Doors Open
And as another Festival fades away (although the city is still busy with tourists - that ebbs and flows according to season but never actually stops) there are still more things to look forward to, including this year's Doors Open Day on September 29th. That's when many buildings, a lot of which the public normally don't get into (or if they do there are parts they never normally see) allow people in free to explore their city and appreciate its culture, architecture and history - its really a great day, getting to see things in buildings you pass regularly but had never seen within. And I was quite pleased when I was asked if a couple of interior shots I took at last year's Doors Open could be borrowed to be used for illustrating this year's. You can get details from the Doors Open page on the Cockburn Association site here.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
End of the Fest
Well, that's the quickest couple of weeks of the year - holiday time - gone past already in a blur. Back to work this week and with the Fringe, Film Festival and Book Festival over the city seems so much quieter, all that's left behind of the world's biggest arts festival are the many posters for shows now finished and gone, slowly peeling off walls and panels with that same sort of melancholy you get from Christmas decorations still up after you've gone back to work in the New Year. Still, we've got the huge fireworks concert to come this Sunday night and luckily Gordon has invited Mel and I along to his work again, which has a long conference room with views out to the Castle; they also very nicely put on some food and booze to go with the event - certainly much nicer than jostling with a 100, 000 others on Princes Street to watch it.
I enjoyed a bit of Fringe while I was off, took in the Book Festival (actually I was invited to the launch party this year which was nice of them, bumped into several folks I used to work with a few years ago, which was even nicer), caught a very good panel on graphic novels there (first year they have covered the genre, went very, very well, I'm pleased to say) and as usual caught a pile of movies at the Film Festival (sadly the last time they are planning to hold that during the rest of the Festival in August, boo). Mel and I were right there on opening night to see the adaptation of Peter Jinks novel Hallam Foe which starred Jamie Bell (all grown up from Billy Elliot) and which was largely shot in Edinburgh, so that was fun to see some of the city on the big screen (also a pleasure to see the Film Fest's Hannah McGill who as well as being involved in running a great film festival always looks so glamorous and gorgeous at these events) and we were there on the final day when they do Best of the Fest to reshow some sold out films. Documentaries, foreign language films, science fiction, fantasy, comedies and animation all in a few days then chilling with a drink outside afterwards and Joe is a happy boy.
Day Watch, the sequel to the surprise international hit from Russia, Night Watch, was excellent but my favourite film of this year's fest (and Mel's too, actually) was the movie adaptation of a book by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman (and illustrated by the quite wonderful Charles Vess), Stardust. Was a little funny for me to be watching this film since I remember hosting a reading and signing for Neil for that book when it first came out back in the 90s and still recall sitting chatting after a totally packed event in the bar of the lovely, old Cafe 1812 as he doodled a picture on the inside of my copy and signed it after the fans had all gone (I even remember him being impressed when a friend of mine produced his copy of Violent Cases to be signed and Neil at once recognised it as a first edition). Back then he had talked about possible movie work and here we were years later watching our second Film Festival screening of a film based on a story by Neil (MirrorMask was the year before last).
By Neil's standards the story is very simple and straightforward, not as layered as most of his other work in prose or comics, but as he said back at that event in the 90s he really wanted to make a straight fairy tale but for adults and that's also what the movie version brings. It doesn't try to be clever and postmodern, to reinvent the wheel. Instead it gives you a gorgeously warm fantasy with evil witches, a quest, romance, swashbuckling, magic, corrupt princes, an innocent hero and as a bonus Robert de Niro in a lady's bloomers dancing to the can-can. I mean what else do you need? Leave your cynicism at home and just wallow in a beautifully shot fairy tale (much of it shot in the islands of Scotland) which boasts a great cast (including Michelle Pfeiffer who just doesn't seem to be getting older, does she? Although ironically she ages in the film every time she uses her magic). Everyone left the cinema late at night with huge smiles on their faces, its just one of those sorts of films; you're never too old for a magical fairy tale. Of course some people think they are too old for such things, but that probably means they need it more than anyone, poor souls. It should get a general release in the UK this autumn (I think it has just come out in the US), so watch out for it.
My parents came through to visit before going off on their own holiday; I had a cunning plan to take them out for a cruise on the Maid of the Forth which would have been an early anniversary present and a way to spend the day with them too (sails from right under the mighty Forth Bridge down the river and includes a trip to the islands to visit the old monastery) but sadly that was the only day they weren't sailing because of some liners coming up the river that day. So we'll need to try again at some point, but at least we did get a fun day together anyway and a lovely lunch out at the canalside pub in the village of Ratho (great spot for food and drink). And then my old mate Bob through with his wee boys too, so again we all had fun. The boys are convinced I am a pirate because of my bandana and since they love pirates that makes me cool to them :-). Naturally I don't want to disappoint them and try to keep up my swashbuckling ways for them. They also like knights and swords and kept asking if they would see knights at the Castle - so when we found men in plate armour posing just down the slope from the Castle you can imagine how big their eyes opened! Movies, shows, books, drinks, food, friends and family, what a great break...
Well, that's the quickest couple of weeks of the year - holiday time - gone past already in a blur. Back to work this week and with the Fringe, Film Festival and Book Festival over the city seems so much quieter, all that's left behind of the world's biggest arts festival are the many posters for shows now finished and gone, slowly peeling off walls and panels with that same sort of melancholy you get from Christmas decorations still up after you've gone back to work in the New Year. Still, we've got the huge fireworks concert to come this Sunday night and luckily Gordon has invited Mel and I along to his work again, which has a long conference room with views out to the Castle; they also very nicely put on some food and booze to go with the event - certainly much nicer than jostling with a 100, 000 others on Princes Street to watch it.
I enjoyed a bit of Fringe while I was off, took in the Book Festival (actually I was invited to the launch party this year which was nice of them, bumped into several folks I used to work with a few years ago, which was even nicer), caught a very good panel on graphic novels there (first year they have covered the genre, went very, very well, I'm pleased to say) and as usual caught a pile of movies at the Film Festival (sadly the last time they are planning to hold that during the rest of the Festival in August, boo). Mel and I were right there on opening night to see the adaptation of Peter Jinks novel Hallam Foe which starred Jamie Bell (all grown up from Billy Elliot) and which was largely shot in Edinburgh, so that was fun to see some of the city on the big screen (also a pleasure to see the Film Fest's Hannah McGill who as well as being involved in running a great film festival always looks so glamorous and gorgeous at these events) and we were there on the final day when they do Best of the Fest to reshow some sold out films. Documentaries, foreign language films, science fiction, fantasy, comedies and animation all in a few days then chilling with a drink outside afterwards and Joe is a happy boy.
Day Watch, the sequel to the surprise international hit from Russia, Night Watch, was excellent but my favourite film of this year's fest (and Mel's too, actually) was the movie adaptation of a book by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman (and illustrated by the quite wonderful Charles Vess), Stardust. Was a little funny for me to be watching this film since I remember hosting a reading and signing for Neil for that book when it first came out back in the 90s and still recall sitting chatting after a totally packed event in the bar of the lovely, old Cafe 1812 as he doodled a picture on the inside of my copy and signed it after the fans had all gone (I even remember him being impressed when a friend of mine produced his copy of Violent Cases to be signed and Neil at once recognised it as a first edition). Back then he had talked about possible movie work and here we were years later watching our second Film Festival screening of a film based on a story by Neil (MirrorMask was the year before last).
By Neil's standards the story is very simple and straightforward, not as layered as most of his other work in prose or comics, but as he said back at that event in the 90s he really wanted to make a straight fairy tale but for adults and that's also what the movie version brings. It doesn't try to be clever and postmodern, to reinvent the wheel. Instead it gives you a gorgeously warm fantasy with evil witches, a quest, romance, swashbuckling, magic, corrupt princes, an innocent hero and as a bonus Robert de Niro in a lady's bloomers dancing to the can-can. I mean what else do you need? Leave your cynicism at home and just wallow in a beautifully shot fairy tale (much of it shot in the islands of Scotland) which boasts a great cast (including Michelle Pfeiffer who just doesn't seem to be getting older, does she? Although ironically she ages in the film every time she uses her magic). Everyone left the cinema late at night with huge smiles on their faces, its just one of those sorts of films; you're never too old for a magical fairy tale. Of course some people think they are too old for such things, but that probably means they need it more than anyone, poor souls. It should get a general release in the UK this autumn (I think it has just come out in the US), so watch out for it.
