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Latest posts to The Skinny's blogs

The Week in Film 10 – 16 October »

Thu 09 Oct 2008

Gomorra

Jonathan Melville: A quiet week in blockbuster land sees Kiefer Sutherland’s slightly suspect attempt at 24-meets-gory-horror, Mirrors, opening alongside City of Ember, a fantasy adventure filmed in and around the UK. EdinburghOn a smaller scale is Time and Winds at th...

The Week in Film 3 - 9 October »

Thu 02 Oct 2008

A Streetcar Named Desire

Jonathan Melville: A couple of big hitters arrive at cinemas around the country this week. The new version of Brideshead Revisted, based on Evelyn Waugh’s classic novel, is first up. Slightly shorter than the 11-hour 1980s TV series, the movie stars Matthew Goode as...

The Week in Film 26 September – 2 October  »

Mon 29 Sep 2008

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Jonathan Melville: Instead of the usual blockbusters taking centre stage at the multiplexes, we’ve handpicked a few of the smaller films showing this coming week that deserve your attention… Glasgow Film Theatre The GFT screens two films currently on limited...

Searching for the Exit »

Wed 24 Sep 2008

Slutty McWhore: This month I can barely bring myself to write about erotic massage or my life as a sex worker. I've been working as a masseuse in the United States for well over two years now, and boredom and frustration have finally set in, so much so that it pains me ev...

September theatre »

Wed 24 Sep 2008

Gareth K Vile: In last month’s editorial, I suggested that while performance might not be damaging to the social structure, it is, at best, morally neutral. This position could be seen to undermine the purpose of art - after all, if it is just pretty shapes and sou...

I kissed plenty of girls but I never thought to capitalise on it »

Mon 22 Sep 2008

Nine: In case you’re not familiar yet with Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl, here’s a quick summary of the lyrics: “I kissed a girl and it was nice, but don’t worry, I have a boyfriend, so it’s not like there’s a major lifes...

Connect 2008 Episode XII: The Epilogue »

Mon 01 Sep 2008

Sigur Ros

Nick Mitchell: Hydro Connect is officially over for another year. The revellers have gone home to warm showers and washing machines, leaving the event staff to clear the discarded tents from the mud-splattered campsite. But instead of grimly contemplating the forthcomin...

Connect 2008 Episode XI: Karl Bartos »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Karl Bartos

Ally Brown: Despite seeing the very good Camera Obscura and We Were Promised Jetpacks since my last post, I simply have to finish tonight with a shout-out for Kraftwerk man Karl Bartos. There could only have been about a hundred people in the Unknown Pleasures tent wh...

Connect 2008 Episode X: Young Knives and Santogold try to warm us up »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Santi White, aka Santogold

Nick Mitchell: Ally's already bemoaned today's conditions, so I'll refrain from any further mentions of 'rain', 'mud' or 'cesspool' - for the duration of this post anyway. The first act I caught today was Young Knives, who bounded out on to the Oyster Stage dressed for ...

Connect 2008 Episode IX: Frightened Rabbit »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Frightened Rabbit@ T In The Park 08

Ally Brown: The Skinny's seen worse than the mud here today, but it's still difficult to keep spirits high when you're soaking wet with no central heating in sight. Those still holding out without wellies are struggling to walk anywhere without falling on their bahook...

Connect 2008 Episode VIII: Glasvegas win over the doubters »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Glasvegas

Ally Brown: Everything's been going pretty fast for Glasvegas recently. From a spot by Alan McGee, to a profile in The Skinny (the turning point, of course), to the cover of the NME, the hype's been building towards the release of their debut self-titled album next Mo...

Connect 2008 Episode VII: Errors make no mistakes »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Errors

Nick Mitchell: It's Sunday lunchtime, it has been raining solidly for much of the night, the campsite has gone from a mudbath to a mudpool, so it's time to reminisce of a (slightly) drier time: last night. With the drizzle gently descending, Glasgow's Errors played a bl...

