Issue 694
- Filtered by:
- Issue 694
141 articles
Sorted by popularity / date
Counterflows festival – Q&A with organiser Alasdair Campbell
19 Mar 2012
An experimental music festival, with a focus on songwriting
Why should people come to Counterflows? It is hoped that by opening up the possibilities with a new festival and bringing together, under the festivals banner, new artists, that Counterflows can offer what all culture should, the idea that there are…
Mark Millar & Leinil Francis Yu - Superior
16 Mar 2012
The Kick-Ass creator's latest ponders what superpowers would mean to those who needed them most
(Titan) Glasgow writer Mark Millar has really picked up the pace on his creator-owned series over the last few years, but what’s more remarkable is how high the quality has remained. Wanted, Kick-Ass and Nemesis were action blockbusters but Superior…
David Kushner - Jacked
16 Mar 2012
An entertaining, if hyperbolic, 'unauthorised' history of Grand Theft Auto
(Collins) After a similar book on Doom, journalist David Kushner returns to familiar ground with Jacked. This ‘unauthorised’ history of Grand Theft Auto traces the game’s development from its early beginnings in Dundee to become one of the highest…
Peter Carey - The Chemistry of Tears
16 Mar 2012
Moving portrait of grief and genius from the twice Booker-winning author
(Faber) Grief haunts the pages of Peter Carey’s new novel, the twice Booker-winning author painting a compelling picture of all-consuming love in the 19th and 21st centuries. Catherine Gehrig is an horologist turned museum conservator who, following…
First Writes: Catriona Child, author of Trackman
16 Mar 2012
Novel's lead character's life changed by a homeless man’s MP3 player
Give us five words to describe Trackman? Music, Edinburgh, memories, love, loss. Name one author who should be more famous than they are now? Brian McCabe. When I first started to take my writing seriously, I went to his writer’s workshop. He was…
First Aid Kit - King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Mon 27 Feb
16 Mar 2012
Young Swedish sisters' take on country hints at originality and potential
One of the things that really stands out on Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg’s recent second album, The Lion’s Roar, is the maturity of the songwriting. It’s striking how these two, with barely 40 years on this planet between them, have…
StAnza 2012 international poetry festival opens
16 Mar 2012
Opening event explores Philip Larkin's relationship with jazz
Stanza, the St Andrews-based international poetry festival, has opened its doors for the fifteenth year, bringing together poetry, art and music leavened with learning, humour and good performances. Having earned a reputation for tight adherence to…
Dream Theater - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Fri 3 Feb 2012
16 Mar 2012
American prog-metallers overcome venue with hooks and virtuosity
First things first: seated venues aren’t really best friends with metal music, are they. Tonight’s gig is at the Clyde Auditorium, complete with lukewarm pastel furnishings and besuited ushers, torch in hand. It’s more aligned with Britain’s Got Talent…
Juli Zeh - The Method
16 Mar 2012
A riveting intellectual and emotional thriller set in a dystopian future
(Harvill Secker) German author Juli Zeh’s translated 2009 novel is an Orwellian vision of the near future in which civilisation adheres to the stark principles of The Method. Priority is given to physical health over mental freedom of the mind with…
Edinburgh International Festival 2012 programme launched
14 Mar 2012
Highlights include Mariinsky Ballet, TEAM and Camille O'Sullivan
The Edinburgh International Festival has unveiled its extensive 2012 programme. With nearly 200 different performances to choose from, we’ve selected some dance, opera, classical music and theatre highlights you won't want to miss. NVA's Speed of…
Photographer Alan Dimmick - interview
14 Mar 2012
The Scottish photographer discusses his artistic habits and history
What was the first exhibition you went to see? I recall as a very young lad going to the ‘Art Galleries’ at Kelvingrove a lot with my Mum in the late 60s – just remember being amazed. The Robert Mapplethorpe show at the old Stills in the High Street…
Tim Price discusses his new play, For Once
14 Mar 2012
The Pentabus production examines the impact of a car crash on the sole survivor
Shropshire’s Pentabus Theatre has earned a shelfload of awards for its imaginative and challenging productions of stories set in rural areas. Television writer Tim Price’s debut play, For Once, is a case in point. Set in Wales, it’s about the impact of…
Dundee Rep revives Further Than the Furthest Thing
14 Mar 2012
James Brining adapts Zinnie Harris's first play
