I don’t think it’s crucial to have a science background to understand the book, but it’s important to have a keen interest in the biological sciences, otherwise much of In Defence of Dogs may prove inaccessible or too academic.

The book opens with a broad sweeping history of the evolution of the domestic dog from its grey wolf origins. Bradshaw assumes in his readership a working knowledge of evolutionary biology, which proves the first way in which the book is not ideal for those whose main interest may be cute dog stories. Bradshaw offers theories as to why certain groups of wolves may have started to domesticate themselves, surviving better living alongside human societies tens of thousands of years ago. From there, it’s a relatively short time to depictions of canids and humans together in art, and canid burials, sometimes alongside human remains as the two species more fully integrated.

Central to Bradshaw’s argument is that, even though they’re entirely descended from wolves and can even still interbreed with them, dogs are a very different species to the wolf. Bradshaw believes comparisons between the two are problematic in many ways, not least because contemporary wolves are different again from their own, as well as dogs’, ancestral wolves; but also because human observations on wolf behaviour has often been based on study of wolves in captivity rather than in their familial packs, resulting in misleading or downright wrong assumptions about dog psychology.

As well as debunking the idea that every dog is really a wolf beneath the surface, Bradshaw also dismantles the various corollary effects that the misunderstanding has led to, most pertinently the punishment-based training that proliferated under the mistaken assumption that dogs wanted to be in charge of their owners and needed to know their place. Potential dogs owners, and indeed current dog owners who have dogs with behavioural problems may find it useful to adopt the reward-based training Bradshaw advocates. He suggests some useful tips for overcoming common behavioural problems such as separation anxiety. Despite such moments being peppered throughout the book, the remit of In Defence of Dogs is too varied for it to be considered or recommended as a dog training book.

In Defence of Dogs is by no means a polemic against traditional dog training methods, it’s a wide-reaching tome that touches on many aspects of dogs’ lives, including some fairly up-to-the-minute findings on how dogs think. Bradshaw argues (and I doubt many dog owners would disagree) that dogs, like humans and other mammals, have emotional lives. Constantly warning against anthropomorphism, he highlights the unhelpfulness of attempted comparisons between human and dog intelligence, demonstrating instead that dogs think in a completely different way than we do.

In many ways, the sections of the book discussing the mental lives of dogs and how they construct a view of the world are the most illuminating, perhaps because other writers often ignore the subject altogether. Most dog books tend to concentrate on the similarities between dogs’ lives and our own. Bradshaw shines light on the differences so that we can better understand how dogs think and how they experience the world. Everything from their infinitely more sensitive sense of smell to their acute hearing and partial-colour vision is discussed, with some veterinarian insight into canine anatomy along the way. Knowing how your dog thinks will make you a better owner, more attuned to and responsive to your dogs’ needs. There’s a fascinating section on how dogs map the world in their minds and quickly intuit shortcuts, as well as how they gather experience in following scents.

Bradshaw repeatedly points out that the science of dog behaviour is still in its infancy, and it is very difficult to develop experiments to prove any one aspect of canine behaviour definitively without other variables skewing the results. An area where I would disagree with Bradshaw is his contention that dogs don’t experience guilt because they have no way of relating a past event to a present interaction with their owner. It may just be that the dogs in his tests didn’t display guilt or embarrassment. My own dog, who was highly intelligent by canine standards, acted embarrassed and contrite if she had urinated in the house before any human made the discover and for hours afterwards; despite the fact that we universally reassured her that accidents were OK. She was undoubtedly concerned that something she had done hours earlier would lead to punishment in the present.

Perhaps this is part of the problem of the book, and in a sense the limitations of understanding and defining dog behaviour. As a species they vary so wildly in appearance, intelligence and personality that any experiment would necessarily have to use a wide variety of dogs and would almost certainly therefore garner different results for different types of dog. There simply is no such thing as “your average dog”.

To be fair to Bradshaw, he addresses precisely this point in the last few chapters, though this didn’t prevent me spending a few hundred pages being repeatedly bugged by precisely this problem. In discussing this issue, Bradshaw is to be congratulated for a firm and erudite argument against the over-breeding of human-selected pedigrees to the detriment of the health of the dogs. Whereas in previous generations specific working breeds served a particular purpose (the list of ways in which dogs help humans from guiding the blind to retrieving game, protecting territory and detecting drugs is incredibly long, proving what an adaptive species they are), these days symbiosis is increasingly rare, with dogs bred mostly for appearance to meet the arbitrary standards of specified breeds. Narrow gene pools have led to decreased intelligence and numerous genetic disorders for pedigrees. Coupled with the principles of eugenics practiced and preached by the likes of the Kennel Club, Bradshaw rightly identifies a crisis for dogs where their previous purposes have been eroded, leaving pet-ownership decided on the basis of looks, with little foresight into the escalating vet bills and short, often unhealthy lives of far too many dogs.