My parents came through to visit before going off on their own holiday; I had a cunning plan to take them out for a cruise on the Maid of the Forth which would have been an early anniversary present and a way to spend the day with them too (sails from right under the mighty Forth Bridge down the river and includes a trip to the islands to visit the old monastery) but sadly that was the only day they weren't sailing because of some liners coming up the river that day. So we'll need to try again at some point, but at least we did get a fun day together anyway and a lovely lunch out at the canalside pub in the village of Ratho (great spot for food and drink). And then my old mate Bob through with his wee boys too, so again we all had fun. The boys are convinced I am a pirate because of my bandana and since they love pirates that makes me cool to them :-). Naturally I don't want to disappoint them and try to keep up my swashbuckling ways for them. They also like knights and swords and kept asking if they would see knights at the Castle - so when we found men in plate armour posing just down the slope from the Castle you can imagine how big their eyes opened! Movies, shows, books, drinks, food, friends and family, what a great break...
Friday, August 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Fantasy wimmin
While I've been off this week I noticed that the BBC was repeating the Munsters in the morning; I remember the repeats of the Munsters and the Addams Family from when I was a kid and it's interesting to see that they still keep getting repeated to new audiences (and those already converted like me) - and that they are still brilliant. Yvonne de Carlo who played Lily Munster passed away earlier this year, but it is nice to see her again in her prime (she was well-known as a very glamorous actress in the 50s before the Munsters came along). Like the Addams the Munsters plays with the conventions of the sit-com in a way that is pretty remarkable for the period, its still funny and the characters are great - watching the repeats has put a big smile on my face. It also reminded me of how much I fancied both Lily Munster and Morticia Addams when I was younger; I still do and suspect they played a major role in shaping my adoration of Gothic gals. So for no particular reason I thought I'd pick out a few women from the fantasy genres who have to rate as gorgeous.
1) Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams - the epitome of the luscious Gothic femme, long before it became a popular image or subculture and her demure performance was the perfect foil for John Astin's manic Gomez as he would grab her arm and kiss his way up it. And just how did they get even such a slim woman into that tight dress??? I do wish someone could sort out the various rights problems to reprint a collection of Charles Addams' original New Yorker cartoons which started them all off though. Meantime I make do with teasing my uncle who has a remarkable resemblance to the Addams' Uncle Fester.
2) Yvonne de Carlo as Lily Munster
If you do a bit of Googling you can easily find more pictures of Carolyn from her Hollywood Days in films like Salome, when she was considered a tremedously glamorous and sexy actress. The Munsters was never quite as good as the Addams Family, but as my dad once said, being slightly worse made it better in some ways. I loved the way Yvonne played the exotic Lily utterly straight, like a regular mother and wife, underplaying for comic effect perfectly and delivering a different sort of beauty from Carolyn's Morticia but just as enticing.
While I've been off this week I noticed that the BBC was repeating the Munsters in the morning; I remember the repeats of the Munsters and the Addams Family from when I was a kid and it's interesting to see that they still keep getting repeated to new audiences (and those already converted like me) - and that they are still brilliant. Yvonne de Carlo who played Lily Munster passed away earlier this year, but it is nice to see her again in her prime (she was well-known as a very glamorous actress in the 50s before the Munsters came along). Like the Addams the Munsters plays with the conventions of the sit-com in a way that is pretty remarkable for the period, its still funny and the characters are great - watching the repeats has put a big smile on my face. It also reminded me of how much I fancied both Lily Munster and Morticia Addams when I was younger; I still do and suspect they played a major role in shaping my adoration of Gothic gals. So for no particular reason I thought I'd pick out a few women from the fantasy genres who have to rate as gorgeous.
1) Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams - the epitome of the luscious Gothic femme, long before it became a popular image or subculture and her demure performance was the perfect foil for John Astin's manic Gomez as he would grab her arm and kiss his way up it. And just how did they get even such a slim woman into that tight dress??? I do wish someone could sort out the various rights problems to reprint a collection of Charles Addams' original New Yorker cartoons which started them all off though. Meantime I make do with teasing my uncle who has a remarkable resemblance to the Addams' Uncle Fester.
2) Yvonne de Carlo as Lily Munster
If you do a bit of Googling you can easily find more pictures of Carolyn from her Hollywood Days in films like Salome, when she was considered a tremedously glamorous and sexy actress. The Munsters was never quite as good as the Addams Family, but as my dad once said, being slightly worse made it better in some ways. I loved the way Yvonne played the exotic Lily utterly straight, like a regular mother and wife, underplaying for comic effect perfectly and delivering a different sort of beauty from Carolyn's Morticia but just as enticing.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Canadian comics banned in middle of Fringe performance
The Evening News tells of The Underground Comedy Invasion, comics from Canada, who have been performing at the Three Tuns pub, who were stopped in the middle of a show by a senior member of staff and ejected, their Fringe run there canceled. Apparently they had told jokes about child abuse, which is certainly in bad taste, but part of humour, especially underground humour, is to broach subjects which we might often find uncomfortable and distasteful - one of my comedy heroes, the great George Carlin has always stood up for that principle, where he says bollocks to anyone telling him there is any subject he can't make jokes about because the jokes are a way of talking about something, they don't imply support for something or condoning it - in other words a joke about something doesn't mean you are saying yeah, let's do it for real, nor should a joke be confused with reality since telling a joke is not the same thing as doing something. And really, you agreed to host some underground comics for the Fringe then you act outraged when they tell jokes you don't approve of??? Er, what a shock, distasteful humour in a Fringe stand-up show... Besides which, the altercation - seen on the video below - seems to have come about not when the comedians repeated the joke but when they tried to talk about how the management had told them not to repeat the joke - so telling the joke is a no-no and telling the audience that you aren't allowed to tell a particular joke is also apparently a no-no, which regardless of the content of the original joke seems a bit damned stupid to me.
Obviously this short clip is taken out of context, but the staff member comes across rather badly in it, just steaming in to shut the comic up as he tries to explain he can't tell a joke because he's been ordered not to, while the staff member also seems to confuse the joke with reality, shouting at audience members (his customers!) do you want your kids fingered??? Er, no-one is doing anything to kids there, man, you were talking about a fucking joke - this is like the cobblers in the media when Chris Morris did his Brass Eye special on child abuse, where he was showing how attitudes in the public and media go crazy over anything to do with it, precluding discussion in favour of extreme reaction. I doubt any of the comics are really trying to promote child abuse, this is a comedy act using bad taste and uncomfortable subject matter, but then so do a lot of comics, its a legitimate area for comics to explore. And asking them not to cover a subject in your venue is the right of the manager, of course, but then trying to shut them up when they tell folk about being gagged is just being OTT. Jeez, if we banned every comedian who told a joke that might be offensive to someone we'd never tell a bloody joke again anywhere (another point Carlin makes well). You know, instead of being grossly offended, if I find a comic's material to be offensive and/or unfunny I don't demand their head, I just don't laugh - let them stand there in silence on stage. Not gag them. Then tell them not to mention the gag and equate that with actual abuse.
The Evening News tells of The Underground Comedy Invasion, comics from Canada, who have been performing at the Three Tuns pub, who were stopped in the middle of a show by a senior member of staff and ejected, their Fringe run there canceled. Apparently they had told jokes about child abuse, which is certainly in bad taste, but part of humour, especially underground humour, is to broach subjects which we might often find uncomfortable and distasteful - one of my comedy heroes, the great George Carlin has always stood up for that principle, where he says bollocks to anyone telling him there is any subject he can't make jokes about because the jokes are a way of talking about something, they don't imply support for something or condoning it - in other words a joke about something doesn't mean you are saying yeah, let's do it for real, nor should a joke be confused with reality since telling a joke is not the same thing as doing something. And really, you agreed to host some underground comics for the Fringe then you act outraged when they tell jokes you don't approve of??? Er, what a shock, distasteful humour in a Fringe stand-up show... Besides which, the altercation - seen on the video below - seems to have come about not when the comedians repeated the joke but when they tried to talk about how the management had told them not to repeat the joke - so telling the joke is a no-no and telling the audience that you aren't allowed to tell a particular joke is also apparently a no-no, which regardless of the content of the original joke seems a bit damned stupid to me.
