Swinging confidently from the vine of Youtube fame directly onto the stage like a somewhat ganglier Tarzan, Bo Burnham’s latest show consists of songs and stand-up from his newest album ‘words words words’. I myself am a huge fan of his videos in which your standard teenage boy sits at a keyboard/guitar in his room and manipulates words and phrases through melodies and raps into hilarious, dirty and almost always inappropriate gags.

So upon seeing that he was doing a show in Brighton I was over the moon, especially as his Edinburgh Fringe show had gotten such fantastic reviews (resulting in him being nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award.)

The show started with monumental gusto and excitement as Burnham (clad in ‘Gangster’ attire) clattered around the stage to a soundtrack of his own voice humorously describing how inadequate he is. Cue well timed miming and dancing that was visually spot on and a near-death experience on my part when the microphone came out of it’s stand during a particularly fierce thrash from Burnham, resulting in the object hurtling at high speed towards my face. But the thrill of escaping without bodily harm can surely only be an upside to any experience, right?

After this down-right invigorating begging, Burnham (having retrieved the mic) started his stand-up. It began punchy and laugh-heavy, possibly from pure excitement from a mesmorised and dazzled audience. After the first song, a calmer pace was put together in which sections of thought-provoking, complicated or sometimes simply silly pieces of dialogue would be punctuated by songs that, as a fan, were well known. Something that was obvious was Burnham’s delight in the newer material, moving quickly through songs that, to him at least, seemed too familiar and so slightly tedious.

The second act started with a less energetic, if still entrancing, beginning. With this came a more contemplative theme to the show in which Burnham sang his famous ‘Art Is Dead’ and mimed again to an edited track remixing self-proclaimed slanders into a song which might have been the most impressive part of the evening. Whilst lacking in belly laughs, this part of the show was clearly important to the young comic as a kind of self-cleansing method in which Burnham on stage claims ‘helps me sleep at night’.

Something that would no doubt be seen as a negative element to the show by some, I myself was all the more entertained by the concept of seeing just how Burnham’s psyche works in relation to viewing himself as ‘an artist’.

That ‘self deprecating’ element to the performance was quite unexpected due to Burnham’s engineered persona on stage which paraded around arrogantly the rest of the time, shouting at the audience to ‘shut up, it’s not funny’ and at the beginning of one song ‘if you know the words… keep f***ing quiet.’ For me, this hostility meant great things.

Not only did it remind me of the sneers and remarks made by the late, great Bill Hicks but it also gave Burnham an edge and style to his comedy, ironing out the forgiveness-seeking ways of his former, Youtube self. Whether or not this works with the soul-searching material can be questioned but in my opinion, it rounds Burnham’s character off well, adding meat to a show that on one level is pure fun, but on another is questioning, fierce comedy.

4/5 and as an admirer, I can’t wait to see how this young entertainer’s comedy develops.

By Julia Robertson

[Part Two] My body was done. It wanted to get rid of the festival food, the festival smell and the festival sleeping facility’s – since my air mattress had died in the first night, as always. My head on the other hand, isn’t fond of quitting and decided we would go on strong and would not surrender. That said, we went to a few acts. We also went to Calvin Harris, who had the honor of closing the main stage. Pretty cool show, but since my body wasn’t having as good as a time as my mind.. it didn’t work out quite as well for me as for the rest of the crowd.

To be honest, I don’t really know which other artists we came across. One name does come up, the closing act for my Dour 2010, The Glitch Mob. Even my body was convinced of this last party and sucked it up. That show made body and mind come together, so to speak.

Dour is a festival with a big variety of people. You have the midday people, who check out a lot of bands and make sure they drink a lot of beer. Then you have the night people, who don’t really care about the bands and just want to party all night long. As a last group, you have the morning people. This group are not the ones who wake up early so they wouldn’t miss anything – the program does not begin before 12am -, this group are those who can’t get enough. Can’t stop the party and move their asses off to camping site B, where the every night after party is.

