Sixth Form Mercury Wilson’s School’s newest student‐run publication
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2011
On the Brakes It’s been a tough year for students, as the Liberal Democrat‐Conservative coalition made the decision to raise tuition fees, with the average price tripling from three thousand pounds to around nine thousand pounds across the country. Students did not respond well. On 10 November 2010, fifty thousand stu‐ dents marched in Westminster to protest against the cuts. However, the protests soon turned violent when the conservative campaign HQ at Millbank was vandalised by a group of protesters. Similar protests then followed on 24 November (when the famous ‘kettling’ incident occurred), 30 November and the 9 December. A great deal of these students pointed the finger squarely at the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems, had, after all, made a pledge not to raise tuition fees, and gained a large portion of students’ trust, many of whom felt alienated by Labour and at odds with the Tories. The move to raise tuition fees felt to some like a stab in the back – which is why, when Tom Brake made a visit to Wilson’s recently, he had a lot to answer for.
It must not have been an easy job. But then, Brake is, after all, a politi‐ cian, and as such gave a politician’s talk and politician’s explanations. The vast majority of his talk was not fo‐ cused on the tuition fees, but instead on matters such as terrorism and the economy. Whilst his talk was interesting, one couldn’t help but think that the sub‐ ject matter was perhaps slightly ir‐ relevant to the majority of people in the room. It seemed that he was at‐ tempting to sidestep the issue.
“watching a politician who voted for tuition fees speaking calmly to a room full of indig‐ nant students was a true testament to the power of speech” Actually, that would be a touch un‐ fair. He did address the issue, albeit briefly, claiming that he voted for tuition fees because this was the best and fairest thing to do. Make of that what you will.
Since the majority of his talk revolved around terrorism and the economy, the majority of the questions were on the same matters. It was, how‐ ever, fascinating to witness the power of speech firsthand – watch‐ ing a politician who voted for tuition fees speaking calmly to a room full of indignant students was a true testa‐ ment to the power of speech. Brandon Lundini
Sixth Form Mercury, July 2011
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Words from the editors Hello again and welcome back to another edition of Mercury, the last of the year (sad faces all round). This issue, we have an interest‐ ing opinion piece from Brandon Lundini on Tom Brake’s visit and a review of Alice:Madness Returns for you gamers, as well as some‐ thing quite new for you all: a poem in French! (Google translate is there for those not doing French for A level.) Hope you all have a good summer—and Mercury will be back next year! Will Roberts and Darren Mindham
Article
Page
On the Brakes
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Alice video game review
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Sheepish Thoughts
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Les Hirondelles
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Riman’s Roundup
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Alice: Madness Returns Review Remember the time when characters de‐ signed for kids didn’t end up murderous? No, me neither. Ten years later the sequel to American McGee’s Alice comes to us, even though most weren’t clamouring for its release. I had never played the first game (in fair‐ ness, it came out when I was 6), and even when the copy of Madness Returns came with a free download of the first game I didn’t bother. A game must stand upon its own merits, after all, and looking back to the previous game may colour my impres‐ sion of the first. So I took up the disc, placed it in my console, watched the open‐ ing cinematic and deftly opened up Wikipe‐ dia to look up the plot of the first game. Though the game does a good job of giving the basics of the events of the previous game I was still confused earlier on as to just what was going on, particularly as the game follows on immediately from Alice. Characters from the original game show up and we are half expected to know who they are and, despite the game’s best ef‐ forts to try and introduce them in a way that’ll tell us just that, I was left slightly clueless. After a quick trip back from the Wikipedia plot page, my understanding slightly better, I returned to the game ready for adventures in wonderland! And was placed in a grey and depressing Victo‐ rian London. Right, might be about time to acquaint you with the plot. In Alice, the titular charac‐ ter’s house burnt down and the young Al‐ ice went through a mental breakdown. Sent to Rutledge Asylum she lost touch with reality and was transported to Won‐ derland where she freed it from the tyr‐ anny of the Queen of Hearts, who had
