Robert Smith: Culture Vulture

Seb Coe, Charlie Brooker and Cufflinks pale in comparison to a week of political drama more compelling than the Sopranos in this weeks Culture Vulture.

Brooker Cameron Coe Culture2 Eclectica Powethirst Smith Tapas Union Vulture

When a good friend of mine was challenged about why he didn’t vote this week he replied: I’m the only one who made the right choice, I voted for nobody and nobody won. They were right. No matter what that CUCA friend of yours whisper into your ear, after consuming their Bollinger and swan’s blood apéritifs of course, David Cameron did not win the election which, considering how much money Murdoch and Ashcroft threw after him, is fucking hilarious. For anyone short on exam term drama it means you only have to switch on News 24 to get more conniving, plotting and uncertainty than your average Sopranos box set. 

Unfortunately, however, this column is called Culture Vulture not Political Animal so I’m going to have to talk about culture. This is redundant as you’ll be balls deep in revision by now and politics is invading all areas of cultural life anyway. I mean The Weakest Link was cut off by Gordy’s resignation, something that the BBC apparently wouldn’t do even in the case of Prince Harry dying. For those of you who are still reading and didn’t take my entreaty to piss off too seriously, first of all well done you’ve learnt not to take everything you read too seriously. Second of all, it doesn’t take much effort to do anything on my list: even going to the Union requires barely rolling out of bed for most of you. If you’re really struck by exam term lethargy, however, simply look at YouTube Video of the Week: you spend the 10% of non-Facebook related internet usage on YouTube anyway.

Art: A retrospective of Caribbean born artist John Lyon’s work at Williams Art starts tomorrow and, from the brief look I’ve had at his work, it appears to be abstract enough to discuss without being wrong but not so abstract that there’s no possible way of being right either. Perfect for a date with an arts student with a high opinion of themselves then.

Food and Drink: La Tasca have their ‘Tapas for a Tenner’ deal running from Wednesday-Sunday which proudly proclaims ‘eat as much as you like’. I’m sure like me you take this as a personal challenge, so why not all head down and we’ll have our own Cantab edition of Man v Food.

Music: Ray Davies. The man who fronted The Kinks. The man who wrote You Really Got Me, A Well Respected Man, and Waterloo Sunset. He’s playing the Corn Exchange on Thursday. Oh no wait…he’s charging £35 for tickets. You can buy eleven Gardies Bacon Burgers for that money, that’s ten to eat and another to throw in Davies’s money grabbing sell out face.

Film: Having missed it off the list last week I’ve really got to recommend Four Lions. It’s not perfect but it’s a damn sight better than most British comedies and, even better, the Guardian have failed to see the funny side. Before Four Lions started, I was also lucky enough to see this sublimely bizarre trailer for the Greek film Dog Tooth and, although I’ve no idea what the film is about, I can’t wait to watch it.

Television: I’ve already suggested watching News 24 (Gordon Brown beheaded himself live on air yesterday for Christ’s sake) but if that prospect is simply too boring there’s plenty to get at. You Have Been Watching is rumbling along and, although not half as good as Brooker’s BBC Four offerings, is still a welcome distraction from exam term suicide.

Style: Fans of vintage jewellery should drop Eclectica an e-mail as they have some fantastic, and affordable, ideas for May Ball accessories. This goes for men too: their cufflinks are fucking amazing.

Union: Lord Seb Coe is speaking on Thursday although, of course, Armando Ianucci fans will of course know the truth about his bid for the 2012 Olympics.

YouTube Video of the Week: Seeing the village idiot of broadcast journalism make an absolute prick of himself on live TV is always fantastic, so watch this video of a sweaty Adam Boulton imploding into a puff of insignificance on Sky News. For those of simpler tastes, however, Powerthirst have finally made a follow up to their original logic defying energy drink adverts.