Connect 2008 Episode VI: The art of destruction »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Grinderman

Nick Mitchell: One of the most highly anticipated sets of this year's Connect is surely Spiritualized. They've toured their Acoustic Mainlines show to death, and prior to this frontman Jason Pierce very nearly worked himself to death. So it is with some excitement that w...

Connect 2008 Episode V: Late of the Pier live up to their name »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Friendly Fires

Nick Mitchell: After much setting of alarm clocks, brushing of teeth and donning of wellies, we were left with much checking of watches in the field before the Oyster Stage early this afternoon. A steward (or someone articulate enough to do the job) could have told us th...

Connect 2008 Episode IV: Broken Records n 'at »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Broken Records @ Hydro Connect

Ally Brown: I got to Hyrdo Connect this morning, dumped backstage by a coach driver who didn't really know where he was going. Oh, there's Kele Okereke. Was he on the bus? The trip here was absolutely stunning. It's easy to forget, living in the city, why so many thou...

Connect 2008 Episode III: A musical threesome of Kasabian, Mercury Rev and Sparks »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Sparks

Nick Mitchell: When it came to Friday's headliners, The Skinny acted like a typical man and failed to commit to anyone, instead attempting to sample a bit of a threesome - and almost succeeding. First up is Kasabian on the Oyster Stage (the big one). The music and the s...

Connect 2008 Episode II: Manics cover Rihanna »

Fri 29 Aug 2008

Manic Street Preachers

Nick Mitchell: Yep, you read that right. Tonight, Welsh Britpop survivors Manic Street Preachers played a cover version of Rihanna's number one hit Umbrella. James Dean Bradfield offered no explanation, simply saying the word 'umbrella', before launching straight into a ...

Connect 2008 Episode I: Ladytron's first Scottish festival »

Fri 29 Aug 2008

Ladytron

Nick Mitchell: After Ladytron's first song, Glasgow-born singer Helen Marnie says that this is - incredibly - their first Scottish festival appearance. But then again, when you take a mental tally of what Ladytron amount to, it's perhaps not so surprising. Dressed unifor...

The theatre of participation »

Wed 27 Aug 2008

Gareth K Vile: Watching art does not make us better people. If it did, art historians would be renowned for their compassion and sensitivity, dance critics would not go into ferocious rages and, thanks to its comprehensive programme of drama, Glasgow would have a tiny cr...

On the new Ingleby Gallery »

Wed 27 Aug 2008

Rosamund West: I can’t say, in all honesty, that I’m devastated to wave goodbye to August... A month of slow-walking crowds and over-excited thespians transforms me into one of those sour, proud-local types who can’t be doing with all this festival mala...

Dressed to Kilt »

Tue 26 Aug 2008

Lindsay West: As local heroes go, there can be few candidates with a history as motley and contentious as good auld tartan. If it weren't such a terrible pun, we might say that it's past was checkered; but given that we're far above that sort of cheap gag, we'll just sa...

Comments on homosexuality (Iris Robinson) »

Tue 26 Aug 2008

Nine: When I first heard Iris Robinson’s comments on homosexuality, I felt embarrassed to come from the same part of the world as her. I mean, in this day and age, here’s a Northern Irish politician offering to refer homosexuals to a nice Christian p...

The Week in Film: 22 – 28 August »

Mon 25 Aug 2008

Hellboy II

Jonathan Melville: Hellboy’s back this week in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Guillermo Del Toro’s latest is a superhero movie with a twist, which you’ll know if you saw the original a few years back. This time a mythical world decides to invade Earth and it&...

A Gonzo Guide to the Edinburgh Book Festival »

Mon 11 Aug 2008

Keir Hind: Going into Edinburgh for the first event I’ll see at this Festival, I have set up some goals. These are, obviously, to see a lot of writers talking about their books, and to interview a couple of them too. But a fiend of mine (yes, fiend, not ‘...

August Film News »

Mon 11 Aug 2008

Seven Samurai

Jonathan Melville: The Filmhouse Edinburgh’s Filmhouse is going retro this August with a fantastic chance to see many of those films you know you really should have done but never quite got around to. Starting with a retrospective to mark the centenary of the birth...