Issue 566

Gaelic arts

Slainte mhath (good health)

4 Jan 2007

GAELIC ARTS Does Scotland still have a cohesive national identity? In the late 1980s, when Runrig’s Gaelic drumbeat pulsed through the charts, Wildcat staged ambitious promenade pieces and we all hated Thatcher, ‘Scottishness’ felt tangible. These…

Win a Rapal MP3 player

4 Jan 2007

Gaelic Arts and the new BBC 2 show Rapal have very kindly given us an mp3 player, a Teach Yourself Gaelic audio course, two tickets to see There’s No V in Gaelic at the Citizen’s Theatre, a selection of CDs and assorted other Gaelic goodies. To be in…

Preview of the year 2007

2007 is about the future. And about the past. It’

3 Jan 2007

THE FUTURE Cyberspace invaders We may not be flying around in hover cars or wearing spangly all-silver outfits, but thanks to the internet the future has truly arrived. And the revolution will continue apace in 2007, argues Suzanne Black. A…

Ad Lib Restaurant & Bar

Early doors

3 Jan 2007

The best time to review a budding restaurant is probably not in the first week of its operation. Nine times out of ten, the initial fortnight can be bedevilled by a variety of hiccups from staff training lessons still to sink in, to noisy butt-cheek…

One minute wonder

3 Jan 2007

The American Industrialist and philanthropist John D Rockefeller may have had a point when he wrote that ‘All competition is a sin.’ But let’s face it some competitions are less reprehensible than others and indeed, by that same measure, some…

Remote Control - TV round-up

Remote Control

3 Jan 2007

Amid the bespectacled blundering and the wide-eyed naivety, Louis Theroux has made some witty and insightful documentaries in his time. Whether it’s been the all-too real worlds of the porn industry, white supremacy or Christian fundamentalism, he has…

DVD round-up

3 Jan 2007

Welcome one, welcome all and Happy New Year. To mark the end of the old we would like to bring in something new. Until, of course, you get totally bored of it and we will try something else.

Mark Zusak

Death and the maiden

3 Jan 2007

The literary canon is riddled with unreliable narrators. From Holden Caulfield to Humbert Humbert and the voices which lead you through Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart the first-person perspective can…

Leech

The Leech

3 Jan 2007

What do George W Bush, Adolf Hitler, the Leech and you have in common? No, not that. Misshapen or mono-genitalia is a surprisingly widespread condition and there’s absolutely no evidence linking testicular envy to genocidal impulses. Not yet anyway.

Apocalypto

(18) 138min

3 Jan 2007

Welcome to the jungle. A place where pierced savages josh and jest as they rip the flesh of a freshly speared boar. Life is simple, life is good, but trouble is hiding in the undergrowth and young family man Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is about to go…

Tinderbox's new branch

Tinderbox tripping

3 Jan 2007

My notes read ‘eye popping mental gymnastics.’ What this really means is a borderline hallucinogenic experience. A legal one, I hasten to add, courtesy of the new Tinderbox at Ingram and Montrose streets in Glasgow’s Merchant City.

Kevin Mcdonald profile

Profile

3 Jan 2007

Name Kevin Macdonald Born 28 October 1967, Glasgow, Scotland. Background Celluloid runs like blood through Macdonald’s veins. He’s the grandson of legendary writer/director Emeric Pressburger and younger brother of Trainspotting producer Andrew…

The Last King of Scotland

3 Jan 2007

The only similarity that the Nicholas Garrigan of this film has with his namesake in Giles Foden’s book is, indeed, his name. The Garrigan of the book is a dull-witted, slightly ignorant and rather un-endearing Scot, whereas in the movie James McAvoy…

Sally Matthews and Toby Spence

3 Jan 2007

VISITING VOCALISTS As Scotland’s various concert promoters revive themselves in the wake of the festive season, two organisations - totally coincidentally - choose to start the new year with stars from the younger generation of British singers. Tenor…