Obviously this short clip is taken out of context, but the staff member comes across rather badly in it, just steaming in to shut the comic up as he tries to explain he can't tell a joke because he's been ordered not to, while the staff member also seems to confuse the joke with reality, shouting at audience members (his customers!) do you want your kids fingered??? Er, no-one is doing anything to kids there, man, you were talking about a fucking joke - this is like the cobblers in the media when Chris Morris did his Brass Eye special on child abuse, where he was showing how attitudes in the public and media go crazy over anything to do with it, precluding discussion in favour of extreme reaction. I doubt any of the comics are really trying to promote child abuse, this is a comedy act using bad taste and uncomfortable subject matter, but then so do a lot of comics, its a legitimate area for comics to explore. And asking them not to cover a subject in your venue is the right of the manager, of course, but then trying to shut them up when they tell folk about being gagged is just being OTT. Jeez, if we banned every comedian who told a joke that might be offensive to someone we'd never tell a bloody joke again anywhere (another point Carlin makes well). You know, instead of being grossly offended, if I find a comic's material to be offensive and/or unfunny I don't demand their head, I just don't laugh - let them stand there in silence on stage. Not gag them. Then tell them not to mention the gag and equate that with actual abuse.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Midget glues dick to hoover at Fringe
Captain Dan the Demon Dwarf from the Circus of Horrors at the Edinburgh Fringe had to be taken to hospital after something went wrong with his act, part of which involves dragging a vacuum cleaner across the stage with his willy. A Fringe act, a stage, a hoover, an exposed cock and superglue = trip to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. The irony being the Circus of Horrors is almost next door to where the hospital stood for decades, before moving a couple of years back (the old grounds are being redeveloped for 'mixed' price apartments - in other words they will all go to rich buggers) so Captain Dan and his superglued dick and vacuum would have a much longer ride to the new hospital at the edge of town (handily placed for almost no-one in the city). Ouch. The lengths some men will go to get sucked off :-)...
Captain Dan the Demon Dwarf from the Circus of Horrors at the Edinburgh Fringe had to be taken to hospital after something went wrong with his act, part of which involves dragging a vacuum cleaner across the stage with his willy. A Fringe act, a stage, a hoover, an exposed cock and superglue = trip to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. The irony being the Circus of Horrors is almost next door to where the hospital stood for decades, before moving a couple of years back (the old grounds are being redeveloped for 'mixed' price apartments - in other words they will all go to rich buggers) so Captain Dan and his superglued dick and vacuum would have a much longer ride to the new hospital at the edge of town (handily placed for almost no-one in the city). Ouch. The lengths some men will go to get sucked off :-)...
Monday, August 20, 2007
Giant steps are what you take, walking on the Moon...
This afternoon at the Edinburgh Film Festival I caught the UK premiere of the documentary by David Sington, In the Shadow of the Moon, detailing the glories (and the tragedies) of one of the biggest undertakings humans ever launched themselves on, the Apollo programme. As soon as I saw this in the EIFF programme this year I knew I was going to see it. I was born at the height of the Space Race; Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong's astonishing, history-making flight to the Moon on Apollo 11 was still a year and a half away. I grew up with an astronaut space suit costume to play in while Gagarin and Armstrong were on posters as my boyhood heroes (they still are, some things you never grow out of); the idea of space exploration has lived inside me my entire life and as I approach the big four-oh birthday on the last day of this year I get a little sad that those promises of holidays in space we were told the future would hold have never materialised and it looks less and less like that boyhood dream will ever come true.
But still it weaves a magical spell on me; as the footage of those enormous Saturn Vs ascending the heavens on a column of fire flickered across the screen I could feel the old excitement rising - the boy in me is never far from the surface and images and ideas like this always bring it out. Much of the footage has never been seen before and is literally out of this world. The story of our first tentative steps out of the cradle of the Earth to our nearest neighbour is told in their own words by many of the NASA astronauts who made those epic journeys, voyages of discovery that stand in a long line of human endeavours such as the explorations of James Cook, Magellan or those unknown Polynesian sailors who crossed vast oceans on small boats made of reeds.
One of those men featured was David Scott, an Apollo commander - a man I actually met a few years back when his publicist came in to my old bookstore to say he was across the road in the Balmoral Hotel doing interviews with the Scottish press and would we like him to come across and sign some copies of the book he had co-authored with his friend the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (the first man to walk in space; his friend Arthur C Clarke would name a spaceship in his honour in the sequel to 2001). An ordinary day at work and then suddenly there I am chatting to a former astronaut and shaking hands with a man who had walked on the Moon; a man who got to live that boyhood dream of mine. Naturally I got one of those signed copies for myself; I've many signed books in my collection but only one signed by an author who has traveled far enough into space to look back and see the entirety of our world hanging in the void. We've all seen the pictures, but it wasn't until the crew of Apollo 8 voyaged around the dark side of the Moon that humans actually saw the entire Earth from space. They took the famous 'Earthrise' photograph, our world rising in the dark above the surface of the Moon, the furthest humans have yet been from our world.
Only a tiny handful of humans have ever seen that sight with their own eyes to this day, all now old men - to look at them in this film you could easily mistake them for someone's favourite uncle of grandfather. But in their prime these men dared death, road on a column of scientific dragon's fire further than anyone in the entire history of the world and in the process changed the way we see our little, beautiful world. It's so sad we've pulled back from those days; I'm not stupid, I'm well aware of my history and understand much of the colossal cost of the space programme was only met because of politics of the Cold War. And yet I can't help but feel we let ourselves become that much smaller as a species when we stopped pushing at the final frontier. Yes, I know we can spend the money on problems right here on Earth, but if we weren't so busy squabbling among ourselves we wouldn't need to waste so much on creating weapons - then we could spend that money on feeding and taking care of people here on Earth and have enough to explore, to go where no-one has gone before.
I still want to go.
This afternoon at the Edinburgh Film Festival I caught the UK premiere of the documentary by David Sington, In the Shadow of the Moon, detailing the glories (and the tragedies) of one of the biggest undertakings humans ever launched themselves on, the Apollo programme. As soon as I saw this in the EIFF programme this year I knew I was going to see it. I was born at the height of the Space Race; Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong's astonishing, history-making flight to the Moon on Apollo 11 was still a year and a half away. I grew up with an astronaut space suit costume to play in while Gagarin and Armstrong were on posters as my boyhood heroes (they still are, some things you never grow out of); the idea of space exploration has lived inside me my entire life and as I approach the big four-oh birthday on the last day of this year I get a little sad that those promises of holidays in space we were told the future would hold have never materialised and it looks less and less like that boyhood dream will ever come true.
But still it weaves a magical spell on me; as the footage of those enormous Saturn Vs ascending the heavens on a column of fire flickered across the screen I could feel the old excitement rising - the boy in me is never far from the surface and images and ideas like this always bring it out. Much of the footage has never been seen before and is literally out of this world. The story of our first tentative steps out of the cradle of the Earth to our nearest neighbour is told in their own words by many of the NASA astronauts who made those epic journeys, voyages of discovery that stand in a long line of human endeavours such as the explorations of James Cook, Magellan or those unknown Polynesian sailors who crossed vast oceans on small boats made of reeds.
One of those men featured was David Scott, an Apollo commander - a man I actually met a few years back when his publicist came in to my old bookstore to say he was across the road in the Balmoral Hotel doing interviews with the Scottish press and would we like him to come across and sign some copies of the book he had co-authored with his friend the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (the first man to walk in space; his friend Arthur C Clarke would name a spaceship in his honour in the sequel to 2001). An ordinary day at work and then suddenly there I am chatting to a former astronaut and shaking hands with a man who had walked on the Moon; a man who got to live that boyhood dream of mine. Naturally I got one of those signed copies for myself; I've many signed books in my collection but only one signed by an author who has traveled far enough into space to look back and see the entirety of our world hanging in the void. We've all seen the pictures, but it wasn't until the crew of Apollo 8 voyaged around the dark side of the Moon that humans actually saw the entire Earth from space. They took the famous 'Earthrise' photograph, our world rising in the dark above the surface of the Moon, the furthest humans have yet been from our world.
Only a tiny handful of humans have ever seen that sight with their own eyes to this day, all now old men - to look at them in this film you could easily mistake them for someone's favourite uncle of grandfather. But in their prime these men dared death, road on a column of scientific dragon's fire further than anyone in the entire history of the world and in the process changed the way we see our little, beautiful world. It's so sad we've pulled back from those days; I'm not stupid, I'm well aware of my history and understand much of the colossal cost of the space programme was only met because of politics of the Cold War. And yet I can't help but feel we let ourselves become that much smaller as a species when we stopped pushing at the final frontier. Yes, I know we can spend the money on problems right here on Earth, but if we weren't so busy squabbling among ourselves we wouldn't need to waste so much on creating weapons - then we could spend that money on feeding and taking care of people here on Earth and have enough to explore, to go where no-one has gone before.
I still want to go.
Necrophiliacs, please be gentle...
"And I like the idea of graveyards. I don’t want to be cremated, I want to be buried. Though it’s in my will that they’re not allowed to have an open coffin. But, I always say if you’re really famous someone steals your body and then you get two burials and more publicity. I always fear that in America, if you are a necrophiliac, where else are you gonna meet a body? In a funeral home! When you’re dead I think the word goes out: ‘You’ve got 36 hours, Anna Nicole’s here. The bidding starts at $150,000.’ I actually believe that does happen. I am afraid of that. If anyone bids for me, I hope they’re gentle. I hope I go for a high price if they bid on me and if my fear is true."
