by Peter Gent ‘You cannot pass,’ said he, despite his foe. Then all the Orcs stood still among the stone; Retreated eight, dead silence fell, and woe. No fellowship-for Gandalf’s will alone Did face the Balrog’s dreams when he did leave His morbid home and search a higher life. ‘No pass,’ said Gandalf, ‘shall you […]
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Andrew Boothroyd Strident, assured, passionate, virtuoso. These are not words normally associated with the viola, one of the more modest and inconspicuous members of the orchestral family. But anyone who hasn’t heard the distinctive sound of this unheralded stringed instrument should have been at the Oriel Champagne Concert in Michaelmas Term 2015, where we heard […]
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Dawid Adam Piekarz, 30, barman and scout at Oriel thinks this year’s students are an especially amazing bunch. | Interviewed by Giorgio Scherrer “I first came to Oxford on a Friday. I had flown over from Poland for a job interview, because a friend of mine was working in Hall and had told me that a position […]
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Following Mr Hull valiantly hoping to extort a change in his poetic style, Mr Turnbull (Poetry Editor) formally makes his response: The Poetry Editor’s Response To those who, with the lance of liberty And shield of confidence, are hoping I May overcome ‘Rhyme’s ancient tyranny,’ I must make my response and ask them, why? Why […]
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by Alex Waygood Legacy Monday morning, 0th week, Hilary Term 2016. A text wakes me at 7:47am. That’s about five hours before I usually get up. Groggily, I spot something from my mum about Bowie flash across the screen, and roll back into bed. I resolve to read it later; presumably she’s just heard his […]
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by Madeline Briggs CW: some racial slurs which are key to the argument in this piece have been partially **-ed out, but have not been completely removed as the article discusses the use of those words directly Martin Luther King once said ‘Hate cannot drive out hate-only love can do that’. On 9th April 2015, […]
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by Jacob Warn As I levitated bread to my mouth this morning, it was to my horror that I peered into the dropped-jaw-orifices of my breakfast companions. Porridge dripped off the teeth of one; sausage skin coated another’s; sanguine tomato ketchup slathered around the interior of Peter Gent’s. I had just professed love for my […]
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by Peter Gent One of the great benefits of playing massively multiplayer online role playing games, commonly known as MMOs or MMORPGs, is learning about teamwork. My first MMO was World of Warcraft, which I played on my roommate’s account while he was at work. My Night Elf, named Mat, was a tall, muscular rogue […]
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by Elizabeth Stell & George Prew Four o’clock. Halfway through the afternoon, halfway between lunch and supper, it is undeniably time for the greatest and most British of pleasures. This important ritual revives your attention, eroded by three hours of constant reading or writing and allows for a justifiable fifteen minutes, and a cup of […]
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by Tobias Thornes Travelling slowly into the Holy Land, I tread a path taken by countless millions of pilgrims before me, congregating here from every direction. A peculiar power dwells in this small corner of the world, on the Fertile Crescent where human civilisation first found its genesis. A force draws people here – some […]
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by Giorgio Scherrer The battle of Hoth in Star Wars Episode V was just being lost when I casually checked my Twitter account and discovered that this was not an ordinary evening. It was movie night in the JCR, the second film of the evening, and it was 13th November. From about 10pm – when […]
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by Fran Donnellan ‘Please don’t all write about Star Wars!’ came the directive from The Poor Print Editors. But it turns out that scientists have been ignoring such an order since 1977, no doubt making many a journal editor consider joining the Dark Side. With the forthcoming release of the next installment of the Star […]
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by Aidan Chivers “…Lay away, silent corner Side by side, we follow our minds Walk it on, then we trip On the line, wait we are not fine Wait, you are not mine…” Lights are flashing, the air is buzzing, the smoke is dancing. Lucy Rose, as charming, modest and talented as ever, reaches out […]
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by Peter Gent When I first moved to Beijing to study, one of my worst fears involved taking taxis and getting lost. This of course happened soon after I arrived. Trying to get home one day, I flagged down a taxi and handed the driver my address written in Chinese, hoping he understood what I […]
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by Charlie Willis The title of a work of art is more than a simple tool of identification, more than a punchy headline to woo potential readers. It is often one’s first contact with the work of art, the style of the author, and the tone of piece. ‘The moment that counts most for me […]
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by Jacob Warn The translation of art from one medium to another is no new phenomenon. It begins at least as far back as Homer, who depicts tapestries in verse. It continues through the Latin Poets who versified statues, through Giotto who painted biblical frescoes, through the great opera writers who synthesised multiple mediums of […]
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by Carmen Thong It has to be noted that a lot of people would barely think to think about the translation of a text, or indeed the translator (those poor guys mostly get their names written in super small print). But translation is hard work. The process of morphing text from one language into another, […]
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by Christy Callaway-Gale Ready to learn three slang words of Chilean origin? Here they are: weón, weá and weonear. What follows are most intellectually intellectual translations, thoughtfully arranged in easy-to-learn separate paragraphs (#NotStudyingAtOxfordForNothing). Pay attention reader: Weón – ‘Mate’ Just about everyone who speaks to you here thinks you are their weón. Embrace it. #IgoreInstinctiveEnglishness […]
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by Ben Griffiths The first thing that pops into your head when you think of ‘translation’ is probably the act of rendering a text from one language into another, a process seemingly so simple yet often almost unfathomably complicated. Some say it is in reality impossible to make a completely ‘accurate’ translation, since languages are so […]
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Rory Turnbull (Poetry Editor) has been criticised of late for writing nothing but sonnets. As Matthew Hull sets forth in his polemic treatise: So Rory Turnbull writes in sonnet form? And doth to write in other forms refuse? For “poorer poets write in multiform Barbaric meters which no structure use. There is no room for […]
