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It’s Not About Money, It’s Just About Love: The Life and Times of The Blue Nile…
This has been a difficult article for me to write. Not because the book that I am about to review isn’t good. It’s very good. It’s the new biography of The Blue Nile and it’s important to me to get it right. This is because The Blue Nile, or at least their music, play an […]
December 3, 2010
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You Have Been Watching…Aberdeen
It’s been a recent theme that many of the films featured on these pages had only the briefest of visits to cinemas before being shelved. This week’s choice didn’t even make it that far. Apparently the BBFC didn’t even think it worth giving it an age certification. But the most baffling aspect of this neglect is that […]
November 26, 2010
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You Have Been Watching…Complicity
For all his reasonable and affable public persona, the author Iain Banks is an angry man. At least he can be. Most of his mainstream novels have sections where this anger appears on the page and Banks lets rip at numerous targets through his characters. This anger can cover religion (The Crow Road and Whit), […]
November 19, 2010
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You Have Been Watching… Urban Ghost Story
Good Evening. Scotland doesn’t have a great tradition in horror movies, which is odd considering the wealth of Scottish Gothic and supernatural writing which provides potential material. There are a few exceptions such as The Bodysnatchers, Dog Soldiers, The Wicker Man etc, but there should be many more.
November 12, 2010
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You Have Been Watching…16 Years of Alcohol
After my recent post on Laura Fraser (see Tell Laura I Like Her…) I think it only right that we look at one of the films that backs up my claim that she is an overlooked and underrated talent. One of her best, and most archetypal, performances can be found in 16 Years of Alcohol.
November 5, 2010
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Indelible Ink : James Robertson’s ‘The Fanatic’
There is a book which has arguably influenced modern Scottish literature more than any other, and it’s not the one you’re thinking of. James Hogg’s 1824 ‘The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’ has come to be many writers’ favourite Scottish novel, but few wear their hearts on the page like James Robertson.
November 1, 2010
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You Have Been Watching…Tunes of Glory
Certain films take you by surprise. You come at them with preconceived expectations and leave with those confounded. The poster, the cast, the trailer and soundtrack normally work together to prime you for what you are about to watch, but occasionally they lead you in the wrong direction. One such film is Tunes of Glory.
October 29, 2010
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You Have Been Watching…Tutti Frutti
There are works of art that you carry with you, that make you look at life in a different way and hold a significance beyond simply enjoyment or appreciation. I suppose you fall in love with them. For me one of these is John Byrne’s Tutti Frutti. It was only six episodes long but it […]
October 22, 2010
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You Have Been Watching…Small Faces
Stereotypes and our relationships with them is a thorny business, and this seems to apply particularly to Scots. For instance, our image in football terms has gone from marauding drunks who all have a square of Wembley turf in our back garden, to ‘the best fans in the world TM’ who are still drunk, but, […]
October 15, 2010