Singles & downloads

3 Jan 2007

With the annual Christmas bunfight over with, January always provides space for some decent songs to come to the fore. Step up Amy Winehouse featuring Ghostface Killah (now there’s a date to gooseberry) with ‘You Know I’m No Good’ (Island - 3 stars), a…

Stage Whispers - theatre news

Stage Whispers

3 Jan 2007

There’s plenty to look forward to in the year ahead for theatregoers, but perhaps a personal highlight for Whispers would be the revival by the NTS of Anthony Neilson’s The Wonderful World of Dissocia. This, along with such hits as Black Watch and Tutti…

Ugly Betty

Channel 4, Fri 5 Jan, 9.30pm

3 Jan 2007

COMEDY DRAMA At 9.30pm on the first Friday night of 2005, Channel 4 introduced us to the most popular new American comedy in years, My Name is Earl. So, when the exact same slot is filled by another heralded US import, you may well be steadying…

Side Dishes - bar and restaurant news

Side Dishes

3 Jan 2007

In Glasgow’s city centre, Two Fat Ladies will start opening on Sundays from 7 January, with a fixed price menu of two courses for £14.50 and three for £17.50. Hours will be 1pm until 9pm’s last orders. ‘It is really to satisfy demand,’ owner Ryan James…

CATS Awards

3 Jan 2007

AWARDS ROUND UP We’re about at half term for the awards season, with the CATS Awards occurring in early June this year. So far, the chatter among the critics has covered a great variety of work, from grand scale projects to more modest pieces. It’s a…

Killswitch Engage

3 Jan 2007

5 REASONS TO SEE 1 They’re the illegitimate sons of Slayer They are leaders of the metalcore movement that take the blueprint of thrash as laid down by Slayer, but ramp it up with elements of their hardcore roots. In fact, their rock forefathers…

Charles Rennie Mackintosh's house

Top of the property ladder

3 Jan 2007

A house designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh has been put on the market and looks likely to become the country’s most expensive home. Windyhill House in Kilmalcolm, Renfrewshire, 15 miles outside Glasgow, is the only remaining Mackintosh-designed…

Hold Steady, The - album review

The Hold Steady

3 Jan 2007

ROCK’N’ROLL Sometimes, a band provides one of those kind of songs that always stay in your heart and record collection forever. The Hold Steady have an old song of theirs called ‘Your Little Hoodrat Friend’, a throttling, acerbic bombast of a rock…

Brian Ferguson

3 Jan 2007

FACE FOR THE FUTURE He’s not exactly a new face: He’s kicked around the Scottish theatre for three or four years in this reviewer’s recollection, and probably longer, but Brian Ferguson’s 2006 has launched him as a substantial actor on the Scottish…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

3 Jan 2007

Hansel and Gretel The age old folk tale is brought to panto-life with the Dundee Rep ensemble firing on all cylinders with lots of laughs and a quietly moving dénouement. Dundee Rep, until Sat 6 Jan.

11:14 - DVD review

11:14

3 Jan 2007

DRAMA This clever cubist thriller examines a single moment in time from the varying perspectives of a dozen people for whom 11:14 pm proves to be a pivotal moment in their lives. Writer-director Greg Marcks’ inspired and assured feature debut begins…

Executive campaign set to sponsor Outsider Festival

3 Jan 2007

Highland 2007, the year-long celebration of Highland culture, has announced that The Outsider Festival will be sponsored by the Scottish Executive’s sustainable development campaign, It’s Our Future.