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by Aidan Chivers In the year 458 BC, things were not looking good for Rome. Just recovering from internal frictions between patricians and plebeians, the relentless onslaught from their enemies the Aequi was becoming increasingly alarming. At a time of such desperation it fell upon one man to step up and lead the Romans, to […]
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by Salma Barma, Matthew Hull & Zixin Jiang An international education today means long flights, private schools and the International Baccalaureate (IB). It is seen as a standard of elite education and a key to prestigious universities. Pessimists among us would argue that it has become characteristic of a social class preoccupied with self-advancement and […]
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by Bill Wood ‘Do Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God even if some have some false beliefs about God?’ I think the answer is yes. The line I would take is that Jews, Christians, and Muslims intend to worship the same God, and their intention is enough to fix the reference of their […]
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by Sam Wilkinson Software, in its many forms, has utterly devoured modern life. The ubiquity of digital automation in today’s world cannot be overstated, and there are few hints that the relentless progress of technology will abate any time soon. Many students will be acutely aware that this has led to generic ‘computer literacy’ becoming […]
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A Shakespearian Sonnet Translation by Jade Tinslay J.V In bygone days thy love I held alone and thought it ever would to me belong. I spurned thy company and will atone thy face I could not count in beauty’s throng. Alas, another sought thee at first sight, ’tis past the hour for me to gaze […]
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by Emily Smith Last summer I was fairly determined to leave the UK. Taking advantage of that gloriously low effort skill of speaking one’s own native language, I headed to Nanchang, Jianxi in China where I taught English to high school and university students. I learnt a lot, but one thing I really didn’t learn […]
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by Tobias Thornes With the Mediterranean Sea shimmering silkily around me in the soft spring sunlight, it is difficult to believe that there could ever be anything but peace and tranquillity between those quiet coasts, blessed with a beauty beloved since ancient times and hardly diminished in our own. As if in some delicious dream […]
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by Sam Wilkinson The first video ever uploaded to YouTube didn’t offer much of a hint as to the future popularity of the platform, although it did predict the style of its many successors. ‘Me at the zoo’ stars YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, who offers his thoughts on the elephants at the San Diego Zoo, […]
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by Ashok Menon Access is a hurdle that the computing industry has been struggling to overcome for many years. With no mandatory teaching in schools and tangentially related subjects, like ICT, providing a skewed and often unfavourable impression of the subject, many leave school with at best a mild disinterest and at worst an active […]
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by Chloe Cheung Picture this: it’s 1984 and the Two Minutes Hate is raging. A huge supra-stage screen shows an enemy of Big Brother being shot in the head. That was the Oxford Playhouse’s critically acclaimed production of George Orwell’s 1984, but even the most sporadic of theatregoers might be familiar with the growing […]
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by Elizabeth Stell & George Prew How often have you found that ‘computer literacy’ is a requirement for this or that internship? How often have you written on your CV that you possess this skill, or at least some of its aspects? And yet everyone has a different view on what ‘computer literacy’ really means. […]
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by ZX The recent flurry of trade deals between China and the UK has drawn criticism on several fronts. Critics are concerned that Britain is in danger of making itself too reliant on one country at the expense of other relationships, and at the risk of compromising national security. They also accuse Britain for being […]
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by Peter Gent My MacBook stares at me, one eye open, but seemingly not awake. Once it did awake, unexpected, and its green eye burned as it judged me. Panicked, I jumped up, trying to hide from its gaze, unsure if I was fully clothed. I realised a moment later that it was just FaceTime […]
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by Jacob Warn Born in the 90s, companies of men adored him even before puberty. Siri prophesied longevity: and didn’t he know it, as he watched it on his own fair skin, white blushed with the blood-red digits of his own heartbeat. A heart throb. A nymphomaniac unto himself, himself unto nymphs. The light down […]
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by Giorgio Scherrer “The green light’s looking at you, kid.” “Here’s looking at you, kid”, Humphrey Bogart famously told Ingrid Bergmann in Casablanca, and even if you haven’t seen the movie (shame on you), one thing’s clear from that line: it was shot in the pre-Skype era. Innocent and foolish as they are, here’s what […]
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by Rory Turnbull A human need ensures that we shall leer At Fortune’s favours, others’ joys unreal; And yet, when others too begin to jeer At our denuded privacy, we feel The need to curse, to curse computers then. We mourn how emails pester us until Our fingers always fix themselves again Upon our phones, […]
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by Zixin Jiang Aristotle once declared that it is unfit for a young person to learn political science, ‘for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur in life’. [1] I do not know if Aristotle had in mind teenagers or whether his statement would apply to modern undergraduates as well. But I do know […]
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by Tobias Thornes ‘Could I have your number, please?’ said the young woman behind the desk. Her hands hovered over her keyboard in anticipation. ‘My number? What number?’ I asked, feeling somewhat perplexed. After all, it was getting late in the evening and the weariness of a long day’s travelling lay upon me. ‘Your telephone […]
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In keeping with this fortnight’s theme of ‘digitality’, Vicarious Living brings you an insight into the weird and wonderful WordPress world of that most inevitable of linguist clichés, the ‘year abroad blog’. You can keep up with Christy’s adventures at https://gringachilena.wordpress.com *** A True #Blogging Testament from a Real Live #YearAbroadBlogger Christy Callaway-Gale (aka #GringaChilena), […]
Read moreBy Francesca Donnellan This is, I hope, the first of many interviews with scientists from Oriel’s JCR, MCR and SCR. The aim is to both showcase the range of research conducted by fellows, graduates and undergraduates and to have a poke around what it is like to be a scientist within the university and our […]
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The Poor Print 