taken over. The characters were all warped versions of their original selves, and this carries forward into Madness Returns. Alice is released from Rutledge and finds herself in the care of a Dr Bumby, who is trying to help Alice get over her survivor’s guilt by making her forget. Alice walks around Lon‐ don for a bit and then gets sucked back into Wonderland, to find that all is not well since she defeated the Queen of Hearts. She spends her time in Wonderland trying to uncover her memories, and secrets of the fire that killed her family. Standard stuff on the surface, but the plot picks up later on and is both dark and intriguing. Though, if it weren’t it would be insulting to the book that inspired it. But you don’t come to a game for the story, regardless of its literary pedigree, so much as the game play. It’s your usual hack and slash affair for the combat, and you’ve got a variety of weapons to use. The weap‐ ons are all upgradeable by way of collect‐ ing teeth throughout the world and spend‐ ing them, naturally, and the combat flows nicely, allowing you to switch from weapon to weapon and enemy to enemy without too much trouble. So, yes, the combat does flow nicely—though it ends up becoming rather samey by the end. But that’s not the only aspect of this game. The other side is that Madness Returns is a platformer, so you’ll spend quite a lot of the game making use of wind jets, jump mushroom platforms and invisible plat‐ forms to complete each stage. However, like the combat, the tactics never really change and any puzzle is just using a series of pressure pads and levers to get from A to B; it’s less about working out what you have to do than just dealing with the tim‐ ing.
When it comes to looks, the stages them‐ selves are beautiful. The graphics look dated, but the overall aesthetic is fantastic. Each stage has a unique look to it, from the Steampunk of the Hatter’s Factory, to the underwater stages, to the living ventricles of the Queen of Hearts’ domain. Each looks great and has a fantastic feel to it, but each has its own problem in that they all play pretty much the same. They all have the same obstacles, the same keyholes and the only difference is the art style and the ene‐ mies. The charm of each level wears thin in the end, as they just go on for too long. Rather than 6 levels stretched over the course of the game, I would prefer more stages with less time on each. That way the combat would feel less repetitive, with a constant stream of new enemies; and the new look would make me forget that it’s just a re‐skin of a stage with the same plat‐ forming elements as the last. Alas, that is not the case, and though each stage looks pretty to even beautiful, I am sad to say that their effect wore on me. Despite its repetitive combat, iffy platform‐ ing and pointless exploration, I find it hard to hate Madness Returns. It gets so many more points on the basis of its plot, its aes‐ thetic and its characters that it lost on the gameplay. If you think you can get through the more frustrating parts of the game, then it’s worth a look, and the actual gameplay is at least bearable. (6/10) Martyn Long
Sixth Form Mercury, July 2011
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Sheepish Thoughts So, what’s been occurring out and about lately? God knows there should be something going on with seemingly every man and his dog on tour at this time of year. Funnily enough though, pickings are sparse outside the festival circuit and if not for a couple of well pucker gems I’d most definitely have been forced to break out and listen to something new. Heaven forbid. That’s the same as being (gulp) ‘open minded’. My personal sweethearts, August Burns Red, are releasing their next studio album in the not so distant future and having sampled some of the pre‐released tracks from ‘Leveler’, I can tell you the lads have cooked up a hot one. With heavy riffs, some solid vocal work and com‐ petent drum work as ever, it’s for fans of metalcore everywhere.