Rough Cuts - film news and giveaways

Rough Cuts

3 Jan 2007

Farewell to the wonderful writer and translator Robin Buss. Better known for his television review work in The Independent on Sunday, Buss was also a film theorist and cinéaste of rare note. Not only did he write an excellent critical study of Cocteau…

Art School Confidential - DVD review

Art School Confidential

3 Jan 2007

COMEDY/DRAMA The surprisingly swift DVD release of Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes’ adaptation of Clowes’ graphic novel is saddening but hardly surprising. By far and away the weakest film that Zwigoff has made (following on from the off kilter joys…

The List announces new editor

3 Jan 2007

The List is delighted to announce the appointment of Claire Prentice as its new editor, the 12th in the magazine’s 21-year history. Claire takes up her role at the end of January, replacing Nick Barley, who is leaving to become director of The…

Viktoria Tolstoy - album review

Viktoria Tolstoy

3 Jan 2007

JAZZ The Swedish singer’s sophisticated take on contemporary pop-inflected jazz has already paid dividends on her previous releases for ACT, made in association with Esbjörn Svensson. This time round, she has plundered her record collection for songs…

View, The - album review

The View

3 Jan 2007

INDIE This Dundonian foursome are pretty sure of themselves - you can hear it in their swaggering guitar attacks and colourful lyrics. But who can blame them when they boast a debut like this, utterly passion-filled and packed solid with catchy…

Field Music - album review

Field Music

3 Jan 2007

INDIE Although their drummer Dave Brewis is a sometime Futurehead, Sunderland’s Field Music take a refreshingly different tack from their new wave apeing compatriots. There are still a good deal of crunching, right-angled guitars in the mix, but…

Day the Country Died, The - DVD review

The Day the Country Died

3 Jan 2007

DOCUMENTARY Subtitled ‘A History of Anarcho Punk’ this is actually a visual retelling of Ian Glasper’s excellent book of the same name. Exploring in minute detail the obscure, esoteric, UK anarcho-punk scene of the early 80s, this absolutely…

Heirloom, The - DVD review

The Heirloom

3 Jan 2007

HORROR In this polished haunted house movie, an architect returns from the UK to take up his inheritance: a huge but dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of Taipei. At first his girlfriend and friends can’t get enough of the house, with its high…

* Classical Hitlist

Hitlist

3 Jan 2007

National Youth Orchestra of Scotland: New Year Concert What a way to start the year. Almost 100 of the cream of the country’s young musical talent show what can be done after their winter residential course. Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Thu 4 Jan.

Barbarossa - album review

Barbarossa

3 Jan 2007

FOLK It must be fun down the Fence Collective way with all those pseudonyms being hidden behind. And so following in the footsteps of the label’s mentor King Creosote (Kenny Anderson) here we have James Mathe aka Red Beard (‘barbarossa’ in Italian)…

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3

3 Jan 2007

Almost hidden among the wealth of gigs on offer at Celtic Connections are some true superstars. Of course there’s Robyn Hitchcock, ex-Soft Boys and The Egyptians. Then we come to his backing band, featuring Bill Rieflin of Ministry and Revolting Cocks…

Quinn

3 Jan 2007

A beguiling mixture of indie, jazz rhythms and electronica, Quinn are essentially Louise Quinn on guitar and vocals and Bal Cooke on drums and computer. Quinn’s vocals make even the most downbeat trip hop tracks enticing. The duo have just recorded…

Si Begg

3 Jan 2007

One of the most eclectic minds in electronica, Si Begg brings his unique brand of techno to Inner City Acid. From hard and brutal to esoteric and expansive, Begg has never felt comfortable unless he’s looking for new stimuli, as born out in his…

Mary Chapin Carpenter

3 Jan 2007

Celtic Connections have secured the first Scottish show from Mary Chapin Carpenter in five years. And it’s a long overdue return to our shores for the multi-Grammy award-winner, famed for her humorous, fast-paced country-rock songs, though not afraid of…

Vegas!

