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Articles by Charley Dobson
Let’s talk about sex baby: is TV becoming sexier or sexless?
Image Source: Lena Le Roy, Unsplash It’s no hidden secret that sex sells. There are countless recent releases which highlight audience fascination with what has usually been kept so private. Shows like Sex Education (2019) are a sound example of the explicit. Some viewers adore the plainness in which sex is portrayed, with no shyness or restraints. I’d argue that many viewers tuned in based solely on rumours of the opening scene that bears it all.
Memory Card: Friv
He’s been gaming for a while. His childhood filled with Christmas gifts of countless consoles. He made gaming look easy and, in my eyes, really really cool. Sometimes when he’s feeling nice, he’d give in to my constant pleas of teaching me how to play his favourite games. But, such instances are few and far between as he often grew quickly frustrated at my poor technique.
Can your outfit boost your study motivation?
In relaying this anecdote of external validation, I present the importance of dressing the part for one’s purpose. Perhaps, a lesson of ‘fake it until you make it’. "... I find myself staring at a blinking cursor and unfulfilled wordcount..." Outside of writing for pleasure, I do frequent the library for academic study.
First look at The Beatles biopic cast
In recent weeks, the biopic cast was revealed on official postcards which were placed around the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an institution co-founded by Paul McCartney in 1996. The confirmed cast promises Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Barry Keogan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. Other established names including Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood, and Mia McKenna-Bruce have also been confirmed to co-star in the series.
Souvenir Stash: my souvenir collages
Photo source: Kirk Cameron, Unsplash I decided, that my most beloved pieces of memorabilia were less about what I could buy, but more about what I could scrounge, find or collect. My favourite souvenirs are handmade: collages of pointless junk which hold practical memories of seafood brunches with friends, and cocktail umbrellas from solitary nights reading on hotel balconies with a fruity refreshment and cheap, trashy paperback novel.
Dilemma of the week
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Aleks Dorohovich aleksdorohovich. Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication Dear Reader, First of all, congratulations on securing a placement! Lat’s see what we can do about those worries. I’ll split my advice up into the two main concerns that you’ve voiced about final year. To start: keeping up with your studies away from campus.
Dilemma of the week
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Credit: Shakhawat Hossen Rifat.
How sports commercialisation has forced mainstream wrestling away from its Golden Era.
This age of wrestling has since been coined the ‘Golden Era’, earning such title for flamboyant ring gear, outspoken superstars and rowdy crowd engagement. In such times, hardcore title matches were almost a norm, and fans could expect unfiltered rivalries. Notable figures such as Bret Hart had always advocated for making wrestling seem as real as possible whilst of course maintaining safety. But wrestling was not just confined to the USA.
Dilemma of the week
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography from USA. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Dear Reader, University life has a pretty tight reputation of being synonymous with lots of drinking and sticky dancefloors, thanks to all the on-screen portrayals of student-hood but that’s not all there is to the university experience.
Dilemma of the week
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Credit: Flazingo Photos. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Dear Reader, Career worries are the absolute worst; I understand where your frustrations are coming from! Let’s weigh up each option here, starting with the practical career- the one that will likely get you more dosh and more ‘wows’ when you tell people what you do for a living.
Agony Aunt - The Courier Online
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Am I smarter than a bird? What susceptibility to optical illusions can tell us about the evolution of perception
Image Source: Research Grubu, Wikimedia Commons, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ So, how come we sometimes guess wrong? We can turn to the Ebbinghaus illusion to help us illustrate this. Previous scientific research from years past has shown that us humans are comparable to guppies in our susceptibility to this optical trick. Flattering, I know. Even across vastly different ecological niches, susceptibility to this optical illusion is present.
Blind date: Elijah and Millie
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image credit: Siednji Leon, Unsplash In conversation with Elijah: What attracted you to sign up for a blind date? It’s an unusual thing to do and I figured I’d at least come out with a good story What was your first impression of your date? She was very friendly and chatty What did you think of the location, was Turtle Bay a good date spot?
