Issue 562

Photo blogging

24 hour photo

31 Oct 2006

YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr... you can’t take a stroll around the interweb without bumping into one of the giant, sprawling sites for user-created content. It’s the true essence of the net; you can put music, pictures, videos, writing or…

Rage

Have British TV execs run out of ideas? Judging by

30 Oct 2006

Slight returns There was a moment in the recent one-off revival of Cracker that spoke volumes about the character of Edward ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald. Back in the UK from Oz for his daughter’s wedding, he just couldn’t keep his chubby, gamble-stained hands…

Deborah Francois - profile

Profile

30 Oct 2006

Name Deborah François Born Liege, Belgium, 1987 Background As a 16-year-old schoolgirl, François attended an open casting for the Dardenne Brothers film The Child in her Belgian hometown. Ahead of 150 other hopefuls, she was given the role of…

The Page Turner

30 Oct 2006

Imagine a vintage Chabrol thriller set in the rarefied world of classical music and you’ll have a sense of this cleverly understated revenge drama from French writer-director Denis Dercourt, who is himself a professional musician. It begins with a…

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

30 Oct 2006

The poorly executed Ali G Indahouse seemed to stymie Sacha Baron Cohen’s big screen ambitions, yet Borat appears set to make him Hollywood’s new Peter Sellers. Forget that unsatisfying turn as Talladega Nights’ Gallic gay racing driver, because Borat…

Breaking and Entering

30 Oct 2006

Urban alienation among disillusioned middle-class thirtysomethings is a popular theme in film these days. In Anthony Minghella’s largely refreshing take on the subject, a number of disconnected individuals are connected or re-connected by a resolutely…

Night People

30 Oct 2006

To demolish Lord Byron’s quote for the purpose of puerile criticism - ‘Night People shows stars and women in a better light.’ Set over one cold October night (it is hinted that it may be Hallowe’en) in Edinburgh, writer/director Adrian Mead’s feature…

Nick Barley appointed director of The Lighthouse

30 Oct 2006

Nick Barley, the editor of The List, has been appointed director of The Lighthouse, Scotland’s National Centre for Architecture, Design and the City. Although adept at multi-tasking, even Nick is unable to take on these new responsibilities while…

Eros

30 Oct 2006

On paper the prospect of three internationally feted directors each contributing to a trilogy of half hour films about erotic love might seem an enticing prospect, but this portmanteau project veers from the sublime to the ridiculous. Wong Kar-wai…

Alasdair Roberts, Pumajaw and My Kappa Boots

Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Oct

30 Oct 2006

FOLK Among a particular breed of Scots folkie, Alasdair Roberts holds somewhat legendary status. His music is more precisely traditional than the updated styles of the Fence Collective-affiliated alt.folkers, yet - under his own name and as the…

Alice Bell

Tron, Glasgow, Thu 2-Sat 4 Nov

30 Oct 2006

NEW WORK Hope seems to be a commodity that much of our theatre is short of these days, particularly when there are political subtexts to be located in the work concerned. It’s gratifying then that the English company, Lone Twin, should venture into…

Be With Me

(12A) 93min

30 Oct 2006

ROMANCE Dominated by static shots, and sparse in dialogue, Singaporean director Eric Khoo’s third feature follows a frustrating arc which is resolved unevenly in the last half hour. Ostensibly it’s three intercut stories - Meant to Be, where an old…

Borat - interview

The cultural ambassador

30 Oct 2006

Borat Sagdiyev strides into the room, leans down and kisses me on both cheeks. His suit is unwashed and has been since he left his job as a spermatozoa extractor of camel. And it smells like it too.

Comic recovering after attack

30 Oct 2006

We at The List are relieved to hear that popular stand-up and regular host at Edinburgh’s The Stand, Bruce Devlin, is making a speedy recovery following a brutal, unprovoked attack by a group of teenagers. Devlin, who has won countless admirers as…

David Shrigley

Scrawl right

30 Oct 2006

It’s hard not to love the work of David Shrigley. Maybe it’s just the impatient scrawling, or his ability to capture the grotesque with stark monochrome. Or maybe it’s the fact that they can make you smile and feel sad at the same time.

Domino dancing in the streets

30 Oct 2006

Pet Shop Boys and Paolo Nutini to headline capital hogmanay celebrations. Words: Allan Radcliffe

Face to face

Alexander Kennedy is touched, terrified and tormented by a major new study of the face in contemporary photography.

