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The best things to do in Glasgow

22 Apr 2010

Where to … … take a walk Dumbarton Road is Mecca for enthusiastic charity shoppers (tip: start off at the Salvation Army near Byres Road) – make a day of it by wandering round the junk and vintage shops of nearby Ruthven Lane first. (Kirstin…

The best Scottish websites

The top 30 websites made for and by Scots

21 Jul 2011

When putting together this list, we weren’t necessarily looking for the biggest or the best-known cultural websites in Scotland. We were looking for unique and interesting ideas, cleverly realised and lovingly maintained on the web. This might mean that…

The best Wi-Fi cafés in Edinburgh and Glasgow

The Wi-Fi try guy

17 Feb 2010

Wi-Fi connectivity has become a staple feature of many handheld and portable gadgets, so you would think that the companies making them would have perfected it by now. Well, of course they haven’t, but is the technology good enough to at least beat the…

How to get fit through jogging, swimming, skateboarding, frisbee and tennis

14 May 2010

Hey you! Lazybones! It’s warm outside, which means there’s no excuse for your sofa addiction anymore. Niki Boyle has the best suggestions for getting sporty through spring and summer...

How the capital sound of Edinburgh's music scene is rising

31 Mar 2010

For a long time it’s felt as though Edinburgh’s music scene has had to play second fiddle to its cooler, bigger West Coast brother, picking up on Glasgow’s trends and regularly borrowing its records, its clothes and a little of its cachet. But while the…

Save up for some summer sporting action

2012 Olympics, Wimbledon and F1 at Silverstone on the calendar

5 Apr 2012

It’s shaping up to be a great summer, with London taking centre stage as the Olympics come to town. And as the eyes of the world are focused on the UK, this could be the year that re-energises our attitudes to sport and helps spectators make the…

Graffimenco combines live graffiti with flamenco

4 May 2010

Like graffiti art? Course you do. Like flamenco dancing? Absolutely. Well, haven’t you been longing for somebody to put them together into one riotous burst of graffiti-splattered, passionate Spanish dance-art? No, we’re not entirely sure what the…

Reasons why Glasgow is brilliant (and Edinburgh is baws)

17 Mar 2010

So, Glasgow's better than Edinburgh, right? Better clubbing, better music, better shopping, cheaper travel, why would you ever want to get on the train to Waverley? We want to hear your reasons why Glasgow is miles ahead of its neighbour. Remember…

Edinburgh Festival of Sport

2 Jun 2010

It’s a sad but true fact that the closest many parents come to sporting activity is dropping their kids off at the swimming pool or standing at the touchline on a Saturday morning. Which is why Edinburgh’s Active Schools campaign has just launched its…

A guide to green vegetables

21 Apr 2010

Historic records indicate that we once ate food fresh from places near where we lived, such as back gardens and local farms, thus cutting down on the need to transport food across the globe and avoiding chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Here’s a…

Retro technology

14 Feb 2008

In some ways Jack Black and Mos Def’s new film Be Kind Rewind (see our review on page 46) highlights the end of an era for old technology such as the VHS. Today it’s hard to imagine DVD disappearing completely and being replaced by Blu-Ray and HD DVDs…

Health to provide Max Payne 3 soundtrack

The LA noise rockers follow the game-soundtracking example of Opeth, Trivium and others

24 Apr 2012

Ever since the very earliest days of home gaming and the release of the Atari 2600 (1977), videogame music has become a part of cultural life. The lack of processing power meant it was necessarily tinny, bleepy and repetitive. Despite this, 8- and…

Spotlight: Starter for 6 - Salute

Starter for 6 is an enterprise training programme run by Cultural Enterprise Office

4 Jan 2012

What's your name? Danity Blame Name of business? SALUTE Tell us more SALUTE is a unique multi-platform lifestyle brand created by those in the know! Our core focus areas consist of Creative PR, Marketing, Events, our ‘SALUTE’ Digital Magazine…

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

5 May 2010

Charles Jencks is the world-renowned architect behind many of Britain's most celebrated land sculptures, including ‘Landform Ueda’ outside Edinburgh's Gallery of Modern Art. Perhaps his most impressive design is the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, created…

Fuzzy Felt Folk & Country Crafting

19 Feb 2009

The award for homeist, cutesy-ist event of the fortnight goes to this new monthly craft session where you can learn cross stitch or to knit your own beard (we didn’t make that up, either – it actually says that right here). All set to a hand picked…

5 Things... Glamping

28 May 2010

The best glam camping options for 2010’s Scottish festivals...

Five great female tribute acts

14 May 2010

Ahead of Misstallica in Glasgow, some all-female metal tributes...

Bright fashion futures at ECA Fashion Show 2010

14 May 2010

Vogue have talked in the past about the ‘Scottish contingent’ in fashion. Designers like Jonathan Saunders, Jamie Bruski Tetsill and Scott Ramsay Kyle (all GSA textiles graduates) and Holly Fulton, Graeme Black and Chloe Patience (all ECA alumni) have…

Edinburgh Skate Park opens

14 May 2010

It’s mean, it’s green, and it’s obscenely fun – Edinburgh Skate Park is now open for business. Sam Patterson, a long-time skateboarder himself, has been present at all stages of the park’s development. Niki Boyle speaks to him about his skate park…

Affordable Art: Getting Started - Susanna Beaumont

29 Apr 2010

Buying and owning art can bring both pleasure and profit, and you don’t need stacks of cash to get started. We begin our guide with some tips from a prominent gallery owner...

Donate your pants to Zimbabwe and Ethiopia

29 Apr 2010

Lingerie emporium Boudiche has found a charitable use for unwanted bras and knickers, as Claire Sawers discovers...

Cleaning Up the Streets - A day with Edinburgh's environmental wardens

15 Apr 2010

Paul Dale spends a day with Edinburgh’s environmental wardens, and finds the job of the recycling police is a far cry from Miami Vice.

Boteco do Brasil, Falafel and Leo’s Beanery among recent food and drink openings

15 Apr 2010

Glasgow Boteco do Brasil 62 Trongate, Merchant City, 0141 548 1330, www.botecoglasgow.com, £13 (lunch/dinner) A ‘boteco’ in Brazil is more of a neighbourhood bar than a full-on restaurant, and this new establishment on Trongate is as much about…

How upcycling transforms used objects into ones of greater value

15 Apr 2010

Upcycling – the process of turning unwanted items into products of greater value – might sound like a dubious idea (another eco-concept that’s all trouser fluff and no trousers perhaps?) but it does raise the point that with most recycling the final…

God of War III - The academic analysis

22 Mar 2010

I spent my youth browsing encyclopaedias and ancient Greek dictionaries rather than playing computer games; always thinking of history, and book-learning, as real fun. It’s from this academic standpoint that I approach God of War III, a game that is…