3 Jan 2007

Equally at home in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the big band explosion that is Vegas! helps launch 2007 in style. They know how to throw a party, the atmosphere they perfect of Las Vegas decadence with showgirls, dancers, roulette, and of course the Elvis…

Prairie Home Companion, A - feature

The show must go on

20 Dec 2006

In an ironic twist, the late director Robert Altman’s final film, A Prairie Home Companion, was anchored by death. Written by Garrison Keillor, and named after the much-loved radio programme this native Minnesotan has been producing since 1974, it’s a…

All My Sons

Miller time

20 Dec 2006

Steve Cramer The play tells the story of Joe, a man who, during the Second World War, has okayed faulty engine parts for bombers. As a result, many airman, including one of his sons, have died. He has escaped justice, but his attempts to establish a…

Vashti Bunyan

Cold comfort

20 Dec 2006

The story behind Vashti Bunyan’s 1970 album Just Another Diamond Day has become legendary. Vashti made her first bid for stardom guided by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Her wisp of a voice and tall, elegant beauty suggested she could be an…

Catherine Sullivan

The fourth wall: the Self

20 Dec 2006

We are witnessing a return to the hermetic, the abstract and the dissonant in art. This is because the falsely unified, centered subject - the awful misconceived and misunderstood sovereign child of the Enlightenment - has not been dethroned or…

Dispatch - Roddy Woomble

The Dispatch

20 Dec 2006

Generally I have no idea what’s going on around me, in terms of new books, film and albums. There was a time, when I was 19 or 20 when I knew what record was coming out on any number of record labels, what was going to be great, the next new thing etc.

Garcia Washington

PROFILE

20 Dec 2006

Alexander Kennedy Who are Garcia Washington? Garcia Washington We are an artist committee-run exhibition space currently based in temporarily empty residential premises on Prince Edward Street, Queen’s Park, Glasgow. The committee at present is…

Celtic Connections

Various venues, Glasgow, Wed 17 Jan-Sun 4 Feb

20 Dec 2006

CELTIC AND BEYOND Glasgow’s massive Celtic Connections festival comes in with the New Year and a new man at the helm. Musician, producer, radio presenter and now CC’s artistic director, Donald Shaw (pictured) admits, ‘It’s been a nightmare - but…

Steven Seagal and Thunderbox

The Ferry, Glasgow, Tue 16 Jan

20 Dec 2006

BLUES Marked for Death, Above the Law and Hard to Kill are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the best in action trash starring the pony-tailed martial arts master Steven Seagal. Hard, dark and brutal are his trademarks with the odd side…

Surface Noise - music news

Surface Noise

20 Dec 2006

Connect, the new music festival from the peeps that brought us T in the Park has now been expanded to three days. There’s still no line up yet - that’s more likely to be announced later in the spring, but it kicks off on Fri 31 Aug and runs to Sun 2…

A Prairie Home Companion

20 Dec 2006

‘The death of an old man is not an occasion for tragedy,’ concludes the master of ceremonies Garrison Keillor in A Prairie Home Companion and it’s hard not to hear in these words the voice of the film’s director Robert Altman, who died a few weeks ago…

Friedrich

Doggerfisher Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sat 3 Feb 2

20 Dec 2006

PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO AND INSTALLATION Friedrich - Marcus Amm, Helene Appel, Eva Berendes, Ellen Gronemeyer, Alex Heim, Karin Ruggaber and Nicole Wermers The seven artists in this upcoming exhibition ‘Friedrich’ are united geographically…

Bildwechsel - feminist film collective

Bildwechsel

20 Dec 2006

FEMINIST FILM COLLECTIVE A Hungarian lesbian-transgender Western and the recurrent story of two Lebanese lesbians are the highlights of the latest Bildwechsel screening night, showing short films and celluloid vignettes involving women from all…

Peter Pan

SECC, Glasgow, Wed 10-Sun 14 Jan; Royal Highland C

20 Dec 2006

ICE SHOW In his day, Robin Cousins was the David Beckham of ice skating. A national hero whose leaps and twists inspired thousands to head for the rink. These days, Cousins looks more at home behind the judging desk on Dancing On Ice. But that’s only…

Grapevine

Plucking fruits from the cultural bush

20 Dec 2006

Oprah Winfrey will be taking some very long, very deep breaths at news that Kitty Kelley is working on a book about the broadcasting queen’s life. After all, the controversial biographer got the world into a flap over her books about Frank Sinatra (a…