The great John Waters, the 'Pope of Trash', speaking in the Scotsman today. I love John Waters, if he's one of those counter culture figures in movies that if he hadn't existed he'd have to have been invented. And he also starred in one of the best Simpsons episodes ever (back when the show was still great and not watered down like today), the Homer Phobia episode.
"And I like the idea of graveyards. I don’t want to be cremated, I want to be buried. Though it’s in my will that they’re not allowed to have an open coffin. But, I always say if you’re really famous someone steals your body and then you get two burials and more publicity. I always fear that in America, if you are a necrophiliac, where else are you gonna meet a body? In a funeral home! When you’re dead I think the word goes out: ‘You’ve got 36 hours, Anna Nicole’s here. The bidding starts at $150,000.’ I actually believe that does happen. I am afraid of that. If anyone bids for me, I hope they’re gentle. I hope I go for a high price if they bid on me and if my fear is true."
The great John Waters, the 'Pope of Trash', speaking in the Scotsman today. I love John Waters, if he's one of those counter culture figures in movies that if he hadn't existed he'd have to have been invented. And he also starred in one of the best Simpsons episodes ever (back when the show was still great and not watered down like today), the Homer Phobia episode.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
That's a lot of cock
The BBC site has an article on a Chinese restaurant in Beijing (or as they probably call them there, just restaurants) where their specialty is, well, cock. No, it isn't a combination of knocking shop and eatery, it is a restaurant with a menu of all sorts of cooked penises (or should that be 'penii'???). As with claims from the dodgier parts of Chinese homeopathic medicine that involve animal parts the owners of the restaurant claim these are very good for you. Eugh. Makes me very glad to be a veggie - somehow can't imagine Linda McCartney's range doing veggie willy in the near future. Mind you, if this sort of thing happened in Scotland we'd probably deep fry the appendages.
The BBC site has an article on a Chinese restaurant in Beijing (or as they probably call them there, just restaurants) where their specialty is, well, cock. No, it isn't a combination of knocking shop and eatery, it is a restaurant with a menu of all sorts of cooked penises (or should that be 'penii'???). As with claims from the dodgier parts of Chinese homeopathic medicine that involve animal parts the owners of the restaurant claim these are very good for you. Eugh. Makes me very glad to be a veggie - somehow can't imagine Linda McCartney's range doing veggie willy in the near future. Mind you, if this sort of thing happened in Scotland we'd probably deep fry the appendages.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Referendum? Why would we want to know what the people think?
The three main opposition parties in Scotland have done pretty much what they threatened to do and joined together to try and block any possible referendum on the likelihood of Scottish independence in the face of the new SNP government's attempts. I remain far from convinced that independence is a good idea and so far the SNP hasn't really outlined exactly how it will work, how it can be paid for and sustained and how transnational obligations such as defence or even something as simple as running foreign embassies, will work. However, I am furious that the other political parties are not just campaigning against the idea of independence (which is their right if they choose) but against the idea of a referendum - put simply they are utterly against the idea of the citizens of the country being given the chance to put forward their own opinion, hardly a democratic stance. In fact, quite the opposite. If you don't believe in allowing the people to voice their own opinion and vote then why masquerade as a 'democratic representative of the people'? And I'm especially ashamed of the Scottish Liberal Democrats partaking in such anti-democratic actions - they held this stance before the recent elections and it certainly cost them my vote.
The three main opposition parties in Scotland have done pretty much what they threatened to do and joined together to try and block any possible referendum on the likelihood of Scottish independence in the face of the new SNP government's attempts. I remain far from convinced that independence is a good idea and so far the SNP hasn't really outlined exactly how it will work, how it can be paid for and sustained and how transnational obligations such as defence or even something as simple as running foreign embassies, will work. However, I am furious that the other political parties are not just campaigning against the idea of independence (which is their right if they choose) but against the idea of a referendum - put simply they are utterly against the idea of the citizens of the country being given the chance to put forward their own opinion, hardly a democratic stance. In fact, quite the opposite. If you don't believe in allowing the people to voice their own opinion and vote then why masquerade as a 'democratic representative of the people'? And I'm especially ashamed of the Scottish Liberal Democrats partaking in such anti-democratic actions - they held this stance before the recent elections and it certainly cost them my vote.
Protesting is terrorism
Well, well, well, what a bloody surprise - the police, government authorities and the multi-million pound business that is BAA are using every dirty trick in the book (many of those tricks were added in recent years by Blair's junta 'to protect us') to gag the climate protest camp at Heathrow Airport. Anyone who has been following the pre-amble to this will not be surprised - sites like Boing Boing have been following the attempts by BAA ahead of the camp to try and pre-emptively gag them and keep them away so no-one sees their protest about the impact of ever-increasing air travel on the environment (not just the pollution in the air, Heathrow is still physically expanding and devouring more land, creating more noise for local residents and if a new runway goes ahead more than likely there will be compulsory purchases of people's homes as they are forced out to make way for it).
"With the current terrorism threat, keeping Heathrow safe and secure is a very serious business. Any action taken by the protesters that distracts us or the police from this task is irresponsible and unlawfu." Mark Bullock from BAA Heathrow. Methinks Mr Bullock is talking bollocks.
So in effect we have a big player in a business which is causing massive amounts of continuing and growing damage to the environment using very dodgy laws to try and stop people protesting the impact that industry is having, at the connivance of the police who are happy to employ very shady anti-terror laws to try and intimidate protesters from turning up and to harass them if they do. I'd guess this also means the usual method of police intelligence (if that isn't a contradiction in terms) units filming people protesting so they can identify them and build a file - can't have people thinking they have the right to freedom of expression and protest in a democracy, can we? This is exactly the sort of heavy-handed action folks like comedian Mark Thomas have been protesting (Mark did a great Radio 4 show which exposed and ridiculed the laws Blair brought in to make legitimate protest in and around Westminster and the seat of government, laws supposedly to protect us but rather obviously there to protect twisted politicians).
Yeah, I know, some of you might be thinking, so what, bunch of eco-hippes, get a job. And maybe for some of them you might be right. But even if you don't agree with their views on the environment (and there are a lot of people who still insist humans have no influence on global warming, it's all nature - these folks remind me of the shagwits who all through the 70s said "there's no scientific evidence smoking harms you") then think about the continuing implications of the actions of the police, BAA and the government. Think about the fact that very dodgy laws rushed through without proper consultation or analysis in the House to cope with 'emergencies' sparked by the War On Terror (WOT?) are again being used to stop British citizens exercising their fundamental right to freedom of speech and to protest. Those are absolutely critical to any democratic society; people fought and died to preserve those rights and here we have a corrupt government that has abused serious global events to push through laws which can be employed in any bloody way they want to try and minimise dissent (and oh the irony of this being a government which says it is leading the world in tackling climate change). Regardless of your views on what the protesters are saying that should worry us all.
Well, well, well, what a bloody surprise - the police, government authorities and the multi-million pound business that is BAA are using every dirty trick in the book (many of those tricks were added in recent years by Blair's junta 'to protect us') to gag the climate protest camp at Heathrow Airport. Anyone who has been following the pre-amble to this will not be surprised - sites like Boing Boing have been following the attempts by BAA ahead of the camp to try and pre-emptively gag them and keep them away so no-one sees their protest about the impact of ever-increasing air travel on the environment (not just the pollution in the air, Heathrow is still physically expanding and devouring more land, creating more noise for local residents and if a new runway goes ahead more than likely there will be compulsory purchases of people's homes as they are forced out to make way for it).
"With the current terrorism threat, keeping Heathrow safe and secure is a very serious business. Any action taken by the protesters that distracts us or the police from this task is irresponsible and unlawfu." Mark Bullock from BAA Heathrow. Methinks Mr Bullock is talking bollocks.
So in effect we have a big player in a business which is causing massive amounts of continuing and growing damage to the environment using very dodgy laws to try and stop people protesting the impact that industry is having, at the connivance of the police who are happy to employ very shady anti-terror laws to try and intimidate protesters from turning up and to harass them if they do. I'd guess this also means the usual method of police intelligence (if that isn't a contradiction in terms) units filming people protesting so they can identify them and build a file - can't have people thinking they have the right to freedom of expression and protest in a democracy, can we? This is exactly the sort of heavy-handed action folks like comedian Mark Thomas have been protesting (Mark did a great Radio 4 show which exposed and ridiculed the laws Blair brought in to make legitimate protest in and around Westminster and the seat of government, laws supposedly to protect us but rather obviously there to protect twisted politicians).
