culture

Over the recent weeks, there has been much controversy surrounding the lack of support granted by the government to the arts sector. With forced closures and the loss of revenue caused by COVID-19 restrictions, job losses have risen exponentially and many theatres, art galleries, publishers and more have been...

Jesse Staines Makeup has always been essential to film and television as a form of realism to ensure verisimilitude and the believability of its characters and narrative. However despite its significance, it is generally the most overlooked element of production. The 2019 series Euphoria challenges this conventional role of...

Darting across non-existent lanes and weaving messily between vehicles, our taxi narrowly misses passing trucks whose tarpaulin shells billow fiercely in the wind – sprouting wings from their bodies as if at any moment they may take flight. My first sight of the Malaysian countryside, my new home for...

The famous British philosopher and physicist John Locke had an idea that individuals travelling can become different people by meeting and seeing “otherness”. His philosophy was that “the man who returns is not the same man who left”. He further refers to hearing new languages as a benefit of travelling,...

There is no easy way to say this but earlier this year, I was sexually assaulted. After a riveting bar crawl with my friend, we both decided to head to the local gay club, as we often do on our nights out. We got in there, ordered our drinks...

In 1996 a 29-year-old Japanese male was reported dead as a result of a stroke, in the shipping department of Japan’s largest newspaper company. Cause of death? Karoshi. Translated as literally “overwork death”, this gentleman’s demise sadly was, and is still is not, uncommon for workers amongst his age...

Japan is an island rich in culture, history and nature. Animé, sushi, technology, cherry blossom trees, Samurai and temples are just some aspects that have filtered through to a Western imagination of the country. The East Asian island hosts something for everyone, and in the last few years this...