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