In light of the genetic and utilitarian crises dogs face, Bradshaw’s In Defence of Dogs is timely indeed.  Humans, especially in the West, must radically reinterpret their relationship with man’s best friend. The best starting point is to understand dogs better, and to select them on the basis of which dogs make good pets, rather than on appearance. There’s no doubt that In Defence of Dogs is an excellent starting point in raising consciousness about this issue. My concern is that the book is too rigorously academic and scientific in nature to appeal to dog lovers at large, and that other ways of disseminating the wealth of knowledge found in this book will have to be implemented.

For dog lovers who also happen to be enthusiastic readers of popular science, In Defence of Dogs will delight and fascinate, and Bradshaw’s prose style is engaging and clear, and it acts as a rare insight from a scientist who is also one of the driving forces of his particular field. It can be hoped that it isn’t too specialised to be denied a wide readership and instantaneous impact.

Touchingly, In Defence of Dogs is dedicated to one of Bradshaw’s dogs who died in 1984. Dog lovers never forger, and never stop loving.

Danny Rampling interview

Sarah Bargiela
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Danny Rampling interview

The House The House competition is organised by charitable foundation, Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. It is open to anyone between the ages of 16 and 25 years old and applications will be made via Mixcloud. Regional heats featuring 8 hopefuls will be held in 11 UK cities between October and December 2012. Judges will include established DJs, club promoters and music professionals. The winner will get the chance to play a DJ set in the House of Commons terrace bar on 6th March 2013.

EF was at House The House launch party and got around to chatting to DJ legend Danny Rampling, here is what happened.

Colton Haynes interview

Pip Ellwood-Hughes
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Colton Haynes has been steadily climbing the Hollywood ladder picking up guest roles in shows such as CSI: Miami and Pushing Daisies.

His latest role is as bad boy Jackson Whittemore in Teen Wolf, a reboot of the popular 80s film that starred Michael J. Fox. An altogether different proposition, the show has proved to be a huge hit and is about to enter his second season.

We caught up with Colton during his recent trip to London to talk about Teen Wolf, find out what’s coming up in the show and teach him the unspoken spoiler law.

‘Teen Wolf’ season two airs July 12th on Sky Living.

Neil MacGregor – A History Of The World In 100 Objects review

Greg Jameson
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Neil MacGregor – A History Of The World In 100 Objects review

A History Of The World In 100 Objects has already enjoyed an illustrious past. It started life as a Radio 4 series before spawning a beautifully illustrated hardback book complete with transcriptions of each episode and colour photographs of the objects described.

This new edition is the traveller’s version of the book (previously issued in hardback) – it’s an easily held paperback edition which gains compactness at the expense of the vivid illustrations (there are small one-tone pictures of each object at the head of every chapter). It’s printed in an easy-on-the-eye font and the rubber-embossed cover is a lovely design touch and a treat to handle.

A History Of The World In 100 Objects sees historian and director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor look at one hundred objects in turn, dating from a near two million year-old chopping stone found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania all the way through to a solar powered lamp manufactured in China in 2010. All the objects are in the possession of the British Museum and have stories attached to them that MacGregor relates over one hundred short (at 550 pages that’s an average of five and a half pages per item) but scintillating chapters. Within this framework MacGregor encompasses objects from many civilisations spread over many areas of the globe.

In truth, the title is misleading and overstates the case, since what is actually offered is a potted history of humanity – the world quite happily coped without Homo sapiens for billions of years before we evolved into existence and would do so again should we die out. That’s a minor quibble, but one worth raising because the scope of the book is not only narrower than the title suggests but narrower than any history concentrating solely on humanity should be. It’s narrated entirely from a human point of view and concentrates on the tools that we use and the art we create. It has little to say about our (crucial) interactions with other species, such as domesticated animals and livestock, and surprisingly shows virtually no interest in science and its application in the improvement of human health. There are no farming implements, medical supplies or scientific apparatus – the bulk of the list comprises aesthetically pleasing artefacts with no practical application.

Despite the equivocation that the tome is much more limited in scope than its ambitious title suggests, MacGregor’s work is a magnificently readable minefield of fascinating human history. It’s a great book for dipping in and out of, and each chapter takes you to a different part of the world to a different time and culture, offering one hundred different perspectives of the human story to date. It is a teasing book, and with any thirst for historical knowledge of a particular subject or era, it won’t sate you, but it will hopefully leave you wanting more.

A History Of The World In 100 Objects very successfully provides snapshots – tasty morsels of much larger and inevitably interconnected stories. It opens with the Egyptian Mummy of Hornedjitef, dating from the Third or Fourth Century BCE. It’s an appropriate way to open a book since many visitors to museums, especially children, head first to the mummies. MacGregor gives a personal account of how his interest shifted as he matured from the macabre contents to the significance of the sarcophagi.

The book is split into a series of sections in which the items are loosely connected, though they prove unnecessary and not wholly convincing as the histories that MacGregor narrates often have overlapping themes. The Rosetta Stone from Egypt reveals inscriptions in three languages including Egyptian hieroglyphics which tells us about the way people communicated and about how dynasties come and go. A coin showing the head of Alexander the Great from Fourth Century BCE Turkey shows that there’s nothing new in using an idealised image of a leader on money for purely propaganda purposes which the presence of Mao on Chinese banknotes may suggest. Money is discussed several times more with a Chinese banknote from the Ming dynasty that saw the advent of paper money; Spanish pieces of eight (of pirate parlance notoriety) and, at the end of the book, a credit card in a chapter that examines Islamic finance.