Yeah, I know, some of you might be thinking, so what, bunch of eco-hippes, get a job. And maybe for some of them you might be right. But even if you don't agree with their views on the environment (and there are a lot of people who still insist humans have no influence on global warming, it's all nature - these folks remind me of the shagwits who all through the 70s said "there's no scientific evidence smoking harms you") then think about the continuing implications of the actions of the police, BAA and the government. Think about the fact that very dodgy laws rushed through without proper consultation or analysis in the House to cope with 'emergencies' sparked by the War On Terror (WOT?) are again being used to stop British citizens exercising their fundamental right to freedom of speech and to protest. Those are absolutely critical to any democratic society; people fought and died to preserve those rights and here we have a corrupt government that has abused serious global events to push through laws which can be employed in any bloody way they want to try and minimise dissent (and oh the irony of this being a government which says it is leading the world in tackling climate change). Regardless of your views on what the protesters are saying that should worry us all.
Friday, August 10, 2007
How to be a citizen
The Scotsman had a piece on the rather arbitrary cobblers that is the citizenship test for immigrants, which I'm guessing a lot of actual British citizens would struggle to get the 75% minimum for a pass. And to be honest some of us would struggle to answer them not out of ignorance but because the questions are ridiculous, often rather subjective - if I had constructed a questionnaire this addled and weak back in my college days my tutor would have told me to go and rethink it to make the questions clear and understandable so that the results would also be understandable. Here's my bash at some of them:
The Scotsman had a piece on the rather arbitrary cobblers that is the citizenship test for immigrants, which I'm guessing a lot of actual British citizens would struggle to get the 75% minimum for a pass. And to be honest some of us would struggle to answer them not out of ignorance but because the questions are ridiculous, often rather subjective - if I had constructed a questionnaire this addled and weak back in my college days my tutor would have told me to go and rethink it to make the questions clear and understandable so that the results would also be understandable. Here's my bash at some of them:
1. POPULATION
a) How many people live in the countries of the UK?
A lot. I don't know them all personally. Besides, how do you describe 'live'? Some of the people will be dying, not living, some will be existing on the margins, not living.
b) What is the census and how is census data collected and used?
It's how the military-industrial complex keep an eye on us all using satellites and mind rays.
c) How many people in the UK belong to an ethnic minority and which are the country's largest minority groups?
How do you define what an ethnic minority is? General terms like 'Asian' or more precise like 'Bangladeshi'? Personally I'd guess Scots would be the biggest ethnic minority.
2. REGIONS OF BRITAIN
a) Where are Geordie, Cockney and Scouse dialects spoken?
Geordie and Scouse are largely spoken on Channel 4, Cockney on Eastenders on the Beeb
b) What languages other than English are spoken in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales?
Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Ulster Scots, BroadScots, Doric, Hindi, Polish, Klingon and smeg knows what else
3. RELIGION AND TOLERANCE
a) How many people say they have a religion?
Define religion - are we including all of us who put Jedi down on the last census? Don't giggle, its no sillier than most other organised religions.
b) What are the largest religious groups?
Does stupidity count as a religious group?
c) What is the Church of England and who is its head? What is the main Christian group in Scotland?
The Church of England is the English Church - duuuhhhhh... It's head is some ponce in girly robes who descends from men who let King Henry be rather nasty to his wives. The main group in Scotland is Dour Bastards
4. CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS
a) Which sports and sporting events are popular in the UK?
Popular with whom? Does video gaming marathons count?
b) Do people tend to live in towns and cities or in the country?
Simple answer - yes, they do.
c) What and when are the patron saints' days of the four countries of the UK?
Since we don't get holidays for them, who gives a rat's arse? Saint Andrews is the 30th of November, no idea when the rest are
d) What are the main Christian festivals?
The same as the main pagan festivals, which those darned Christians upped and stole from our ancestors, sneaky buggers. In a secular society why is this important for a citizenship test?
5. HOW THE UNITED KINGDOM IS GOVERNED
The obvious answer to this entire section is obviously 'poorly'
a) What type of constitution does the UK have?
Heath Robinson
b) What is the Queen's official role and what ceremonial duties does she have?
She is in charge of eating swans and is the principal waver to people for the UK
c) What is the House of Lords and who are its members?
That's the nice building where rich people who have paid political parties lots of money get sent to, but no-one ever gets blamed for it. A fine example to new citizens on the honesty and probity of the British governing classes.
d) What are MPs? How often are elections held and who forms the government?
Most of them are useless twats. Elections are held whenever the Prime Minister decides to call them. The government is formed by whatever MPs in the largest party licked the leader's arse correctly
e) How do elections for the House of Commons work? What do the party Whips do?
They don't. MPs are more often than not returned for a constituency despite having only 30% of the vote because of the stupid first past the post system
f) What is the role of the Prime Minister?
To talk shite, lie to the nation and agree with whatever bloody crazy idea the American government cooks up next
g) Which areas of policy remain under the control of the UK government?
Whatever the EU and American decide to leave us
6. HOW THE UNITED KINGDOM IS GOVERNED
a) What is proportional representation and where is it used?
We have a bit of in Scotland, where it is used to make Labour's life a misery.
b) What services are provided by local authorities?
I dunno - the fuckers keep taking more of my money every year and I don't know what I'm getting for that
c) What are quangos and non-departmental public bodies?
Let me answer that by saying two words - pigs and trough
d) Who has the right to vote and at what age? How and when do you register to vote?
You have the right to vote at 18, but most of the time your vote will be utterly wasted by the system, even assuming the procedures all work in the first plac
e) What rights do citizens of the European Union states have to travel and work?
We have the right to let lots of Polish people work here. At least they do a good jobl just wish they'd learn to park properly.
f) What is the Commonwealth?
A fucking joke?
7. THE CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN
a) Do women have equal rights in voting, education and work, and has this always been the case?
Yes, they have equal rights, just don't expect them in real life, gals. No, this hasn't always been the case - some women got the vote after WWI, some after burning their underwear and threatening MPs with Germaine Greer's saggy bum. But cheer up, you still live longer than men, And most of them only got the vote in the late 19th century, not that much longer ahead of the women on the historical scale
8. HOUSING
a) How many people in the UK own their own home? What is a mortgage?
The number is dropping as the rates keep going up and more of us can't pay the mortgage - thanks Gordon Brown and the Bank of England, you selfish, uncaring bastards
b) How is the process of buying a house different in Scotland?
We're just much nicer than everyone else and most of our homes are still likely to be above water after global warming raises the oceans, unlike southern England.
c) Which organisations can people rent houses from? How do people apply for council accommodation?
Many rentals will be from immigrant businessfolks who are probably taking this test. Applying to the council involves backhanders and praying and a long, long wait for even a crap place in a ned-infested hole
d) Which organisations offer help to homeless people?
Go to the voluntary and charity ones, kids, the government don't give a monkeys
9. SERVICES IN AND FOR THE HOME
a) What does the amount of council tax charged by local government depend on?
How much the bastards think they can screw out of us
b) Which groups of people can receive a reduction in the council tax they pay or benefits?
Those who know how to avoid the unfair thing
10. MONEY AND CREDIT
a) What are the values of the UK banknotes?
That depends - value as compared to what? Dollars? The gold standard?
b) Where can people get or change foreign currency?
Foreign countries for a start.
c) What is social security and who receives it?
A mix of people who genuinely need it and some scunners who milk it and leech of the rest
11. HEALTH
a) What is the NHS?
Overstretched?
b) What is the role of a general practitioner (GP)?
To be condescending to you then laugh at the money they get for less hours from their new contracts while ill people wonder why they can't get a doctor out of hours
c) Which groups of people receive free prescriptions?
The lucky few. The rest of us are doubly fucked by paying taxes and stamp for the NHS then pay over the odds for a prescription that might be more than the cost of the drugs to keep pharmaceutical companies happy
12. EDUCATION
a)What are the ages of compulsory education? How does this differ in Northern Ireland? Who is responsible for ensuring a child attends school?
Minimum leaving age is 16 for normal folks, although generally only thickoes leave at this age. For neds it is about 10, but this is generally a good thing as it gets them out of the way to leave room for proper students with brains. I have no idea what it is in Northern Ireland, but since the BBC doesn't even seem to realise Scotland takes different school holidays from England, so what?
b) At what age do children go to secondary school? How does this differ in Scotland?
Around 10-11 in Scotland, no idea what it is elsewhere and why would I? And by extension why would an immigrant?
c) What are faith schools?
A fucking waste of money - why are my taxes used to subsidise someone else's bloody belief system which I fundamentally disapprove of? Great way for religious leaders to keep brainwashing the young though isn't it?
d) What is the role of a school governing body (or a school board in Scotland)?