30 Oct 2006

A face is a mask, is a lie. The face acts as a permeable membrane, a negotiated zone between the subject and the object, outside and in. In William A Ewing’s book Face: The New Photographic Portrait, we are presented with evidence of this postmodern…

Frozen

North Edinburgh Arts Centre, then touring until Sat 11 Dec

30 Oct 2006

SCOTTISH PREMEIRE From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s seriously scary child catchers, who genuinely haunted you as a child, to tragic real life news stories like that of Sarah Payne, which disturb you throughout adulthood, the subject of the suffering of…

Grapevine

Plucking fruits from the cultural bush

30 Oct 2006

A busy boy is old Brad Pitt these days. Among his many ongoing projects are a movie about Richard Nixon entitled Dirty Tricks in which he is joined by Sharon Stone, Jim Broadben t and Gwyneth Paltrow while Mr Jolie is also set to star in a movie version…

Hitlist

The best books, comics and events

30 Oct 2006

Rupert Everett The louche chap has been attacking Hollywood and Starbucks lately and is now swooping on our cities to chat about the business of show. Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Thu 9 Nov; Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Mon 13 Nov.

Hitlist

30 Oct 2006

The best rock, pop, jazz and folk CSS, 1990s and The Rogers Sisters Wild, electro-charged Brazilians. ABC, Glasgow, Tue 7 Nov. (Rock & Pop) Read feature The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The great unsung 60s comic-pop madrigals return led by urban…

Hitlist

The best theatre and dance

30 Oct 2006

Frozen Michael Emans’ production for Rapture tells the story of a woman understandably obsessed with the loss of her child, and the serial killer who murdered her. Bryoney Laverey’s play examines the human side, perhaps surprisingly, of both characters.

Krisana (Fallen)

Krisana (Fallen)

30 Oct 2006

DRAMA Shot on digital video in high-contrast black-and-white, this uncompromising existential parable from German auteur Fred Kelemen (Frost, Abendland) concerns a lonely Latvian archivist Matiss (Egons Dombrovskis), who is consumed by guilt at…

Kristana - interview

Digital existential

30 Oct 2006

‘The starting point for Krisana was the atmosphere of the city of Riga. I’d spent time there in the past when I was teaching at the Latvian film academy. For me it was a place full of cinematographic images and very attractive, even if it was quite…

Laura Hird

Mum's the word

30 Oct 2006

The image of the self-obsessed author hammering away at their keyboard in pursuit of their own fame and fortune is not one which Laura Hird would readily recognise. While she may not have produced a book since Born Free in 1999, the Edinburgh writer has…

Leech

Sucking the blood of popular entertainment

30 Oct 2006

It’s been said of Glasgow recently, that ‘when the sun goes down, the feral boys come out’. And the Leech, for one, welcomes our new nocturnal rodent overlords. Readership of this column among Non-Educated Delinquents has ensured fewer List employees…

Man Push Cart

(15) 86min

30 Oct 2006

PORTRAIT/DRAMA If, as legendary CBS sportscaster Heywood Hale Broun (who, incidentally, died six days before 9/11) once proclaimed, ‘sweat is the cologne of accomplishment’, then Ahmad positively pongs. Between the New York refreshment cart, bootleg…

Mary Gauthier

30 Oct 2006

That her name is pronounced Go-Shay is only the first of many things wonderfully peculiar about this Louisana-born country singer. She was the definition of late starter in some senses, only recorded her first album at 35 but by then she had collected…

Me and My Girl

30 Oct 2006

If you’re in the mood to do the Lambeth Walk again, here’s your chance. This new touring production of the award winning musical includes such notables as Faye Tozer (formerly of Steps) and Sylvester McCoy (a past Dr Who) among its cast. All together…

Mother Courage

Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 28 Oct, then touring

30 Oct 2006

CLASSIC In 2005 war profiteer David H Brooks made headlines when he splashed out $10 million on a party for his daughter. Several months later his company, a supplier of body armour to the American military, was subject to investigation by the…

Northern Alliance

30 Oct 2006

Some bands can turn doing nowt into an art form. While their pal and (sorta) label mate King Creosote churns albums out like a Nike sweat shop spews forth Air Jordans, this Edinburgh trio have been decidedly snail-like in their work rate. Good things do…

Paper Nautilus, The

Paper Nautilus

30 Oct 2006

NEW WORK One can never cease to be amazed by the human capacity for projection. When we imagine creatures from outer space, they invariably seem hell-bent on our colonisation and destruction. This might tell us more about ourselves than any putative…

Richard Alston Dance Company

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Tue 14 Nov

30 Oct 2006

CONTEMPORARY DANCE A trip to see the Richard Alston Dance Company used to mean one thing - Richard Alston. Since its formation in 1994, the company only performed work choreographed by Alston himself. Which, given his crowd-pleasing style and…

Rough Cuts

Film news and giveaways for beautiful cineaste types

30 Oct 2006

New film course British Social Realism starts on Thursday 2 November, 6.30pm at GFT, Glasgow. Lecturer and journalist Andy Dougan will be looking at the origins, history and legacy of the British New Wave of the early 60s. The course comprises four…