And unless you’re blind, lacking taste or into electro (and therefore all three), you’ve doubtless brushed against the lipstick wielding, leather pants brandishing, make‐up touting quintet of the so‐called Black Veil Brides led by some scene kid who names himself Andy Sixx who has a fetish for skin‐tight jeans, who’ve been making waves of late. Now, I’d normally make a mildly arrogant re‐ mark, compare them to another lack‐ lustre, commercial attempt such as Kiss and leave at that. Indeed they share the same make up artist. Pro‐ phetic. However much to my own scorn and despite beating myself over the head with a copy of Parkway Drive’s ‘Deep Blue’ like a flagellant driving out the devil, I’m going to admit they’re … okay. I can’t justify why, and anyone who relies on a name with two ‘x’s for kudos has clearly hit the bottom
Les Hirondelles Poem
Je tombe dans tes bras épineux Et les nuages commencent à se dissoudre, Nous éteignons le ciel lumineux Les fois où nous luttons sous la foudre. Hier ton amour a nourri mon cœur maigre. Comme l’abeille sauvage qui chasse la rose Dont le nectar doux à un goût aigre. Le vent a changé, mais la brume reste, Préférant les ombres, je danse dans le noir, Si je marche au clair de lune, je vois tout, je déteste. Je regarde le feu dans le miroir. Une hirondelle vole, au‐dessus de la fumée, Une hirondelle périt, nue et plumée. Kourosh Pakroo
of the barrel hard enough to leave quite an imprint—but it sort of works. When you’re done laughing. Can’t believe I’m doing this, but, much to my own chagrin, I’m going to recommend a listen. Feel free to abuse me for it. Preferably violently. Now I’ve self‐deprecated suitably, I can come to perhaps the most bewil‐ dering sight I’ve viewed upon these high seas in many a moon. Aye maties, here be the kraken. Metallica and Lou Reed. Together. On one al‐ bum. Need I say more? I’ll be pray‐ ing for your immortal souls. Alex Nash
Sixth Form Mercury, July 2011
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Riman’s Roundup
The Megafight that may never be: Pacquiao vs. Mayweather In boxing, more often than not the world gets what it wants. In the hey day of the middleweight division the world was begging for a showdown between the brawler Marvin Hagler and the silky Sugar Ray Leonard. The fight happened. In the early seven‐ ties the so called ‘Fight of the Cen‐ tury’ between the (at that time) un‐ defeated Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier was demanded by the public and was duly served. The time has come again when the boxing world needs to see another megafight: this time between the undefeated counter‐punching show‐ man Floyd Mayweather and the southpaw warrior and pound‐for‐ pound greatest fighter in the world, Manny Pacquiao. However, the likeli‐ hood of this fight taking place seems to get slimmer by the day.
In late 2009, following Pacquiao’s dismantling of Miguel Cotto and Mayweather’s dominant decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez, rumours started that the 8‐weight world champion Pacquiao and the 5‐weight world champion Mayweather would meet. However, the possibility of this started to fade as the two went to war outside the ring—in the court‐ room. Pacquiao’s camp took May‐ weather, his father and his uncle, to court concerning their accusations of Pacquiao taking performance‐ enhancing drugs. To this day the law‐ suit has not been settled and the two camps seem to be getting no closer to the fight. I am sure that the law suits have more to do with the lawyers than the fighters themselves, so maybe the only judge of whether the fight will happen or not is the word of the fighters. This is where I base my opinion on the attitudes of the two. When any‐ body interviews the two fighters, the obvious question is, ‘When is it going to happen?’. The two were both in‐ terviewed by ESPN before their re‐ spective fights with Shane Mosely. The topic came up, and in May‐ weather’s interview there were seven minutes of ducking and diving the question before the interviewer gave up on extracting an answer. In the Pacquiao interview the same
question was asked, and instantly his response was simple: ‘I will fight Floyd Mayweather if he wants to’. Make what you will of this; it may simply be Mayweather respecting the Mosely fight, but maybe it shows a fear of commitment? These are without doubt two of the most gifted athletes on the planet. Mayweather has the smoothness of Sugar Ray Robinson and the impene‐ trable defence of Pernell Whitaker whereas Pacquiao has the explosive punch power of Marvin Hagler and the heart and warrior spirit of Erik Morales. But who would win if the planets were to align and the fight took place? Some may say Mayweather, as he is undefeated. In his own words, ‘There is no blueprint to beat‐ ing Floyd Mayweather’. However, could this be a flaw? Mayweather has never experienced a true war of a fight. Pacquiao’s multiple fights with Morales and Marquez all de‐ scended into slugfests with two com‐ batants covered in sweat, bleeding every inch of their strength and char‐ acter into the fight. These are the fights that build character and reveal the truth behind a fighter. Could a fight such as this show the end of Mayweather’s unbeaten record? Or are his boxing skills too clean to allow such a fight to happen? I pray that one day we get to find out.
