Edinburgh's Alive

So much has been going on in Edinburgh I know not where to start. I'll try a quick run down which won't be any particular order.

Went to see...

1. A version of Faust based on the Marlowe play, which was amateurish but enlivened by one member of the cast who had an amazing jutting jaw line and boggling eyes and added much humour in to the show.
2. Loose Ends from radio 4 fame, which I haven't listened to for some time but is still erudite and amusing and able to introduce its listeners (or a viewer as I was) to things they wouldn't normally get to hear (see). The episode I saw is still available on the BBC website.
3. A review of the writing genre Fantasy which was useful and as always attended by a strange group of individuals (I thought them strange and no doubt they thought me equally as so).
4. Another version of Faust but based on Mann's play which was different but nicely gothic and German.
5. And finally and probably best...Stardust the film, which is funny and serious and gorgeous looking and flawed in places but still a lot better than I would have hoped.

****

I've been reading Un Lun Dun by China Mieville who produces work that I'm not sure if I like or not. His short story collection was excellent, Iron Council confused me in places and his new work, which is for children, seems somewhat laboured. The ideas are imaginative but seem forced as if he was trying to hard. Some of the language is confusing and his use of the term 'innit' to make the children seem hip, worryingly bad. But I liked the idea.

****

Read this week:

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville

Brooklyn is Not Expanding

The Edinburgh Festival is now in full swing and I have been fortunate enough to visit a couple of excellent pieces this weekend in the company of Madame Vin and Van the Man who was visiting from that Midlands metropolis, Nottingham.

Natasha Wood: Rolling with Laughter - I'm always wary about seeing or reading something by a friend. What happens if I don't like it or think it ill conceived? How do you hide your initial thoughts and come up with something true but non-inflammable? Fortunately I don't have to do this with Tash's play because it is excellent. It was well written, displaying both great wit and deep pathos, it zipped along as fast as Tash in her wheelchair and not once did it fall foul of political correctness.
Most people when faced with a character as forthright as Tash often clam up, unsure about how to react or whether they should even laugh along with the jokes, but the audience at 'Rolling...' soon felt comfortable enough to guffaw, chuckle and dare I saw splutter saliva on the bald man sitting on the front row.

Simon Amstell: No self - Amstell is known better to me as 'that guy with the big hair off 'Never Mind the Buzzcocks'', but he is also a successful comedian in his own right. This is gentle humour, not eyes watering but enough charm, wit and intelligence to last the hour without any embarrassing silences. His humour is based around the basic philosophical questions of the self and what a selfish society we have become.

*****

"I am greatly relieved that universe is finally explainable. I was beginning to think it was me." WA - Mere Anarchy

"I awoke on Friday, and because the universe is expanding it took me longer than normal to find my robe."
WA - Mere Anarchy

I've been reading the new Woody Allen collection 'Mere Anarchy', his first new collection in 25 years. Now as any of you will know I am a huge Woody Allen fan - in fact the reason I write has probably more to do with him than any other influence. As a child growing up in a village in the Midlands I would squirrel myself away watching movies on a small portable TV and VHS video player I had installed in my bedroom. I love film...I lived for film but up to that point I only ever watched Hollywood movies. Then my Mum introduced me to WA films and I fell in love. For the first time I realised it was possible to be funny and entertaining but also clever and intelligent and a little bit different. WA's film spoke about writers, literature, European films, art - and I wanted to know about all of them. Through WA's work I begin to read and eventually to write.
That said his new work is (and I hate having to say this) okay...that's it...it's just alright. Like his last set of films there are some amusing bits, some clever ideas and one or two laugh out loud lines but nothing that has blown me away. Perhaps I've changed, perhaps WA has changed, after all I've been watching and reading his work for 20 years and he's been creating for nearly 50 years. You can't expect every piece of work to be amazing so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I still think he's a genius and one of the best film makers I'm ever likely to experience.

Read this week:
Mere Anarchy by woody Allen

God's Waiting Room

So much to do and so little time. I just don't know how you're meant to fit everything into one life as I currently feel as if I'm living at least two.

Went to see PC Benny passing out (not literally) down in sunny, candyfloss imbued Paignton. He looked very smart or done up in his uniform and had even shaved for once. I had visions of being a PC down in Devon as being something of a laid back affair, akin to driving around small country lanes and tracking down the odd cream tea crime. How mistaken I was, at it seems Paignton is a hot bed of tattooed thugs wearing stretch lycra, fuelled by cheap lager and all day breakfasts...and that's just the women.

Due to some last minute hitch we ended up staying in a B&B...or what we thought was a B&B. It seemed that instead we had stumbled upon God's waiting room and it was full too capacity of old dears sipping tea and exchanging pleasantries such as how much dribble had leaked out of them during the night. It seems that God himself is a rough diamond from the East end of London with penchant for poodles. The world's religions are probably not to keen on promoting this new bit of information and will have to rewrite a lot of hymns to include rhyming slang.

********

'The White Road' is a pivotal book in the saga of Charlie 'Bird' Parker allowing him to put many of his ghosts behind him while setting him up as a better formed character for the coming stories. The book itself is personally the weakest in story but acts more as a repositioning of all the characters for what comes later and allows the character of Louise and Angel to be become less stereotyped.

Everytime I read about Louis I think of the actor Ving Rhames. If they ever film any of these books surely he's a contender for the role.

'Signal to Noise' is an early Gaiman / McKean work which rather than them dealing with the more fantastical elements they dwell on the ideas of death and creation. At times it does have a slight 'straight out of art college' feel to the story, student angst etc but its still a beautifully presented piece of work that feels like a historical piece now that the millenium is behind us.

Read this week:
Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
The White Road by John Connolly