Adem

Look@Libraries: Clarkston Community Library, Sat 2

20 Dec 2006

FOLK IMPROVISATION Otherwordly London folkist Adem doesn’t just write and perform music, but rather has a full-blown relationship with it. Fitting then that he should have been talked into turning his hand to Look@Libraries cause - that of promoting…

Cinderella

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Thu 4-Sat 13 Jan

20 Dec 2006

BALLET Ashley Page could have taken the easy way out: choreographed a show that ticked all the boxes, and sent us home with another traditional narrative ballet under our belts. But Scottish Ballet’s artistic director has never favoured the obvious…

Joanna Newsom

City Halls, Glasgow, Sun 14 Jan

20 Dec 2006

ALTERNATIVE FOLK Putting a gig by Ms Newsom on in the middle of January’s a good call, because her music’s just about the most snug thing ever invented. She plays a harp, for God’s sake. And sings in a voice that’s reminiscent of both Björk and a…

The Pursuit of Happyness

20 Dec 2006

Inspired by a true story (meaning that the central protagonist is portrayed in a far better light than reality), the dour flavour used to show Chris Gardner’s (Will Smith) rags-to riches story makes this flick easier to admire for its unusually abject…

Hedrons, The

The Hedrons

20 Dec 2006

ROCK’N’ROLL How long has rock’n’roll been going now? It’s 2007, ferchrissakes, and yet there still aren’t nearly enough girls with guitars kicking out the jams. Over half a century of riffing guitars, rattling drums and throbbing bass since Chuck…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

20 Dec 2006

Celtic Connections With Capercaillie’s Donald Shaw taking over at the helm, the remit to cross-pollinate and unsubtly twist the very definition of what is ‘celtic’ to make way for even more excellent music from around the globe is as revered as ever.

David Shrigley

DCA, Dundee, until Sun 21 Jan 2007

20 Dec 2006

DRAWING, SCULPTURE AND VIDEO David Shrigley’s drawings are synonymous. He is famous for absurdities with a helping of schoolboy humour. But it is his sculptures that are most memorable in this mini-retrospective. Cast aside the ‘but is it art?…

Miss Potter

20 Dec 2006

The life of Beatrix Potter might sound like a tame proposition, but this self-conscious vanity project for Renee Zellweger plays even less interestingly than any fluffy bunny bedtime story. Casting herself once again in the Bridget Jones/singleton mode…

Art beat - art news

Art beat

20 Dec 2006

Upholding a tradition of over 100 years, the National Galleries of Scotland opens its 2007 exhibition programme with an exhibition of watercolours by JMW Turner (1775-1851). For the first time, however, this annual highlight of the Galleries’ calendar…

Smokin' Aces

20 Dec 2006

With Narc, director Joe Carnahan made a sterling contribution to the cop genre. Noteworthy for its grim bad cop/bad cop partnership the film was completely different to the usual dross. So it’s even more cringing that Smokin’ Aces is such a poor effort…

Malcolm Ross

Ego, Edinburgh, Wed 13 Dec

20 Dec 2006

INDIE The sad but true fact of Edinburgh’s current music scene is that, unless you have local knowledge of the great bands bubbling under the radar, there is no major scene going on which might capture the imagination of the nation. But it wasn’t…

One Day Speakers, The

The One Day Speakers

20 Dec 2006

INDIE ROCK Whistlebinkies might not be the most lauded music venue in the capital, but as a jump off for new local bands it serves a useful function. A regular stream of new talent can be found cutting their teeth there most week nights, and for the…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

20 Dec 2006

The Metal Bridge This exhibition brings together four artists working across a range of disciplines - Steven Claydon, Craig Mulholland, Thomas Helbig and Duncan Marquiss. The show is divided into two parts, with the ‘bridging’ of materials being both a…

Cinémathèque de Tanger/Among the Moderns

20 Dec 2006

Stills has teamed up with the Cinémathèque de Tanger in Morocco to transform their gallery into a trans-Arab video library. The space is split into mini cinema spaces where video and film work produced throughout the diverse cultural, political and…

Julie Roberts: The New Woman Artist

20 Dec 2006

Roberts’ work draws on historical subjects, tackling issues of life, death and the sexual drive. Stylistically, her work refers to the painting techniques of Frank Auerbach and Lucien Freud, splicing these approaches with surrealist tropes.