To throw cheese and wine parties
13. LEISURE
a) What is the film classification system? What are the classifications?
It is the arbitrary way some unelected and unrepresentative people get to control what grown adults in a free society can see. The classifications are a load of toss.
b) What is the National Trust? c) How old must people be before they can buy alcohol? d) How old must people be to go into betting shops?
The national trust is a place for middle class people in barbour jackets to get together. To buy alcohol you must look old enough or persuade an adult to get it for you. You're old enough to go to the bookies when your dad has a broken leg and needs a line put on the 4.15 at Cheltenham.
14. TRAVEL AND TRANSPORT
a) How long can overseas driving licences be used for in the UK?
Why the fuck would someone living here as a citizen know that? Surely they'd have a UK license
b) Where can people purchase a road tax disc?
From the Road Tax Disc ship
c) What are the speed limits for cars and motorcycles?
Where? The speed limits vary depending where you are, urban area, near a school, motorway and if you are near a speed camera. Of course, Jeremy Clarkson is exempt from all such restrictions
15. LOOKING FOR WORK
a) Who can be a referee?
Usually a bloke in a black top with a whistle. I recommend the Acme Thunderer as the finest whistle known to man
16. AT WORK
a) What is the purpose of a pay slip?
To induce tears in grown men when they see it and think "that's it?"
b) What is National Insurance? How is it paid? How can people obtain a National Insurance number?
That's what pays for our great welfare system that regularly lets us down
c) What is the State Pension age for men and for women?
I'm not sure, is it still older for men in the hope more of us will die earlier and so not get back a fraction of what we paid in? Now that's equality for us. Welcome to Britain!
Sunset song
The view from the top of Arthur's Seat last night as the sun set across the city, dipping down over the Forth towards the hills of Fife. My friend Gordon decided on a whim to take Bruce the dog for a walk since it was such a fine evening and I went along - and this was the view we found as Bruce ran around looking for rabbits. I'm surprised this came out - no tripod, handheld and looking right towards the setting sun, I thought it would come out blurred and glared out. At the very top were tourists as well as locals enjoying this sight, as the world turned copper in that magical transition zone between the light of day and the dark of night, that magical realm of twilight when the Fair Folks were believed to come out to play in our world. I wonder, did our distant ancestors stand on this spot after the retreat of the great glaciers had sculpted the land, looking out at this view, praying for the sun to return.
I shot this brief video from the summit to give a 360 panoramic view; just think, this is a view millions of years in the making. Continents moving, crashing into one another to raise the mountains that shape Scotland, volcanoes born and then dying, glaciers passing, carving the world, people arriving, building, changing. I love that we have an extinct volcano right here, in the middle of a Royal Park in the heart of the city (I don't love how I huff and puff going up it these days - in my 20s I cycled up and down this all the time easily). And Arthur's Seat itself is part of our history - from the mysterious small coffins found here with little, rudely carved dolls in them (some think they were left as memorials to to Hutton, standing there pondering the mystery of the rocks themselves and forming ideas that would give birth to the science of geology and our modern understanding of how our magnificent world formed.
The view from the top of Arthur's Seat last night as the sun set across the city, dipping down over the Forth towards the hills of Fife. My friend Gordon decided on a whim to take Bruce the dog for a walk since it was such a fine evening and I went along - and this was the view we found as Bruce ran around looking for rabbits. I'm surprised this came out - no tripod, handheld and looking right towards the setting sun, I thought it would come out blurred and glared out. At the very top were tourists as well as locals enjoying this sight, as the world turned copper in that magical transition zone between the light of day and the dark of night, that magical realm of twilight when the Fair Folks were believed to come out to play in our world. I wonder, did our distant ancestors stand on this spot after the retreat of the great glaciers had sculpted the land, looking out at this view, praying for the sun to return.
I shot this brief video from the summit to give a 360 panoramic view; just think, this is a view millions of years in the making. Continents moving, crashing into one another to raise the mountains that shape Scotland, volcanoes born and then dying, glaciers passing, carving the world, people arriving, building, changing. I love that we have an extinct volcano right here, in the middle of a Royal Park in the heart of the city (I don't love how I huff and puff going up it these days - in my 20s I cycled up and down this all the time easily). And Arthur's Seat itself is part of our history - from the mysterious small coffins found here with little, rudely carved dolls in them (some think they were left as memorials to to Hutton, standing there pondering the mystery of the rocks themselves and forming ideas that would give birth to the science of geology and our modern understanding of how our magnificent world formed.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Simpson
Not the yellow cartoon variety this time, but Doctor James Young Simpson, one of Edinburgh's many noted contributor's to medical science and also the first man to be knighted for services to medicine. On the way home tonight the bus was stopped further back from a junction than usual because of the sheer business of the city during Festival time. I looked up from my book and noticed that ten feet up on the western wall of the ultra-posh Balmoral Hotel is a plaque I've never noticed before, despite passing it a thousand times (just the wrong spot to be noticed as you are walking past). And the plaque commemorates the spot where a pharmacy used to stand before the hotel; it was here that the chemist prepared the chloroform that James Young Simpson would use in 1847 as he experimented with anesthesia and pain relief for medical procedures. Many resisted his work at first (which sounds crazy to us - imagine many medical procedures without anesthesia?!?!) as 'un-natural' but its use took off when Queen Victoria gave in an used it to ease childbirth. I'm sure more than a few mothers will silently thank that chemist and Simpson for starting a line of modern medicine that eases the miracle of birth :-). Simpson I knew about, but I had no idea that plaque was there or the chemist's business either.
Not the yellow cartoon variety this time, but Doctor James Young Simpson, one of Edinburgh's many noted contributor's to medical science and also the first man to be knighted for services to medicine. On the way home tonight the bus was stopped further back from a junction than usual because of the sheer business of the city during Festival time. I looked up from my book and noticed that ten feet up on the western wall of the ultra-posh Balmoral Hotel is a plaque I've never noticed before, despite passing it a thousand times (just the wrong spot to be noticed as you are walking past). And the plaque commemorates the spot where a pharmacy used to stand before the hotel; it was here that the chemist prepared the chloroform that James Young Simpson would use in 1847 as he experimented with anesthesia and pain relief for medical procedures. Many resisted his work at first (which sounds crazy to us - imagine many medical procedures without anesthesia?!?!) as 'un-natural' but its use took off when Queen Victoria gave in an used it to ease childbirth. I'm sure more than a few mothers will silently thank that chemist and Simpson for starting a line of modern medicine that eases the miracle of birth :-). Simpson I knew about, but I had no idea that plaque was there or the chemist's business either.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Film Festival moves
The Edinburgh International Film Festival - an annual fixture for me - is moving after decades and next year will move to June instead of during the Festival period in August. According to their site this is to give them a better chance to attract more film biz folks rather than competing against some other major international film festivals and make it more accessible being outside the madhouse of Festival time. Which may be the case, but dammit, I'm really pissed off about the move - I often take time off to do the Film Festival here in Edinburgh and while I'm off in August I can also do some Fringe, Book Festival etc. Now I am going to have to pick which I want to take my time off for and I suspect I won't be the only person who likes to do them all - whichever I pick I'm going to miss on the other. Damn, damn, dammit. I wonder if the attendance will go up as people from outside the city come just for the Film Fest or if it will go down because they were also drawn by the world's largest arts festival?
The Edinburgh International Film Festival - an annual fixture for me - is moving after decades and next year will move to June instead of during the Festival period in August. According to their site this is to give them a better chance to attract more film biz folks rather than competing against some other major international film festivals and make it more accessible being outside the madhouse of Festival time. Which may be the case, but dammit, I'm really pissed off about the move - I often take time off to do the Film Festival here in Edinburgh and while I'm off in August I can also do some Fringe, Book Festival etc. Now I am going to have to pick which I want to take my time off for and I suspect I won't be the only person who likes to do them all - whichever I pick I'm going to miss on the other. Damn, damn, dammit. I wonder if the attendance will go up as people from outside the city come just for the Film Fest or if it will go down because they were also drawn by the world's largest arts festival?
Say 'Cheese'!
Dammit, the very cool Gentlemen's Duel animation I mentioned the other day has been pulled - I heard from a friend that the studio hadn't okayed the web release, so that was probably why it had been removed. Which is a shame because it seemed to be getting some great word of mouth which would suggest to me they should consider sticking it back up in one form or another since it was doing their studio's rep no end of good.
