Issue 563

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

The devil plays guitar

13 Nov 2006

Tearing modesty a new asshole, Tenacious D describe themselves as ‘the world’s greatest rock band’. The D’s two members, Jack Black (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Kyle Gass (lead guitar and backing vocals), name check among their inspirations Kiss, Dio…

Three

11 Nov 2006

An exhibition of paintings by Glasgow painters David Sillars, Michele David and Eva Gustavsson. The artists examine how the application and removal of paint creates layers of time and suggested landscapes that are trapped beneath the skins of their…

Chicks on Speed/Douglas Gordon

Chicks on Speed

11 Nov 2006

According to Chicks on Speed, the art star recipe is a simple one: ‘stir in a concept, technology as well, whip in some finance and a pinch of cocaine, add in a harmless scandal and you’ve got a media plan’. In spite of all this fashionable…

Angus Dunn

Writing in the Sand (Luath)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERNATURAL TALE The image of the sleepy insular community rocked by some sinister supernatural force has been a cultural staple, from Daphne Du Maurier’s The Birds through to the surreal chills of Twin Peaks. In his debut novel, erstwhile joiner…

Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham & Val Semeiks

Villains United (DC)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO Seemingly an excuse to reel out every other car boot sale bad guy that the archives of DC forgot. A bunch of vaguely uninspiring villains are banded together as the Secret Six by a mysterious power to challenge Lex Luthor’s Society, an army…

Gaydar - bar news

Gaydar

27 Nov 2006

The garish but loveable Cuban-themed decor of Habana has been replaced, with a bright style bar interior of cream walls and chunky dark wood furniture. Gone is the elaborate metalwork staircase and balcony, to be replaced by new steps with a toughened…

St Andrew's Day

Various events, Glasgow & Edinburgh

11 Nov 2006

PATRON SAINT CELEBRATION Andrew was not Scottish, and what we know of his life comes from religious texts. Born a Jew in Bethsaida, Galilee, he and his brother Simon Peter were fishermen, and when Jesus came calling, he became one of his first (and…

Pitcairn Story, The

The Pitcairn Story

11 Nov 2006

CRIME DOCUMENTARY Sometimes, you think that you’ll have heard it all when it comes to child sex abuse stories. And then something like this comes along. In 2004, in the remote British colony of Pitcairn Island (population 47), six local men were…

Full kids listings

16 Nov 2006

Click here for full kids listings

Mitchell and Webb

Face off

14 Nov 2006

They may well be the gentle men of comedy but interviewing David Mitchell and Robert Webb is still an unsettling experience. The whole exchange is not unlike an episode of their glorious Channel 4 success, Peep Show. After all, they do look almost…

Jarvis Cocker - album review

Jarvis Cocker

14 Nov 2006

INDIE From the punchy pop of The Long Blondes to Arctic Monkeys’ seedy subject matter and dapper showmanship of Franz Ferdinand, the influence of Jarvis Cocker is everywhere in modern music. Yet after the demise of his old band the Sheffield indie…

Green Man, The - DVD review

The Green Man

14 Nov 2006

COMEDY Aside from being quite possibly the great comic actor Alistair Sim’s finest hour, The Green Man is also one of the very best post-war British comedies. Directed by camera operator Robert Day, with the uncredited assistance of old pro Basil…

Doctor Who: The Invasion - DVD review

Doctor Who: The Invasion

14 Nov 2006

TV SCI-FIC Thanks to the unerring wisdom of BBC archivists, countless pieces of classic TV were junked in the early 70s to make room for a new coffee machine. Early instalments of Dr Who suffered badly in the cull, particularly those featuring the…

The Directors

13 Nov 2006

It may not be very apparent yet, but Scotland’s summer festivals are feeling seismic tremors. On the one hand there are new chiefs heading up two of Edinburgh’s prestigious festivals. On the other, there’s a new, upmarket music festival outside Glasgow…

Mitchell and Webb

Face off

13 Nov 2006

They may well be the gentle men of comedy but interviewing David Mitchell and Robert Webb is still an unsettling experience. The whole exchange is not unlike an episode of their glorious Channel 4 success, Peep Show. After all, they do look almost…

Get serious about going green

Choose life

13 Nov 2006

We need to come out of the slumber of inertia that delays action to reduce carbon emission and climate change gases. We are all now seemingly conversant in the language of ‘carbon footprints,’ ‘tipping points’ and ‘sustainable development’.

Tom Fool

Marcuse their words

13 Nov 2006

The idea that a compelling night of theatre can come from Herbert Marcuse’s ideas about the way in which capitalism impinges upon, and ultimately destroys the organic self, replacing it with an emotionally, socially and sexually dysfunctional reified…

Bollywood round-up

The romance of remakes

13 Nov 2006

If, like me, you love Hindi or Bollywood cinema, you need to start embracing the idea of remakes. Two current releases, Don and Umrao Jaan, are cases in point. The trouble for me is that, having been reared during what I consider the heyday of the…

Leech - sucking the blood of popular entertainment

Leech

13 Nov 2006

Christmas madness started early this year, as retailers across the globe braced themselves for a long, lean winter without a Harry Potter book to flog. The impact of this has already hit the Leech household, with the annual begging letter to Santa to…

Requiem

(12A) 92min

13 Nov 2006

DRAMA/HORROR One year on from the release of The Exorcism of Emily Rose - the risible US exploitation horror which expropriated the real life story of German girl Anneliese Michel, comes German film Requiem, an infinitely more interesting look at the…

Pervert’s Guide To Cinema, The - interview

Popcorn and Brecht

13 Nov 2006

‘You enjoy a film immediately, naively, but theorising about films spoils enjoyment. I violently disagree with that,’ says outspoken and influential Slovenian philosopher and film lover Slavoj Zizek (pictured). ‘If anything I think it’s the opposite.’

Pan's Labyrinth

(15) 119min

13 Nov 2006

This wildly imaginative fabulist fable from Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro works as a companion piece to his earlier excellent Spanish language ghost story, The Devil’s Backbone. Like that film, Pan’s Labyrinth locates supernatural events within…

Distracted

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 25 Nov

13 Nov 2006

NEW WRITING Morna Pearson’s piece forms part of the trilogy of new work presented in this new departure for the Traverse, each show performed in repertory by the same small company of actors, all directed by Lorne Campbell and designed by Lisa…

Shadow of a Gunman, The

The Shadow of a Gunman

13 Nov 2006

CLASSIC The temptation with Sean O’Casey’s celebrated Dublin trilogy, which began with The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) and continued with Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926), is to present them as knock-about Oirish comedies…

Italian Film Festival

The Italian Film Festival

13 Nov 2006

5 REASONS TO VISIT 1. The return of Nanni Moretti Five years after the Palme d’Or-winning The Son’s Room, Italian actor-writer-director Nanni Moretti returns with the multilayered The Caiman (pictured). Set in contemporary Rome, it’s the study…