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Latest posts to The Skinny's blogs

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

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...

The Healing Hooker »

Wed 23 Jul 2008

Slutty McWhore: From John Cleland's Fanny Hill to Jack Kerouac's Tristessa, prostitutes - or sex workers in modern parlance - have often made an appearance in works of fiction. It is, however, Scotland's very own Luke Sutherland who has most impressed me with his depictio...

The Week in Film: 18 - 24 July 2008 »

Fri 18 Jul 2008

Jonathan Melville: WALL-E hits cinemas this week after huge success in America and sustained hype over here. And, for once, the hype is right. Set 700 years in the future, WALL-E is the last robot on Earth, his mission to ready the planet, one tin can at a time, for the retu...

T 2008, Epilogue: Stipe Turns RoboCop, Burgess Goes For Bowl »

Wed 16 Jul 2008

REM @ T in the Park 2008

Johnny Langlands: With an unshakable vision of Tim Burgess’ one man undercut resurrection, another peerless dose of math rockin’ beats from Battles and a mesmerising gig by Toronto electro rock combo Holy Fuck all wedged in the memory as some of the most enterta...

T 2008, Episode VIII: Doing Justice to The National »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

The National @ T in the Park 2008

Nick Mitchell: The problem with Sunday's impressive T in the Park line-up was always going to be how to condense a normal six month's worth of gig going into the space of eleven hours. Without the benefit of some real-life Sky+ pause and rewind capability (we're only hum...

T 2008, Episode VII: BJM Delays The Inevitable »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

Delays @ T in the Park 2008

Finbarr Bermingham: As the biggest roar I've heard all weekend goes up over my shoulder heralding the unexpected arrival of her from the ward, Amy Winehouse, I figure it's as good a time as any to supply some festival feedback. As previously reported, last night inevitably be...

T 2008, Episode VI: Glasvegas have arrived »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

Glasvegas

Ally Brown: Every festival has at least one - a band that blows up just before the weekend arrives so that their stage draw is underestimated - and T in the Park 2008's was Glasvegas. We arrived at the mid-sized Futures Tent for their early evening Saturday show a ful...

T 2008, Episode V: Bringing angry back »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

Crowd @ Rage against the Machine

Dave Kerr: Rage Against the Machine rolled back the years and brought down the curtain on day two of T in the Park in typically explosive style tonight (Saturday, 11 July). Earlier in the afternoon, a set from Belgian indie rockers dEUS - who, like tomorrow’s...

T in the Park: the blog o' death episode II »

Sat 12 Jul 2008

The Music

Finbarr Bermingham: The first full day of T In The Park is underway and The Skinny - rested, fed and watered, has had a chance to reflect on the night that went before. After some initial schizophrenic indecision, Mother Nature finally decided to give the rain a night off. Ou...

T in the Park: the blog o' death episode IV »

Sat 12 Jul 2008

T in the Park Crowd

RJ Thomson: Damian Lazarus (who, despite appearance, name and sonics, isn't French - the man's a broad Cockney) proved a fitting early booking for the Slam tent. His set, which sat comfortably between minimal techno, deep house and electro, was laid-back enough to ser...

T in the Park: the blog o' death episode III »

Sat 12 Jul 2008

Nick Mitchell: Reggae. Surely the ideal musical genre to kick-start your summer festival. So as soon as I had been slapped with my wristband and directed through the muddy fields, I found myself facing a faded legend of the genre. Eddy Grant, he of Electric Avenue fame, ...

T in the Park: the blog o' death »

Fri 11 Jul 2008

Ricky Wilson

Ally Brown: It's Friday evening and The Skinny is at T in the Park, along with 70,000 or so Scottish music fans. The bars are just opening, but there's a mile-long queue outside of late arrivals still hoping to set up camp. They'll have to hurry because the bands are ...

The Week in Film: 11 - 17 July »

Thu 10 Jul 2008

Jonathan Melville: It’s a quieter week for the humble blockbuster, with Mamma Mia! the biggest film hitting town. The adaptation of the ABBA musical, about a bride-to-be who tries to find her real father, stars Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep.Brendan Fraser mugs for...

EIFF 2008 round-up, the overview »

Tue 08 Jul 2008

Jonathan Melville: Well, the end credits have finally rolled on the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival. Over 130 films have been and gone while directors, actors, producers, writers and maybe even a gaffer and best boy or two from around the globe have jetted back ho...

The Week in Film: 4 – 10 July »

Thu 03 Jul 2008

Jonathan Melville: Currently plastered on the sides of buses everywhere, Hancock opens this week and tells of hard-living superhero John Hancock (Will Smith) whose public image is at rock bottom, leading to a drinking binge and a trail of destruction around his hometown. It&...

Call of Duty trailer »

Tue 24 Jun 2008

Josh Wilson: Fresh out this morning, a trailer for Call of Duty World at War... ...

EIFF 2008 round-up, part the first »

Thu 19 Jun 2008

Jonathan Melville: With the opening night film now screened to a paying audience, the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is now officially underway. A bit of glamour on Wednesday at Cineworld in the shape of Keira and Sienna (and a few Skinny folk somewhere in...

On (ex-) Mormons and monogamy... »

Tue 17 Jun 2008

Slutty McWhore: Last week I had a visit from a lapsed Mormon who was hoping for a quick handjob while passing through town. I looked up at his slender, athletic frame as he towered over me, and imagined that he must once have been the very embodiment of all-American, clea...

Scots in the sunshine »

Tue 17 Jun 2008

Lindsay West: There's a joke that goes, "How many fashion editors does it take to change a lightbulb?", the punchline of which is something that approximates to: "(Insert arbitrary number) - one to change it, and the rest to ask if the room comes in black." Much to t...

The Week in Film: 13-19 June »

Mon 16 Jun 2008

Jonathan Melville: Probably the biggest hitter at the box office this week is The Incredible Hulk, the much-hyped sequel to 2003’s Hulk. This time around Ed Norton dons those shorts for some of the runtime while Liv Tyler and Tim Roth lend support. Watch out for a came...

The Week in Film: 6 - 12 June 2008 »

Thu 05 Jun 2008

Jonathan Melville: Still on general release this week and continuing to make their mark at the box office are Indiana Jones and the Ludicrously Long Title and Sex and the City.  Joining Indy and Carrie is the long-delayed, Ben Affleck directed, Gone Baby Gone. This tale...

Dancing Together »

Sun 25 May 2008

Gareth K Vile: Possibly due to the approaching Festival and Fringe, the theatres are relatively quiet: there are a few bravura show-stopping musicals, a new version of a classic courtesy of the Scottish Ballet and a stream of Shakespeare in Glasgow’s West End. Into...

I never mentioned the bizarre love triangle »

Fri 23 May 2008

Nine: “When I was growing up, my mother was a dominatrix,” a friend of mine says, “so we were used to having slaves around the house.” I am very good at nodding and agreeing – yes, of course you were! – but oddly enough my own...

How to establish a man's dickhead credentials »

Thu 22 May 2008

Slutty McWhore: There comes a point in every new romantic relationship when the first flush of romance fades and you begin to see your beloved's true colours. I've often fallen asleep beside a kind, considerate and handsome man only to awake next to a selfish, misogynisti...