James Brining, artistic director of Dundee Rep, has a rule of thumb about choosing plays. ‘When you have a strong sense of how to do it and how it should look,’ he says, then it’s time. And if this coincides with the members of the repertory company…
Glasgow's Cineworld Renfrew Street introduces '4D' rumble seats
14 Mar 2012
Feel every tremor in films like John Carter and The Hunger Games
Just a couple of short months after Edinburgh received its own IMAX screen, Glasgow's Cineworld Renfrew Street (tallest cinema in the world, fact fans) is introducing special seats that add a 'fourth dimension' to your movie-going experience by rumbling…
Waterproof / From Paisley to Paolo
14 Mar 2012
Comic double-bill features some laughs but lacks freshness and subtlety
These short comic plays, being toured by Mull Theatre, began their lives at A Play, a Pie and a Pint (Òran Mór, Glasgow’s famous lunchtime theatre). Both contemplate the life disappointments of young, Scottish, working-class men (most often with a…
Pádraig Timoney – Shepard Tone
14 Mar 2012
Deceptive and frustrating mixed media show with no clear theme
Shepard Tone offers an eclectic mix of painting, photography and mixed media wall-based work, seemingly with little in common. The title describes an auditory illusion of continually descending or ascending pitch. As expected, the exhibition is…
Central Station: Elliott Burns
14 Mar 2012
ECA graduate fascinated with contemporary landscapes
After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2011 Elliott Burns returned home to Hertfordshire so that he could gain experience working for London art galleries. Alongside these commitments he has continued to exhibit, showing pieces in London and…
Disney Pixar's Brave to premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival
13 Mar 2012
The highly-anticipated family film to close EIFF
Disney Pixar's Brave has been announced as the film that will close the 2012 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The screening will also double as the film's premiere, following a similar slot by Pixar's last release, Toy Story 3, in 2011. Brave…
Top 5 screen mothers
12 Mar 2012
In preparation for Mother's Day on Sun 18 Mar, we look at the definitive mamas on film
Mama Fratelli played by Anne Ramsey in The Goonies A mother who leans towards the disciplinarian side, Mama Fratelli regularly lets her sons feel the back of her hand, but also helpfully drives getaway for them when they rob banks. And as for her…
ANA
12 Mar 2012
Audacious, enjoyable bilingual co-production from Scottish and Québécois companies
The eponymous heroine of this enjoyable co-production between Scotland’s Stellar Quines and Québécois company Imago Théâtre is one of those everlasting figures present throughout history, a cross between Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and Dr Who, whom we…
21 Jump Street
12 Mar 2012
Deceptively smart big screen revival of the once popular TV show, with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill
(15)109min Taken at face value, 21 Jump Street is another mis-matched buddy cop outing that mixes elements from the original television series, Superbad coming-of-age values and the gung-ho rhetoric of Michael Bay's action movies. But there's a…
On the Road trailer unveiled
12 Mar 2012
Jack Kerouac's road novel adapted for the screen by Walter Salles, starring Sam Riley
The trailer for Walter Salles' On the Road has been unveiled, featuring Control's Sam Riley, Tron: Legacy's Garret Hedlund and Twilight's Kristen Stewart. The original novel was written by Jack Kerouac, and is seen as a definitive text for the beat…
Programme revealed for Sundance London Music and Film Festival
9 Mar 2012
Robert Redford and Tricky scheduled for talks and performances
The programme has been revealed for the inaugural Sundance London Music and Film Festival, to be held at The O2 from Thu 26–Sun 29 Apr. The festival is centred around the screening of 14 films from Robert Redford's annual Sundance independent film…
Betrayal
9 Mar 2012
Dominic Hill's treatment of Pinter's celebrated play is humourous and affecting
With works by Pinter, Shakespeare and Beckett scheduled for his first season as artistic director at the Citz, Dominic Hill couldn’t have made a bolder statement about his ambitions for the venerable Glasgow institution. Yet his production of the late…
Nederlands Dans Theater 2
9 Mar 2012
Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman discusses his playful new piece, Cacti
Watching a piece of modern dance often provokes an irresistible urge to analyse it. Unlike narrative ballet, there’s no story, so viewers can be left wondering ‘what does it all mean?’ More often than not, the answer to that question is ‘whatever you…