Dilemma of the week
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image credit: Mack Male, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Dear Agony Ant, I’m finding it difficult to speak up for myself, I'm being scheduled too much at work and it’s cutting into time for group projects, what do I do? Dear Reader, A good work/life balance is key for our wellbeing but being a student can often complicate this when part-times jobs and course content outweigh the down-time available.
Blind date: Gemma and Harry
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Credit: Nikbrov1, Wikimedia commons, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ In conversation with Gemma: What attracted you to sign up for a blind date? I thought a double date would be a fun new experience to do with my friend, where we could meet new people and have a laugh. What did you think of the location, was Mr Mulligans a good date spot? We ended up just having a couple drinks and playing pool and darts.
Dilemma of the week
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image credit: David Dixon, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Dear Agony Ant, I'm feeling conflicted in myself- it's my first time living away from home and I'm not sure how to adjust myself to the big city. What do I do, it's like a midlife crisis for a fresher?! Dear reader, It’s only natural to feel a little conflicted during such a big shift in your life.
Made in Newcastle: a love letter to the toon
Northeast culture is vast and arguably unique to everywhere else in the UK - I suppose everyone would boast that about their hometowns, but us Geordies have something real special going. the atmposhere of community never fails to impress me. I think my absolute favourite thing about living in this neck of the woods is the dialect. It’s like a secret language that somehow gets faster after a few pints and starts to stump those native to anywhere South of Darlo.
Is 'cancel culture' affecting our creativity?
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Source: Markus Winkler, Unsplash.com Our generation is more than ever aware of the power of reputation, the global community built by interconnectedness on social media is still quite novel in it’s popularity. Never before have cohorts had the opportunity for their voice to reach the masses to the extent that is available today.
Luther’s Bar has good beer! NUSU’S own Wetherspoons added to CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2026
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image source: Timothy Dykes, Unsplash Not only has our very own Luther’s secured a coveted spot on CAMRA’s compilation of the very best bars, but it has done so as the very first franchise Wetherspoons to be featured in the Guide - a feat to be proud of. 'The Good Beer Guide' is essentially the handbook to UK pubs for fans of real ale across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
By students for students: introducing Newcastle Nightline
Shall we start with a brief overview of what Nightline actually is? "Nightline is a listening service run by students, for students, and it’s completely anonymous and non-judgemental. We’re just a listening ear if you’ve got something on your mind, you can get in touch with us, call us or message whatever works for you. We’re just here to listen." It’s been running in Newcastle for around 50 years, and it’s always been about supporting students...
Beating the post welcome blues: the plans going forward after freshers
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Semester one is well underway, and the buzz of the welcome week is cooling off. Don’t be discouraged, I promise there is more to the city than what goes on during freshers.
Breaking the Ice: How Film Can Bring Your New Uni Friends Together
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image source: philld | Wikimedia Commons | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ For those living in halls of residence or private accommodation, most flats will have a cinema room or something similar enough. Use it! Even if you don’t manage to strike up a conversation with fellow cinephiles in your building, at least it’s a change of scenery from bed rotting in your room.
They don’t make ‘em like they used to: Is TV getting better or worse?
Image: IMDb It’s no secret that most of us have a comfort show- a series we could watch again and again without tiring, something to bring us back down to earth on our bad days. Potentially the most important criteria for the perfect comfort show is a long run time, being hooked from the first episode and knowing there's a stack of seasons lined up to watch after.
Charley Dobson - The Courier Online
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates 19th May 2025 21st April 2025 10th April 2025 26th March 2025 24th March 2025 3rd March 2025 17th December 2024
Romanticism of the cigarette in pop culture - is it harmful?
His attitude was formed from the socially prescribed symptoms of smoking - those being cynicism, perceived intelligence and hedonism. I’m sure many readers at the time, upon discovering this quote, rushed out to tobacco vendors in need of a smoke.
Why Do Our Twenties Inspire Such Nostalgia for Childhood?
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Source: Anita Jankovic, Unsplash For those of us who are lucky enough to remember childhood fondly, it seems no surprise that we often become sentimental towards our past. Perhaps it's the childhood innocence that we miss, or our playfulness that knew no bounds, or maybe childhood is just preferable to the mountain of deadlines that loom over us throughout our twenties.
