Issue 568

Where to eat on Valentine's Day

Love is in the fayre

31 Jan 2007

The night of 14 February is traditionally one where restaurants are overrun by couples on their lone dining foray of the year. Spare a thought not only for them (and the sustained periods of silence between courses) but also for the restaurant staff who…

The Horrors interview

Smoke & mirrors

30 Jan 2007

The Horrors are in need of a fag. Having had their ch ance for a nicotine fix disrupted by fans who are loitering outside The Caves in Edinburgh hoping for a glimpse of the band, they now find themselves upstairs experiencing first hand the realities of…

Niall Griffiths

Runt

15 Feb 2007

What a courageous writer Niall Griffiths is. In the seven years since his debut Grits - an ambitious and occasionally brilliant study of modern hedonism in West Wales - he has divined, deviated and experimented with a bravery that is only really…

Glasgow Film Festival - Fast Food Nation interview

Food for thought

30 Jan 2007

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL Eric Schlosser touched a nerve with the public when he exposed the unethical and unhygienic practices of America’s junk food industry in his book Fast Food Nation. It swiftly became an international bestseller and required…

Kaput!

This month: Kaput!

29 Jan 2007

INTRODUCING... Residents Colin (AKA Kid Twist) Duncan from Dananananaykroyd and Tom of 50pbadges.com. Guests Regular live guests from the Scottish music scene and beyond will be a feature. Music policy 50s rockabilly, rock’n’roll, 60s French…

Various - Songs for the Young at Heart - album review

Various

29 Jan 2007

KIDS COMPILATION Nostalgia might not be what it once was, but in the Staples and Boulter households, the past is far from imperfect. Stuart and Dave, the guys from the Tindersticks, have lovingly recreated the songs they remembered from their radios…

Cate Blanchett interview

Woman of note

31 Jan 2007

‘If I knew that my son’s art teacher was banging his brains out in the art room, I’d be in there with a meat cleaver.’ Cate Blanchett is reflecting on her new film, Notes on a Scandal, in which she plays an art teacher who has an affair with one of her…

Glasgow Film Festival

Best of the fest

31 Jan 2007

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL Cashback The opening night gala revolves around a heartbroken insomniac and his quest to find new love - through nightshift work. See Sean Biggerstaff interview. GFT, Thu 15 Feb, 7.30pm; Cineworld Renfrew Street, Fri 16…

Glasgow Film Festival - Fast Food Nation interview

Food for thought

31 Jan 2007

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL Eric Schlosser touched a nerve with the public when he exposed the unethical and unhygienic practices of America’s junk food industry in his book Fast Food Nation. It swiftly became an international bestseller and required…

Loch Fyne

Love in a cold climate

31 Jan 2007

It’s not always easy doing nothing, but that’s what we’re here to do. Stop, relax, get away. And Loch Fyne, a blue grey landscape cut in two by an opaque, metallic body of water, gives the impression we’re hundreds of miles away from home and not just…

Fawlty Towers Experience

The hotel inspectors

31 Jan 2007

A swarthy waiter pursues a hamster beneath a table of dinner guests, chased by a tall, quiveringly angry man with a moustache. The diners erupt with laughter as the waiter re-emerges, accidentally displacing the wig on a female guest’s head. The furious…

Guy's Restaurant and Bar

Sweet and mellow

31 Jan 2007

When chef/proprietor Guy Cowan first opened his eponymous restaurant on North Street in December 2005, the basement premises with alcoves provided an intimate space which seemed tailor-made for dining. When he relocated across town last November to a…

Glasgow Film Festival - Half Nelson - Ryan Gosling interview

School daze

31 Jan 2007

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL Named after a wrestling hold in which an opponent’s strengths are turned against themselves, the US indie Half Nelson is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Glasgow Film Festival. The directorial debut of Ryan Fleck, whose…

Glasgow Film Festival - Cashback - Sean Biggerstaff interview

Money talks

31 Jan 2007

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL Sean Biggerstaff has just returned from the seventh annual British Film Festival in Israel where Cashback was screened simultaneously in Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. But though the film was well received, Biggerstaff wasn’t…

Glasgow Film Festival - Mira Nair interview (The Namesake)

A tale of two cities

31 Jan 2007

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL After her sojourn into the upper echelons of British society with her adaptation of Vanity Fair, Mira Nair returns to the multicultural themes that established her reputation with The Namesake. It’s a cinematic rendition of…

Glasgow Film Festival - John Wayne tribute

Shooting star

31 Jan 2007

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL Asked towards the end of his life why he had never written an autobiography John Wayne replied, ‘Those who like me already know me, and those who don’t like me wouldn’t want to read about me anyway.’ Modern day celebrities would…

Glasgow Film Festival - horror movies

Day of the dead

31 Jan 2007

The all-day marathon is a right of passage for any horrorphile; a chance to wallow in the garish glory of the most extreme cinematic genres. For the second year, GFF features FrightFest in association with Zone Horror.

Valentine's Day gift guide

Planning to surprise that special someone on the m

31 Jan 2007

1 Elemis Skin Treatment Voucher £45; Elemis Daily Moisture Boost for Men £25; Elemis Ice Cool Foam Gel £18. All available at Harvey Nichols, 30-34 St Andrew’s Square, Edinburgh, 0131 524 8388

Cate Blanchett interview

Woman of note

30 Jan 2007

‘If I knew that my son’s art teacher was banging his brains out in the art room, I’d be in there with a meat cleaver.’ Cate Blanchett is reflecting on her new film, Notes on a Scandal, in which she plays an art teacher who has an affair with one of her…

How MySpace took over my space

30 Jan 2007

I was 19 when I got my first real job and my first mobile phone. The job introduced me to the World Wide Web and my beloved email, where there is always post on a Sunday and the postman comes with hourly treats. The internet opened up so many…

Glasgow Film Festival - best of the fest

Best of the fest

30 Jan 2007

Cashback The opening night gala revolves around a heartbroken insomniac and his quest to find new love - through nightshift work. See Sean Biggerstaff interview. GFT, Thu 15 Feb, 7.30pm; Cineworld Renfrew Street, Fri 16 Feb, 6.30pm. A Guide to…

Venice Biennale

Six of the best

30 Jan 2007

Congratulations to Charles Avery, Henry Coombes, Louise Hopkins, Rosalind Nashashibi, Lucy Skaer and Tony Swain, who have been selected to represent Scotland at the 52nd Venice Biennale of Art, after months of deliberation. The Scottish show, which will…

Venice Biennale - who's going

Six of the best

30 Jan 2007

Congratulations to Charles Avery, Henry Coombes, Louise Hopkins, Rosalind Nashashibi, Lucy Skaer and Tony Swain, who have been selected to represent Scotland at the 52nd Venice Biennale of Art, after months of deliberation. The Scottish show, which will…

Leech

Sucking the blood of popular entertainment

30 Jan 2007

It’s Hollywood awards season, meaning a succession of worthy films and actors acting seriously and actorly. Pictures like Babel, Bobby, Last King of Scotland, Blood Diamond and Letters From Iwo Jima represent a grim condemnation of war and political…

Klaxons interview

Big noise

30 Jan 2007

For the first time the NME tour is splitting into two camps. The Indie Rock strand is headed by The Automatic who share the bill with Dundee’s indie saviours The View, rockabilly goth punks The Horrors and Mumm-Ra. But perhaps it’s the second leg, the…