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Review: Tina Turner is still rockin’ at 70

Tina is still the queen of rock and roll after 50 years in the business. And that husky voice and sexy body are just as strong as when she started.

She’s on stage at the 02 for five nights on the London leg of her world tour.

As the lights die down, there is a sense in the air that we are about to experience a once in a lifetime show.

The stage lights flash and the beats pulse and the crowd jump up in anticipation. The big screen on the stage flashes with ‘TINA’ and we roar as that familiar husky voice starts over the noise.

And there she is, on a six metre-high pillar with her trademark heels and wild mane, wearing a gold sequined outfit. It feels like 1959.

How on earth can this woman at 70 still leg-kick her way around a stage?

She sashays between her band and her dancers, and cocks a hip at the crowd. She knows and we know that she still has it - even in semi-retirement.

Her confidence shines as she grabs our attention, flirts with her band and treats us to classics such as ’Private Dancer,’ ’What’s Love Got To Do With It,’ and ’Nutbush City Limits.’ ‘River Deep Mountain High’ starts up and we sing along.

Some of the crowd are hearing these classics for the first time. And some of them were there first time round. But no matter their age, everyone is hip shaking along with Tina in that Tina way.

But the crowd wanted one song especially. She began to snap her fingers and sway her hips slowly. As ‘Proud Mary’ began, we loved Tina all the more.

For this tour, Tina chose the songs, the set design and the short shiny outfits - that showed off those long sexy legs.

She ran up the ramp over the crowd, and hung off the end. Full of energy still after 50 years, it just goes to show that no matter her age, Tina will always be Simply The Best.

Story by Sarah Nicholas

Review: Quake Live

When id Software announced plans for a free browser-based Quake two years ago there was a general burst of disbelief before the whole project sank into obscurity.

Now, with a playable beta running and thousands of players already competing online, Quake Live is fast establishing itself as the time waster of choice – but is it any good?

The game is essentially Quake III. It plays the same, sounds the same and even looks the same down to the muddy futuristic environs you will be running around.

That title is 10 years old and Quake Live is every bit as technically outdated.

For some weaned on realistic plot-led outings like Far Cry 2 it may be distressing to run in circles pursued by crudely rendered skeletons toting shotguns.

It is undeniably fun though and that crudeness is quickly forgotten during some very fast-paced action.

Same as it ever was…

Quake remains much the same as it always was. The play is relentless with the only goal being to score as many “frags” as possible by eliminating your opponents.

Tactics never go beyond reflex and base cunning - if something is moving, take a shot. If that something has a bigger gun then run, run away.

There are three ways to play, including free for all, team deathmatch and capture modes where players co-ordinate raids against enemy bases.

Despite this, prolonged play can become dull with wave after wave of spawning opponents creating an endless run-gun-die-run-gun-die formula.

It’s the unpredictability of your human opponents that will bring you back again as no two encounters are ever the same with over 5000 registered players.

At the moment servers can support around 10 to 12 players simultaneously although there are plans to expand this and put an end to interminable queuing for places.

Quake Live is neither clever nor pretty but it is a compelling, free, second look at one of the classics of the genre and a harbinger of the future of online play.

Check it out at http://www.quakelive.com/

By Martin Kearney

Walking down the celebrity’s catwalk

Milan Fashion Week has just started and so has the frenzy for clothes; the clothes worn by the front rowers. Anastasia Porret of Westminster news online explains why.

“Now catwalk reporting is all about what surrounds the show; what’s going on in the front row, who’s wearing what, the atmosphere, celebrities. All of that counts just as much as the clothes.”

This is what my fashion journalism tutor once said to us when we were trying to pierce the mystery of catwalk reporting.

Front row clothes

Catwalk reporting, along with fashion in the media we could argue, has suffered a makeover in the past year. Fashion weeks are certainly a significant part of magazine features at this time of year, but like other major event it is all about the clothes.

Well, it is Fashion Week you’ll say, so of course it’s about the clothes. But I am not talking about the styles one would first expect to hear about. By that I mean those on the runway.

Fashion Week has become about what the front row is wearing.

For instance we all know Scarlett Johansson and Slumdog Millionaire belle, Freida Pinto, were at the Milan shows showing off A-list signature looks.

Then they worked the Dolce & Gabbana opening of the new Extreme Beauty in Vogue exhibition, with outfits that have been more photographed than the newly launched D&G’s new make-up collection. Even though the party was held to celebrate the said launch.

New reporting style

Of course it would be wrong to say the designer shows are overlooked, but there is a new reporting style that has emerged. Articles about the ‘who wore what how’ are the new catwalk reports. The real question is: why is that?

Trends have multiplied. It is hard to find our way through all the new looks of the season, so why get a headache trying to figure it all out when celebrities make a choice for us?

Celebrity sells and fashion is a business. If Eva Longoria is seen at the front row of some obscure designer’s show, it will increase the label’s credibility to the public. This is how some influential names were discovered.

The glamour effect is the same. At the end of the day the fantastic £3,000 cardigan we spot in glossy pages and dream about for days is never going to see the inside of our closet, whether is it worn by a scrawny model on the London catwalk or by Madonna.

Slumdog ‘overdone’

Slumdog Video Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

By Sarah Nicholas

After winning eight oscars ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has cemented its place as one of the best British indie films this year.

The story of love and poverty set mostly in the slums of Mumbai, follows Jamal, a boy raised in the slums and his success at the Indian version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’.

But despite the success of the film many have argued that it does not depict a true sense of what life in India is really like. In other words, life that the Western world is not aware of.

Many have questioned whether it is a real representation of Mumbai. University of Westminster student Sunil Kumar who comes from Mumbai, says: “I believe it would be a factual representation of the truth in Mumbai if it wasn’t slightly overdone for a Western audience.”

“All of the things shown in the movie actually happen in Mumbai and India but are somewhat exaggerated, kind of selling an exotic India to Western audiences.

“I also think it is a partially accurate representation of Mumbai since everything is not all hunky dory. There is grinding poverty and squalor apart from plush apartments, a more balanced view would have been good. I do think it will bring India more into the Western conscience for some time.”

Bollywood films do not always show the poverty stricken world beneath the glamorous version of India.

Filming children running through piles of rubbish and human waste, washing in dirty water and scrounging for food showed a side of life that many tourists or Bollywood film enthuiast rarely see.

Director Danny Boyle did justice to the film by shooting in the slums as well as casting its actors directly from them.

Slumdog children

The child stars of the film Rubina Ali and Azhraruddin Mohammed Ismail found a place in audience’s hearts for their innocent portrayal of what their lives are really like.

So much so that there was a public outcry as pictures emerged of the children still living in squalor even though the film grossed £70 million.

This applied pressure on the film bosses to make sure that the stars of the film would be cared for. Leading to them pledging to buy the families apartments close to their communities.

As well as setting up trust funds to secure their future, getting them back into school and even paying a ricksaw to take them to school.

Exploited children?

Even though the film company has made much effort to secure the futures of its young stars, there are still rumors that the children have been exploited by not being paid enough.

It has even been suggested that for some their lives are worse off since the film.

The family of Azhraruddin are now homeless because their illegally built home, made out of tarpaulins and blankets, has been demolished by the local council.

Despite the negative press, the one thing the film has been able to do is to bring India into the western consciousness.

Seeing India with all its good and bad points means that maybe things are ready for change and improvement.