Shadow of a Gunman, The

Under western minds

30 Oct 2006

There’s a good deal of talk about our right to free speech from contemporary politicians, yet to any thinking person the limits of this benefit in contemporary bourgeois democracy are self evident. We have the right to say what we wish, but only after a…

Stage Whispers

30 Oct 2006

Over the last few weeks, Whispers has detected a recurrent theme to many of the conversations that he's had in the various bars and foyers of the Scottish theatre. The Scottish Arts Council's policy of subsidising "artist based" work seems to be the…

Tim Richards' Great Spirit

30 Oct 2006

Pianist Tim Richards originally launched the nine-piece Great Spirit as a one-off project following the break-up of the long-running Spirit Level quintet, but the band was so well received that he has managed to keep it periodically active, both in the…

TV on the Radio

30 Oct 2006

Realistically, just how feasible is it to make music that sounds like a big odd looking dude who sounds like a gospel singer, jamming and chanting over beats that buzz like wasps and riffs culled from scratched up My Bloody Valentine and Kraftwerk…

Veils, The

The Veils

30 Oct 2006

Their new album Nux Vomica is pretty tremendous, the kind of record that calls to mind Nick Cave, Neil Hannon and Antony and the Johnsons - all possible influences, if truth be told, on this rakish fivesome. Theirs is a dark, dramatic indie wrapped in…

Mark Redpere - interview

Empire of the son

27 Oct 2006

Alexander Kennedy Can you describe some of the work that will be on show and some of the main themes?

Anna Barriball

The Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sat 28 Oct

27 Oct 2006

PHOTOGRAPHY, SCULPTURE AND INSTALLATION ‘Untitled (Wallpaper)’, Barriball’s first drawing on display here, is a heavy-handed graphite rubbing on tracing paper recently taken from the Ingleby Gallery’s wallpapered wall. This intimate relationship with…

Antiques Roadshow - The Next Generation

Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Sun 12 Nov

27 Oct 2006

TV SHOW Dig out your Star Wars figures, limited edition Barbies and Steiff Bears - the Antiques Roadshow is coming to town. Aimed at collectors and antique enthusiasts under 18, the Next Generation show is a special junior version of the popular BBC…

Artbeat

Gossip, chat and rumour from the gallery floor

27 Oct 2006

Here’s one for your Moleskin diaries: Abstract artist Sean Scully will be in conversation with Paul Bonaventura at the National Galleries of Scotland, Friday 17 November. The meeting of minds will take place in the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, from…

Cezary Bodzianowiski

Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow, Sat 28 Oct-Sat 25 Nov

27 Oct 2006

PERFORMANCE, VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY Cezary Bodzianowski returns to Glasgow from his native Poland to exhibit works made in the city for his solo show. Although a relative stranger to the UK he previously exhibited in 2005 alongside Sue Tompkins and…

Graham Fagan - Closer

27 Oct 2006

Fagan’s work usually includes photographs, printed scripts, and video in his interactive installation. His new work creates narratives which initially appear fictitious, but examine social and historical facts.

Handmade

The Lighthouse, Glasgow, until Thu 7 Sep

27 Oct 2006

POSTERS Handtooled production is not immediately associated with advertising posters in our digital, branded world. This exhibition from the Zurich Museum of Design turns that idea on its head with striking images, from A4 to bus-shelter size…

Hitlist

27 Oct 2006

Lucy McKenzie - Ten Years of Robotic Mayhem (and sublet) This exhibition of paintings and drawings by the Scottish émigré presents an insight into the artist’s oeuvre. The works on show demonstrate McKenzie’s continuing love affair with Glasgow and…

Keith Farquhar - Drunken Maria

Keith Farquhar - Drunken Maria (14 Units)

27 Oct 2006

SCULPTURAL INSTALLATION Pat Fisher, the curator at the Talbot Rice Gallery, has managed to squeeze even more space for the best of contemporary art out of the two galleries and ornate passageway that are at her disposal. This month Edinburgh-based…

Lucy McKenzie

Goodbye Ms McKenzie

27 Oct 2006

It surely wont be long until Scotland sees a major retrospective of Lucy McKenzie’s career so far. The work chosen for her exhibition, Ten Years of Robotic Mayhem (and sublet) acts as an excellent selection of recent work from an oeuvre that continues…

Remote Control

Brian Donaldson finds some dramas are better at handling a crisis than others.

27 Oct 2006

While Channel 4 may have uncovered its new West Wing with Commander in Chief, and Sky One thinks that Bones has exorcised its X-Files ghost, every network on the radar is after its own 24. The State Within (BBC1, Thu 2 Nov, 9pm - 4 stars) is the closest…