Popular local venue The Mad Ferret played host to some of the most promising bands in the North West in a fierce battle of the bands competition. The JD Set Unsigned rolled into UClan looking for some of the most talented university bands, and well, we may have found them.

National Year of Reading and Get It Loud in Libraries present Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip’s Christmas Library Tour.

Along with many other avid James Bond fans out there, I was thrilled to hear that the new film, ‘Quantum of Solace’ was to be gracing the big screen this autumn.

Not many bands have reached the musical progression that Bloc Party has in the last three years. From spiky, raw guitars in ‘Silent Alarm’, to the more polished, rounded sound of ‘A Weekend In The City’. Now however, they seem to have settled into an almost perfect niche.

A five-piece girl band forged from the remnants of S Club Juniors may not be everyone’s cup of tea but Chasing Lights is a fine example of how pop music should be done.

After last year’s unsettling excursion into arena rock, it seems Funeral for a Friend have rediscovered their mojo.

Gojira’s name is French for ‘Godzilla’ and accurately sums up this superb album. If Gojira is a monster then the drumming on this album is surely the heart of the beast, demonstrating that the band can do complex time changes in their sleep, which is shown best on ‘Toxic Garbage Island.’

Thomas Jane and Ron Perlman star in this action sci-fi set in the year 2707.

Robert ‘Fish’ Fishman (Rainn Wilson, The US version of The Office) is given a second chance 20 years after he was kicked out of his up-and-coming band ‘Vesuvius’. The film is suitably predictable and quite often seems like a teenage School of Rock, minus an able and unknown cast, containing some funny moments which are enough to have you laughing out loud. Rock on.

Anna Faris stars in this US college comedy as a former Playboy bunny. After being kicked out of the Playboy Mansion for being too close to 30 she heads to college to help a sorority of the most unpopular geeky girls become popular (like her). This basically means a transformation from library-looks to college babes. There’s a few bimbo related jokes and a predictable conclusion about what’s inside counting for more.