The Best Movie Adaptations of Books
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image source: IMDb To start, for fans of the macabre, try my chosen top three horror-adjacent picks. Firstly, ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (adapted from Thomas Harris’ novel of the same title) hosts superb casting and stays true to the original text. The on screen performances brings Harris’s writing to life and is sure to keep all viewers engaged for its entirety.
Why are less people reading poetry nowadays?
Poetry has been a pillar of culture and expression for centuries. Whether it be: confessional, romantic, speculative, etc poetry comes in countless forms, giving a voice to just about anyone. The first examples of English poetry date back to (supposedly) the 7th century. So, after all these years of lasting influence, why is interest in poetry declining? Over the last two or three decades we have seen a rapid and undeniable surge of technological integration into the average lifestyle.
The myth of ‘the one’: Do soulmates actually exist?
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image credit: Pixabay, Pexels I’m almost certain that whoever coined ‘the one’ found their high school sweetheart when they were about 13 and never looked back from there. The concept of ‘the one’ is a myth completely.
Authors That Have Impacted My Interpretation of Relationships
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Credit: Pixabay, un-perfekt Firstly: Alice Walker. She is most famously known for her novel ‘The Colour Purple’, which, amongst many striking themes, highlights the importance of solidarity between women, whether it be a romantic or platonic relationship, this story truly emphasises just how far a little kindness between girls can go. However, it is her novel ‘The Third Life of Grange Copeland’ that I felt most impacted by.
The significance of Kendrick Lamar’s bell-bottoms at the Super Bowl
Let's start with the history. Supposedly the production of the bellbottom style trousers and jeans stem from sailor fashion of the 1950s and 1960s. Members of the US Navy are said to have sported wide-leg pants so that in the event of a man overboard, the wide legs made it easier for the damp fabric to be removed. However, the fashion of bell-bottoms wouldn’t reach mainstream until the late 60s and into the 1970s- which is typically the decade that most people would associate with the style.
Romance is dead: The decline in typical romantic cinema in the 2020s
Image Source: IMDb Now, presently in the decade of the 2020s, where did all the love go? Filmmakers seem to have abandoned the typical romantic movies. Instead, audiences globally are enjoying films presenting a satirical and skewed side of romantic cinema. Take Drew Hancock’s 2025 release “Companion”. This piece parodies what audiences have been shown of romance before and leans into the horror genre.
What Men Don’t Understand About Women
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image credit: Pixabay, Julie Rose Women don't need a partner to be successful or secure often times, a girl is content with a small group of trusted friends and her own company. For some odd reason, this seems to puzzle men, and thus, frequently, they misinterpret a woman's independence as an invitation to pursue her romantically.
Deconstructing the ‘Cool Girl’ Myth and the Male Gaze.
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates How does the 'cool girl' myth tie into the male gaze and shape women's behaviour? Popularised by Gillian Flynn’s novel and film ‘Gone Girl’, the idea of the cool girl has dominated Western societal expectations towards young women. The cool girl is a romanticised and contradictory standard used to judge girls.
Not Your Fantasy: The Realities of Fetishised Queer Women
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Credit: Pixabay, Naeim A Unfortunately, in this day and age, even despite efforts to remove the stigma surrounding sexuality over recent years, it would be difficult to find a queer woman who has not been singled out for their orientation. The fetishisation of sapphic individuals seems so embedded into society that such hapless experiences are to be expected.
Learning to love the changing seasons
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Source: Nryate, Wikimedia Commons Now that the excitement of Freshers' Week and Halloween is well and truly over, for some of us the winter slump feels inevitable. The cold mornings and early nights do anything but benefit our motivation or lust for life.
‘Mama’s Boy’ or ‘Daddy’s girl’: Gender Stereotypes in Parental/Child Relationships
Sign up to our mailing list so you never miss any future updates Image Credit: Flickr, Extra Medium Parenting types and relationships within the family have never been identical across anyone's upbringing. So many factors, whether it be financial, cultural or circumstantial, are certain to interfere with the ways in which parental and child relationships develop. Though, socialisation into gendered stereotypes seems to be universal and difficult to avoid.
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