They numb their body and activate their mind and party as long as their stock will let them.

Off course you can be two kinds of people, or even three, but the important lesson here to learn, is that you can only be awake for so long. You will need to sleep, somewhere during those four days. And if you manage to do that, the rest will be taken care of by itself. Because Dour is one of those festivals where it doesn’t really matter where you are or what you do.. as long as you make sure your body and your mind are willing to party hard, real hard – together.

As for Dour 2011, I don’t know if you have already seen the line up but it’s sick. Where the line up of 2010 was kind of disappointing, the festival still was real good…therefore I can only imagine how incredibly insane this year will be.

This rather lengthy titled film sees us follow a group of Australian high school teens on a camping trip before the start of their final school year. They make their way to the strangely titled paradise, ‘Hell’. Some planes fly overhead and nothing is thought of it, but as they return home, they learn the planes belonged to an invading nation who are intent on taking over.

What do these teens decide to do? Fight back with all their might!

I came into this film knowing nothing and left completely entertained. I didn’t even know it was based on a hugely successful book series written by John Marsden. The fan base will help get people in the seats but the story has a strong enough pull for all those like me who don’t know the background story.

Caitlin Stasey (who you’ll recognise from Neighbours and The Sleepover Club) is a great choice for the lead role of Ellie. We follow her and her friends as they find their world turned upside down.

The characters are very stereotypical. You have the leader, the bad boy, the pretty blonde, a strict Christian and so on. The script is a tad cheesy at times and the romances are very predictable but what makes this film so good is the concept.

You can sit there and not wonder what you would do in that situation. Our generation living our comfortable lives have never had to worry about invasion and war on our streets. How would we handle it, would you be able to fight back?

None of what they do is too over the top or outrageous and the film is very believable. The focus is on the characters and their reactions to the situation they have been put in. While the production is very good (never has a bridge getting destroyed looked so fun), it is the cast who determined how good the film would be.

We are clearly led to stop and think about all those going through this situation in the world, both now and in the past. Ellie sees a picture of when Australia was invaded and stolen from the Aborigines, how much worse it must have been for them!

It’s the first time directing a film for Stuart Beattie (whose screenwriting credits include the Pirates movies and Australia) and he does a great job. With the sequel on the way, he has his hands on a very successful franchise.

At one point, Ellie asks her best friend if the book she is reading is any good. Corrie replies ‘Yeah…way better than the movie’ to which Ellie responds, ‘They usually are’.

Somehow I doubt fans of the book will be disappointed with the way this film adaptation is going. But I guess I’ll have to read the book to find out.

Tomorrow, When The War Began is released nationwide tomorrow in the UK.

By Nola Ojomu

Multiple award winning Stanley Pickle stole the show on the opening night at the ECU. A student production, Vicky Mather impresses with her precocious ability to blend funny, touching and disturbing elements into a highly accomplished 11 minute piece.

UPDATE 2011: Stanley Pickle WINS Best Student Film at the 2011 ECU Film Festival!

The film centres upon the bizarre, colourful and mechanical world of Stanley Pickle and his family, almost suggestive of a living toy box. They live a sheltered domestic life whose routines are determined by the wind-up mechanism upon their back, as they repeat the same gestures, the same expressions and the same existences, which seems to represent the small-mindedness of conservative family life.

Their rigidity is contrasted with the graceful glide of the girl who saunters outside – in touch with nature, free and alone. She is positioned as the ideal, a life that Stanley fears for its chaos and cannot accommodate into his own. This contrast between structure and chaos is at the heart of the film, and is masterfully suggested by the editing itself, which respectively chops up and blends.

In Stanley Pickle, then, we have an original and complete piece of film-making which, if the applause is anything to go by, should be a strong contender in the awards ceremony on Sunday night. TNC will be running an interview with the director later in the festival.

By Joshua Feldman