However, since that one is gone, here is another cool animation I came across this week via Steve Ogden's rather fine AnimWatch site: "Cheese" by Slovakian animator Peter Harkaly, a graduate of the Vancouver Film School. I love the old 40s style story of the mouse and the spring trap and the cheese - even the music adds to that classic feel. Six months of work according to AnimWatch (one of the especially nice things about the site is that Steve doesn't just post the animation, he posts a bit on the artist and work as well, it's a great site) and I like the fact that Peter chose to ignore his mentor's advice and render fur for his mouse - not easy even when you have a full animation studio working on it, so pretty brave of him to do. It's only a couple of minutes, but very funny and nicely done.
Dammit, the very cool Gentlemen's Duel animation I mentioned the other day has been pulled - I heard from a friend that the studio hadn't okayed the web release, so that was probably why it had been removed. Which is a shame because it seemed to be getting some great word of mouth which would suggest to me they should consider sticking it back up in one form or another since it was doing their studio's rep no end of good.
However, since that one is gone, here is another cool animation I came across this week via Steve Ogden's rather fine AnimWatch site: "Cheese" by Slovakian animator Peter Harkaly, a graduate of the Vancouver Film School. I love the old 40s style story of the mouse and the spring trap and the cheese - even the music adds to that classic feel. Six months of work according to AnimWatch (one of the especially nice things about the site is that Steve doesn't just post the animation, he posts a bit on the artist and work as well, it's a great site) and I like the fact that Peter chose to ignore his mentor's advice and render fur for his mouse - not easy even when you have a full animation studio working on it, so pretty brave of him to do. It's only a couple of minutes, but very funny and nicely done.
Monday, August 6, 2007
A Gentlemen's Duel
I came across this animation via Boing Boing today and thought it was terrific as a comedy French and English duo compete for the favours of a rather busty noblewoman (the men can't keep their eyes from her chest) which ends in a duel - at which point they climb into wonderful steampunk battle suits which look as if they should have come from a crate marked 'acme'. The creators have clearly watched a lot of classic cartoons...
I came across this animation via Boing Boing today and thought it was terrific as a comedy French and English duo compete for the favours of a rather busty noblewoman (the men can't keep their eyes from her chest) which ends in a duel - at which point they climb into wonderful steampunk battle suits which look as if they should have come from a crate marked 'acme'. The creators have clearly watched a lot of classic cartoons...
Simpsons
Since we were going to see the Simpsons movie on Saturday I thought I'd swing by and get the tickets in the afternoon in case it was busy later, although in the event the auditorium was half full. I think I got the ticket clerk who is either the stupidest or, being kind, perhaps just having one of those days. I tell her I want the 8.45 showing and she says, right, 4.15. No, 8.45, please. She looks a bit confused and then goes, oh, okay (not sure where she got 4.15 from at all, but hey); I tell her I need two tickets, putting one on my cinema pass card, paying for the other on my debit card, handing her both as I do. She takes them and looks at them like she has never seen a plastic card before (bear in mind this cinema has its own card which I use regularly).
I have to explain to her again that I want two tickets for that performance and am paying for one, the other is on my own pass, again waving the cards in front of her so it is pretty obvious visually if she can't grasp spoken words. She takes them slowly, looks at them uncertainly then picks at her keyboard. So, that would be one ticket and one other ticket - so you really want two tickets? Er, yes, one and one would be two, which is what I've asked you for several times now... She did finally get there, although she forgot to ask me which seats we wanted. Jeez, we all have off days, but this girl was slower than a tortoise on Prozac.
And was it worth it after that? Well, no. My friend pointed out one of the biggest problems with the Simpsons movie is that it isn't really a movie. As with the X-Files movie it is really just a longer than usual episode with a bigger budget, which doesn't carry a movie. And as with the X-Files movie I have a general dislike of TV shows making a movie version while the series is still running. After the end of the run, as with Firefely or Star Trek, sure, but generally doing a movie when the show is still continuing seems to be to be just a flagrant cash cow. South Park is an exception here as it offered something unusual and different from the series as well as providing a story that worked as a movie. The Simpsons didn't. Don't get me wrong, parts of it are funny, there are some scenes that made me laugh, but it doesn't hold together and overall seemed weak and somewhat futile.
Mind you, I've not thought much of the TV episodes either in recent years. I really loved the Simpsons for many years, but the last two or three seasons have been poor; as with the movie they have some scenes which are brilliant but I can't recall an entire episode which worked for me in the last few seasons, only some scenes, but never an entire episode; magnify that problem by the length of the movie and you have a very poor offering which dilutes the genius of the earlier show. Heresy perhaps to suggest the Simps is past its sell-by date, but it hasn't worked for me for a while now and the announcement that there would be several seasons more after the weak movie depresses me because it tarnishes the reputation it had during its high water mark. As with the X-Files, good shows need to know when and how to bow out, not just keep milking a tired series for money and so ruining the memories of the earlier, better years (of which there were many). Meantime they are talking about another X-Files movie...
Since we were going to see the Simpsons movie on Saturday I thought I'd swing by and get the tickets in the afternoon in case it was busy later, although in the event the auditorium was half full. I think I got the ticket clerk who is either the stupidest or, being kind, perhaps just having one of those days. I tell her I want the 8.45 showing and she says, right, 4.15. No, 8.45, please. She looks a bit confused and then goes, oh, okay (not sure where she got 4.15 from at all, but hey); I tell her I need two tickets, putting one on my cinema pass card, paying for the other on my debit card, handing her both as I do. She takes them and looks at them like she has never seen a plastic card before (bear in mind this cinema has its own card which I use regularly).
I have to explain to her again that I want two tickets for that performance and am paying for one, the other is on my own pass, again waving the cards in front of her so it is pretty obvious visually if she can't grasp spoken words. She takes them slowly, looks at them uncertainly then picks at her keyboard. So, that would be one ticket and one other ticket - so you really want two tickets? Er, yes, one and one would be two, which is what I've asked you for several times now... She did finally get there, although she forgot to ask me which seats we wanted. Jeez, we all have off days, but this girl was slower than a tortoise on Prozac.
And was it worth it after that? Well, no. My friend pointed out one of the biggest problems with the Simpsons movie is that it isn't really a movie. As with the X-Files movie it is really just a longer than usual episode with a bigger budget, which doesn't carry a movie. And as with the X-Files movie I have a general dislike of TV shows making a movie version while the series is still running. After the end of the run, as with Firefely or Star Trek, sure, but generally doing a movie when the show is still continuing seems to be to be just a flagrant cash cow. South Park is an exception here as it offered something unusual and different from the series as well as providing a story that worked as a movie. The Simpsons didn't. Don't get me wrong, parts of it are funny, there are some scenes that made me laugh, but it doesn't hold together and overall seemed weak and somewhat futile.
Mind you, I've not thought much of the TV episodes either in recent years. I really loved the Simpsons for many years, but the last two or three seasons have been poor; as with the movie they have some scenes which are brilliant but I can't recall an entire episode which worked for me in the last few seasons, only some scenes, but never an entire episode; magnify that problem by the length of the movie and you have a very poor offering which dilutes the genius of the earlier show. Heresy perhaps to suggest the Simps is past its sell-by date, but it hasn't worked for me for a while now and the announcement that there would be several seasons more after the weak movie depresses me because it tarnishes the reputation it had during its high water mark. As with the X-Files, good shows need to know when and how to bow out, not just keep milking a tired series for money and so ruining the memories of the earlier, better years (of which there were many). Meantime they are talking about another X-Files movie...
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Fire
Friday morning's ride to work was a pain; after being stuck in log-jammed traffic for a good while the bus finally inched towards the West End where we discovered there was a major fire on Princes Street, which had closed the whole thing down, forcing the buses to divert. Since so many go along Princes Street this made a real mess of city traffic and I ended up having to get out well away from work and walking the rest of the way. At least it was a nice morning for a change and not pouring down as usual. As I walked through the Meadows, trying to to be too distracted by a large-chested woman jogging past (the bounce was like the gas suspension on those old Citroens), I noticed some unusual marketing for a Fringe show - instead of flyers they had put chalk outlines of bodies, like a crime scene, on the paths with the show name and venue written inside.
Only partially successful as marketing though - I thought they were cool and passed several (if I hadn't been on a hurry to get to work before it was even later I'd have stopped for a pic, they've probably washed away in the rain now) but all I could recall of them ten minutes later was the cool chalk body outline, not the name of the show or venue. As one friend commented, it was a bit like the cool TV ad from a couple of years back where various components of a car all worked in pieces to make the next piece work - great visual ad, but neither of us can ever recall what make of car it was promoting (and didn't really care anyway).