Dancing for exercise

A phresh start

19 Dec 2006

‘Anyone want to take a guess at who that musician was? Yous’ll be so surprised. Long time ago... jazz trombonist... YES! Dizzy Gillespie! That’s it! That tune was recorded in 1961, would yis believe it?’

Club Olum

Meeting of minds

19 Dec 2006

Club Olum is the brainchild of live music promoter and label owner Peter Rooney and one of Glasgow’s most diverse and cutting edge DJs and Deathkill4000’s Marc Lawson AKA Dirty Marc. It’s a partnership made in heaven when you consider the format of…

Word Up - club news

Word Up

19 Dec 2006

t’s the first issue of 2007 so lets have a quick look ahead at just some of the events lying in wait over the course of the year. The big one has to be Coloursfest again confirmed for Braehead, Sat 2 June. Over at the Arches in Glasgow, Pressure kick…

Morphos

Profile

19 Dec 2006

Name Morphos Location Edinburgh, Scotland Occupation Producer of loud, banging noise. Info please Morphos aka Graeme Marshall had a simple yet logical path to becoming one of Scotland’s most respected underground techno producers. As the man…

Hitlist

The best dancefloor action

19 Dec 2006

Modern Lovers Nice work from Modern Lovers securing DJ Whitey for a January date, so expect a guitar driven mix of soul, ska and funk. Ego, Edinburgh, Fri 5 Jan.

Simon Brodkin

19 Dec 2006

CHARACTER COMEDY There are few things which will elicit ashamed giggling or an audible intake of breath with a comedy audience these days quite like racial humour. Ashamed giggles and breath intakes can change in an instant to all-out hostility and…

Holla!

Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sat 13 Jan

19 Dec 2006

R&B/HIP HOP While the need for another R&B club in Edinburgh is debatable, perhaps it takes just one of sufficient quality to raise the tone of the whole scene. Although they’ve often been caricatured - and not always unfairly - as the natural…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

19 Dec 2006

John McGahern The sad passing of this fine Irish writer earlier this year is made more bearable for his readers with the re-issued Creatures of the Earth, a moving and insightful short story collection. Faber. Read review

Ryan Knighton

Cockeyed (Atlantic)

19 Dec 2006

MEMOIR Maybe it has ever been thus, but the cult of an individual neither you nor I have ever heard of telling us all about their unfortunate life seems to be spreading. We may wish to blame Frank McCourt for it all, but the misery market is flooded…

Burn

The Buff Club, Glasgow, weekly, Mondays

19 Dec 2006

DISCO/FUNK/ELECTRO/HOUSE If you were to walk into Burn at the Buff Club, the first thing you may notice is that it doesn’t seem like you are at a Monday night club and the second thing is the freshness of the night after 12 years of partying. Burn…

Aaron Barshak

19 Dec 2006

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT... 1 Most famous for donning a peach dress and a Bin Laden beard to gatecrash Prince William’s 21st birthday party and plant a smacker on the future King’s horsey lips, the self-styled Comedy Terrorist has also…

* Hitlist

Hitlist

19 Dec 2006

Fred MacAulay The man off the radio gets up on stage to make a whole room dizzy with his mirthful ways. All of which sounds sarcastic, but it’s really not meant to be. Our Fred is one of the most reliably hilarious stand-ups on the circuit. The Stand…

Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi - comic review

Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi

19 Dec 2006

MANGA/CRIME This is the crime manga that inspired South Korean director Chan-wook Park’s acclaimed Cannes Grand Jury prize-winning film of the same name. Translated into English for the first time since it was published in 1997, Dark Horse have…