Places link items too, and chapters spread very far apart chronologically can feel related. From Britain, the Mold Gold Cape from Wales, close to four thousand years old, is an extraordinarily well-preserved and finely crafted article that tells us a lot about our local history – though frustratingly we don’t know the identity of the person buried in the cape. The Sutton Hoo helmet, from 600 CE, is probably the most iconic historical English artefact, and its story reveals truths about our Anglo-Saxon ancestors and even the legend of Beowulf.

The great English explorer Captain Cook appears in two chapters. In one his death is recounted in the story of a Hawaiian feather helmet as a way for MacGregor to illustrate “a textbook study in anthropological misunderstandings” and the impossibility we face in seeing the world through the eyes of another time and culture, despite the best hopes of an historian’s impartiality. Cook reappears in a chapter on an Australian Aboriginal bark shield, and how his legacy has been viewed very differently by both Aboriginals and modern day Australians in the intervening years.

The New World is well-represented, with articles such as a ceremonial ballgame belt from Mexico and a gruesome Mayan relief depicting royal bloodletting from a slightly later period, and the story of the end of the New World civilisations after the Spanish conquest is incorporated. MacGregor retains tight focus throughout on what unites our human story, and what we can learn from when civilisations have catastrophically collided. In that spirit he ends his account with a solar powered lamp that he manages to make about not only world poverty but also our need to find renewable energy sources for the sake of future generations.

Each chapter uses quotations to back up MacGregor’s basic thesis from people who are world leaders in their fields. Thus we have geneticist Professor Steve Jones talking about deep time in a chapter on the chronometer from HMS Beagle (the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his famous voyage) and Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England on economics. However some of the guests can be dismissed as misguided sops towards populism. Bob Geldof is undoubtedly an expert at organising giant charity rock gigs, but is he really the best man to ask about the politics of food?

Despite its very obvious limitations and omissions (there are plenty of masks, stone tools, artefacts and items of jewellery, but, aside from a ship’s chronometer, not a single scientific instrument) A History Of The World in 100 Objects is never less than a scintillating read. MacGregor, to his credit, acknowledges from the outset in a self-deprecating preface (entitled Mission Impossible) that the enterprise is doomed to failure, and arguably even the museum’s collection of several million objects would still only provide a limited history of humanity. Nevertheless, a tome as profoundly interesting as A History Of The World in 100 Objects is bound to leave most readers hungry for more of the same. MacGregor proves enormously impressive with his depth of knowledge about a range of human cultures and eras, and his passion in conveying his subject to a lay readership makes for a compulsively readable book. A History Of The World in 100 Objects may bite off more than it can chew, but it does so knowingly and unashamedly, and instead presents the reader with a book that is never anything less than an absolute pleasure to read. Every chapter is a charming and erudite taste of a single aspect of human history.

Spork DVD review

Pip Ellwood-Hughes
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Spork DVD review

Spork (Savannah Stehlin) is an outcast at school and is constantly teased about being a hermaphrodite. With her trailer park neighbour Tootsie Roll (Sydney Park) as her only ally, Spork becomes the target for the school’s mean girls lead by Betsy Byotch (Rachel G. Fox). When Spork learns of a school dance competition she decides it’s her way of gaining the mean girls’ respect and she finds herself unexpectedly falling in love along the way.

Spork is a colourful, quirky and refreshing musical comedy from writer/director J.B. Ghuman Jr. Centering on the titular character the film is a funny, emotive and wonderful little movie that wins your heart whilst making you laugh your socks off. It’s a brave move for Ghuman to write his central character as a young hermaphrodite and it certainly gives Spork a refreshing twist.

There are lots of great moments in Spork and the relationships that unfold on screen are genuinely quite touching. Spork connects with Charlie (Michael William Arnold) a boy that everyone thinks is gay but he insists he just has two gay dads. The two youngsters share some of the movie’s best scenes and they find comfort in each other’s inability to fit in at school.

The film is soundtracked by music from the 90s and it gives the perfect backdrop for the movie. There are lots of dance sequences throughout the movie with Betsy and her gang of bitches performing a number that reinforces how much they rule the school.

Central to the film’s success is its young cast and they all have bright futures ahead of them. Savannah Stehlin is superb as Spork and she gets the balance between awkward and odd just right. Stealing every scene she’s in is the sparky Sydney Park as Spork’s feisty neighbour Tootsie Roll. Armed with a foul mouth and enough attitude to give anyone a run for their money she’s absolutely hilarious. Rachel G. Fox also impresses as queen bitch Betsy. We last saw her in Desperate Housewives as Tom Scavo’s meddling daughter, and in Spork she puts in a confident performance that is beyond her young years.

Spork is a real treat and a film that we highly recommend. Imagine Juno with a twist and you’re part way there. Ghuman has created a wonderful world where standing out is more special than fitting in. If you want your heart warmed and your ribs tickled then Spork is definitely the film you need.

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