I glimpsed smoke from the burning building as the bus turned up onto a diversion and could also see the tall ladder platform - it had a lot of firefighters there and was fairly major. It turned out to be Romanes and Paterson, a shop dealing in kilts and all sorts of Scottish material. Princes Street on the south side is a view to the Castle and Old Town, but the shop side is a real dog's breakfast of buildings, with a number of fine, old buildings and some truly hideous monstrosities that were allowed to be built there in the 60s and 70s (not architecture's finest eras) which utterly ruin that side of a major, historic street. And of course it was an old building from 1878 (which is actually new by Edinburgh standards, really) that caught light and not one of the brutally ugly 60s horrors which would be better suited to a shopping block in Murmansk. Couldn't the gods of architecture and fire have gotten together on this one?
Friday morning's ride to work was a pain; after being stuck in log-jammed traffic for a good while the bus finally inched towards the West End where we discovered there was a major fire on Princes Street, which had closed the whole thing down, forcing the buses to divert. Since so many go along Princes Street this made a real mess of city traffic and I ended up having to get out well away from work and walking the rest of the way. At least it was a nice morning for a change and not pouring down as usual. As I walked through the Meadows, trying to to be too distracted by a large-chested woman jogging past (the bounce was like the gas suspension on those old Citroens), I noticed some unusual marketing for a Fringe show - instead of flyers they had put chalk outlines of bodies, like a crime scene, on the paths with the show name and venue written inside.
Only partially successful as marketing though - I thought they were cool and passed several (if I hadn't been on a hurry to get to work before it was even later I'd have stopped for a pic, they've probably washed away in the rain now) but all I could recall of them ten minutes later was the cool chalk body outline, not the name of the show or venue. As one friend commented, it was a bit like the cool TV ad from a couple of years back where various components of a car all worked in pieces to make the next piece work - great visual ad, but neither of us can ever recall what make of car it was promoting (and didn't really care anyway).
I glimpsed smoke from the burning building as the bus turned up onto a diversion and could also see the tall ladder platform - it had a lot of firefighters there and was fairly major. It turned out to be Romanes and Paterson, a shop dealing in kilts and all sorts of Scottish material. Princes Street on the south side is a view to the Castle and Old Town, but the shop side is a real dog's breakfast of buildings, with a number of fine, old buildings and some truly hideous monstrosities that were allowed to be built there in the 60s and 70s (not architecture's finest eras) which utterly ruin that side of a major, historic street. And of course it was an old building from 1878 (which is actually new by Edinburgh standards, really) that caught light and not one of the brutally ugly 60s horrors which would be better suited to a shopping block in Murmansk. Couldn't the gods of architecture and fire have gotten together on this one?
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Binari - Korean musicians at the Edinburgh Fringe
The Korean musicians I was talking about earlier, Binari, setting up for the Edinburgh Fringe as the Festival circus hits town. This is in Edinburgh University's historic Old College building quadrangle.
The Korean musicians I was talking about earlier, Binari, setting up for the Edinburgh Fringe as the Festival circus hits town. This is in Edinburgh University's historic Old College building quadrangle.
Fringe time
Its Edinburgh, its August, its time for the first stirrings of the world's largest arts festival. The Fringe starts officially over the weekend, but already most shows are in town and running their (much cheaper tickets) previews. The husband and son of Mel's cousin are over from Norway and I met them all straight from work at the Pleasance, one of the main spots for Fringe life. Mel and I introduced the Fringe newbies to our laid back way of doing it, which is to park out bums on a seat in the cobbled courtyard of the Pleasance (a hub with dozens of shows going on all the time, from tiny rooms to proper theatre sized shows) and wait for the many people coming round giving out flyers and telling folks about shows until we saw one we liked and off we went to see Son of a Preacher man, a stand-up comedy with Markus Birdman, an aetheist son of a clergyman - it was brilliant and I highly recommend it if you're going Fringeing.
Afterwards we headed back down to the Royal Mile to get some food at Wannaburger and as we approached the Old College Building we heard a powerful beat and decided to have a quick look. We found Binari, a Korean musical group pounding drums in the old quadrangle, the sounds echoing around the space as they performed a sound check, that wonderful, almost frantic and kinetic drumming and singing. And its just so cool that walking past somewhere you just come across something like this, but that's what happens in Edinburgh at this time of year. Its a circus, its maddening, busy and crazy and at the same time brilliant.
Last time I was in this building was for the launch of a major Scottish history book in the gorgeous Neo-Classical space of the Playfair Library, this time it is Korean musicians in the quad filling the night with music. After we'd had a late meal we walked up the Royal Mile, even near 11pm still buzzing with people as the Fringe starts up then as we approached the top of the Mile we had another treat.
A rehearsal for the Royal Military Tattoo was finishing up at the Castle and the cavalry were leading their horses down towards the horse boxes to take them home. Imagine a warm summer night in the middle of the Old Town, lights from the Tattoo flickering across the Castle and bagpipes playing while the clip-clop, clip-clop of horse's hooves come down from the Castle, creak of leather and clink of metal as cavalry troops lead their immaculately groomed animals down the cobbled street then round past the hub to the waiting transports. Even in Edinburgh this isn't exactly an everyday sight.
How beautiful is this horse? Just think, this is all happening in the heart of a capital city at 11pm, with a huge castle right behind me as I took this while behind the horse you can see the floodlit Herriot's School which at night looks like where very young wizards get sent before they are old enough to go to Hogwarts.
Even at that time of night you can see the sky just doesn't get fully dark at this time of year. Shame I didn't have the tripod to take these properly but obviously I wasn't quite expecting this. A little bit on unexpected magic.
Its Edinburgh, its August, its time for the first stirrings of the world's largest arts festival. The Fringe starts officially over the weekend, but already most shows are in town and running their (much cheaper tickets) previews. The husband and son of Mel's cousin are over from Norway and I met them all straight from work at the Pleasance, one of the main spots for Fringe life. Mel and I introduced the Fringe newbies to our laid back way of doing it, which is to park out bums on a seat in the cobbled courtyard of the Pleasance (a hub with dozens of shows going on all the time, from tiny rooms to proper theatre sized shows) and wait for the many people coming round giving out flyers and telling folks about shows until we saw one we liked and off we went to see Son of a Preacher man, a stand-up comedy with Markus Birdman, an aetheist son of a clergyman - it was brilliant and I highly recommend it if you're going Fringeing.
Afterwards we headed back down to the Royal Mile to get some food at Wannaburger and as we approached the Old College Building we heard a powerful beat and decided to have a quick look. We found Binari, a Korean musical group pounding drums in the old quadrangle, the sounds echoing around the space as they performed a sound check, that wonderful, almost frantic and kinetic drumming and singing. And its just so cool that walking past somewhere you just come across something like this, but that's what happens in Edinburgh at this time of year. Its a circus, its maddening, busy and crazy and at the same time brilliant.
Last time I was in this building was for the launch of a major Scottish history book in the gorgeous Neo-Classical space of the Playfair Library, this time it is Korean musicians in the quad filling the night with music. After we'd had a late meal we walked up the Royal Mile, even near 11pm still buzzing with people as the Fringe starts up then as we approached the top of the Mile we had another treat.
A rehearsal for the Royal Military Tattoo was finishing up at the Castle and the cavalry were leading their horses down towards the horse boxes to take them home. Imagine a warm summer night in the middle of the Old Town, lights from the Tattoo flickering across the Castle and bagpipes playing while the clip-clop, clip-clop of horse's hooves come down from the Castle, creak of leather and clink of metal as cavalry troops lead their immaculately groomed animals down the cobbled street then round past the hub to the waiting transports. Even in Edinburgh this isn't exactly an everyday sight.
How beautiful is this horse? Just think, this is all happening in the heart of a capital city at 11pm, with a huge castle right behind me as I took this while behind the horse you can see the floodlit Herriot's School which at night looks like where very young wizards get sent before they are old enough to go to Hogwarts.
Even at that time of night you can see the sky just doesn't get fully dark at this time of year. Shame I didn't have the tripod to take these properly but obviously I wasn't quite expecting this. A little bit on unexpected magic.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
AP
The BBC has a short but excellent slideshow with audio celebrating the work of AP, Associated Press's photographers, focusing on those who have recorded combat areas. There are some remarkable shots on offer and no less than two Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalists sharing their insights. Even in a time of 24 hour rolling satellite news the power of a well composed single image like these is quite amazingly powerful, a single moment of time, frozen, captured; our brains see more detail, create meaning around the still image in a way that we simply don't with video news footage.
The BBC has a short but excellent slideshow with audio celebrating the work of AP, Associated Press's photographers, focusing on those who have recorded combat areas. There are some remarkable shots on offer and no less than two Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalists sharing their insights. Even in a time of 24 hour rolling satellite news the power of a well composed single image like these is quite amazingly powerful, a single moment of time, frozen, captured; our brains see more detail, create meaning around the still image in a way that we simply don't with video news footage.
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