EC Segar - comic review

EC Segar

19 Dec 2006

CLASSIC COMIC STRIPS Mainly remembered for his eating habits rather than his comic prowess, Popeye has been about since 1929, as a character in the cast of Thimble Theatre, EC Segar’s farcical, vaudevillian comic saga that was initially published in…

New Year's Resolutions

19 Dec 2006

Eat well Not only is the organic food on sale at Scotland’s farmers markets very, very good for you, it’s locally produced, which means less of an effect on the environment. So you get to be doubly pleased with yourself. Farmers markets, Edinburgh and…

Christopher Rush

Hellfire and Herring (Profile)

19 Dec 2006

CHILDHOOD MEMOIR Christopher Rush’s previous work has been widely acclaimed with his travelogue-memoir To Travel Hopefully being lauded on publication last year, and his novel, A Twelvemonth and a Day, making it into this publication’s 100 Best…

Warren Ellis & JH Willliams III - comic review

Warren Ellis & JH Willliams III

19 Dec 2006

SCI-FI This is just what Warren Ellis revels in, dark sci-fi with a nasty twist. And while Desolation Jones isn’t up to the standards of the blackly comic Transmetropolitan, it starts with a bang and is far bleaker than most of Ellis’ output. Used as…

Simon Parke

The Beautiful Life (Bloomsbury)

19 Dec 2006

LIFE GUIDE It’s been a fair few years since Moses scribbled down the Ten Commandments and for many of us, they’re a little outmoded. Stepping into the breach, with a whole new set of ideas to live your life by, is former priest Simon Parke. Subtitled…

Lynsey Hanley

Estates: An Intimate History (Granta)

19 Dec 2006

SOCIAL HISTORY Through a blend of anthropological musing and booksmart social history, Lynsey Hanley offers a comprehensive account of the hows, whys and wherefores of council housing in Britain with her examination of ‘the one great failure of the…

Batman: Gotham County Line

(DC/Titan)

19 Dec 2006

Location. Location. Location. Or how to bring a neat twist to Batman by sending him to the ‘burbs. Asked to investigate a spate of mysterious killings in Gotham City’s suburbs by a retired Commissioner Gordon, the story shifts from Manhunter-esque…

Benjamin Markovits

Imposture (Faber)

19 Dec 2006

LITERARY DRAMA John Polidori (Byron’s travelling companion and doctor) and governess Eliza Esmond embark upon a secretive love affair, under the guises of Byron himself and Eliza’s more glamorous sister. In language stretched and manipulated to…

Health books

19 Dec 2006

Jo Wood Naturally Gorgeous By the wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie, this is subtitled ‘How to Look and Feel Healthy, Energetic and Radiant the Organic Way.’ You’ll need a sit-down after reading the title alone. Sidgwick & Jackson.

Junko Mizuno - comic review

Junko Mizuno

19 Dec 2006

MANGA/SCI-FI This is the debut graphic novel from Japanese illustrator Junko Mizuno, best known for her garish hyper cute art with twisted dark edges, as wide-eyed, sexy Japanese girls are wrapped in the trappings of fetishism, drugs and death (the…

Ricky Gervais

19 Dec 2006

Is there no limit to this man’s energy? Creating epoch-making sitcoms, knocking up record-breaking comedic downloads and jetting across the waters to meet his laughter heroes such as Larry David and Garry Shandling. And getting paid for it. And he even…

Dress to Dye For, A

Coats of Many Colours

19 Dec 2006

Three inventions - the sewing machine, synthetic dyes and the cage-crinoline - had a huge impact on fashion and society. Find out how these changed life (and in some instances brought death) in Victorian Britain, and how the colour mauve had an…

Really Wild Show, The

The Really Wild Show

19 Dec 2006

A last chance to see the work of one of the world’s leading conservation photographers. Scottish-born Colin Prior has travelled from the parched Atacama Desert to the icy spires of Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountains, creating a record of the last remaining…