Edinburgh’s mysterious leaf people
Local Edinburgh news has been alive with curiosity and speculation over the appearance of a number of leaf sculptures along the Water of Leith. The artist remains unknown, but clearly is playing with our fascination with the 6 Times series of sculptures erected in June by Antony Gormley. The figures appear to be interacting with Gormley’s sculptures, mirroring the behaviour of hundreds of city walkers since the summer.
The individuals below - the Parent and Child and the Student/Teenager/Homeless Man(?) – all appeared in Stockbridge recently. People by and large have been charmed by them, but you have to admit there’s something horrifyingly creepy about them too, or at least there will be when they come alive! Or maybe they used to be alive and they have since been horrifyingly transformed into a mute, leafy prison.
Okay, I’ve clearly been watching too many horror films to go with the standard ‘happy families’ interpretation. On a serious note though, this is a welcome addition to the art of the area since Gormley’s contribution. The honeymoon period with the latter has passed and we’re getting bored. The leaf figures are the most interesting intervention to date, and there have been several, from bikinis to "I Love Leith" T-shirts.
And, quite frankly, this latest feature is more interesting than Gormley anyway.
Edinburgh Journalist Wars: the gloves are off
Today’s Edinburgh Evening News carries a story on its cover about Edinburgh Council’s Outlook series of local kinda community newspapers. Michael Blackley lambastes the freesheets, calling them “propaganda” and rallying local readers to pressure the council to “pulp ‘Pravda’.” Apparently the populist Evening News would divert the money saved into buying school books for the city’s youth, thus holding the council to ransom by implying some sort of anti-education stance manifested in the publication of the Outlook series. I must say I find this whole angle particularly right-wing despite its ostensible stance as Defender of the Kiddies’ Maths Books. The comparison is totally arbitrary.
It’s becoming clear that a huge financial bite will be taken out of UK councils, so all of this may be entirely academic in a year’s time anyway, with Outlook scrapped altogether and an unholy haemorrhaging of the school system looming.
I can’t help feeling like the Evening News is playing spoiled child here, attacking a little brother so, despite said sibling's revenues coming in a little more easily, from the public purse. My bias is that I’d like to see as many publications as possible because I’d like to have as many writing options as possible! And I’m sure all the good chappies working for Outlook will be delighted to see this little ‘Scottish Kiss’ from the Evening News which effectively calls for their outright redundancy. Happy Humbugging Christmas lads.
Maybe the council should re-evaluate, especially in light of the Cameron-Osborne-Clegg clippers chopping their way northwards, but the Pravda reference irks me to the core. Public-equals-communist is a lazy, below-the-belt rationale that insults our intelligence. Great reading! Am I overreacting?
Writer’s Block creeps in
You know the scenario. I’m supposed to write something as though it has just flowed out from my synapses onto the page like proverbially gold-plated ink, and as easily and energetically as young mountain water babbling through a brook. I have to be casually erudite, whimsically articulate and oh, so relevant. I have to make you laugh, or at least smile, but also cause your brow to furrow in profound ponderance.
“Oh, I was just slurping a capp and having a quick leaf through the London Review of Books and thought I’d spin this little tidbit off in an articulate jiffy, but now I’ve got to go meet an unknown but paradoxically important intellectual friend,” is how the subtext of my copy should read. “I’m, like, a fountain of whimsical, brilliant ideas! And I’ve heard of lots of stuff, especially stuff that hasn’t happened yet!”
But in reality I’m tired, a bit worried about money, daunted by the economy, dreading the depths of winter and I can’t even think of a CD to put on (I’m old school) never mind think of an engaging subject to write about and a way to start it.
Do you recognise the scenario? As I consider myself a writer, albeit an amateur or at most aspiring one, I ponder writer's block a lot and thought I might as well share some of the ways in which I deal with it.
My favourite strategy is to get out a pen and notebook and choose to brainstorm ideas instead of write when I'm faced with the Block. You might think that this is the last thing to do when your creative well seems to have dried up, but you'd be surprised how many new ideas come out when you're temporarily freed from the shackles of whatever it is that's ground to a halt. But I admit it: this is procrastination to some extent. What's more it's often the case that you need to complete and submit something in the very near future without time to take a break, without the time to sit around brainstorming.
My father, who was at one time a writer, and who may well enter the fray again I suspect, always advised me to "just start writing." That is cast iron advice and there's no arguing with it. Writing is the main aim after all. But I believe I could be forgiven for claiming that this instruction is a little short on detail. Another technique I have adopted is to stand up from the computer and make a cup of tea, pace the room, and say aloud in free, informal language what I want to write, as simply as I can. Then I just write what I said. This invariably results in appalling writing to start with, but at least you have something down to tinker with and embellish.
My final piece of advice for avoiding writer's block is to write about writer's block. This tends to be a one-use-only ticket! The best strategy of all, though, is to give yourself a break, relax, go to the cinema, watch a DVD. If it's evening you could even go to the pub. Take it from me the problem will disappear! For a while...
Do any of you have other suggestions?
A documentary to look out for
Some months ago I posted here an anticipatory ramble about forthcoming Irish documentary The Pipe. The film deals with the struggle of a community on the remote west coast of Ireland against Shell and the Irish government and how the surrounding controversies have taken their toll on the small community. The Pipe has been doing the festival circuit in the meantime and has been officially selected for the Toronto Film Festival and saw its UK premier on 22nd October at the BFI London Film Festival.
Reviews have been encouraging, including Screen Daily’s chief critic Mark Adams’ description of the film as “delightfully shot and stirring in message.”
The film will see a general release in Irish cinemas on 3rd December. A UK release inches closer as promotion of the film around the world gains momentum. Today the film’s producers unveiled the official trailer. Gripping and frightening stuff.
Unearthing the Bethonged Bond
Wow! The Scotsman has a treat for us today. For those of you out there who don’t read it, I can’t possibly pass up the opportunity to share this raunchy ne’er before displayed portrait of a be-thonged, pre-Bond Sean Connery, painted by Rab Webster in the 1950s. During this period, Connery was a struggling actor who apparently posed to help pay the bills. Webster, who died last month, was an art teacher at Selkirk High School, where Connery was an occasional life model for students. If you don’t mind me saying so, that must have been one exciting high school!
It’s interesting to notice (to say the least) Connery’s fine musculature, and it’s striking from this that even by today’s personal-trainer-induced Daniel Craig-ish chunky standards, this Connery would evidently still breeze into the role of Bond. I wonder how long it took Craig to work his body up to the standard set by Connery for the role.
The impressive physique is apparently due to Connery’s taking up body building as a hobby around the time when he was posing for this portrait.
Needless to say, Robert Fairbairn’s piece on the painting in today’s Scotsman is littered with hilarious Bond-themed double entendre. Allow me to add my own honest contribution:
The Thong is not Enough!
(Please insert your own Bond/Thong response below)
The Ghoulish Week that Was in Edinburgh
Last week was an exhilarating and alarming week in Edinburgh. Most of the politicos and journos were over in Glasgow for the Scottish Labour Party conference for the second half of it. This exodus of supposed leftists and vigilant political commentators seems to have left the place unguarded for a number of deleterious developments in Auld Reekie’s cultural life.
No less than three Edinburgh institutions now look set to fall by the wayside in the wake of the bankruptcy of the charity Edinburgh University Settlement. The charity’s demise has resulted in the forced sale of the premises of The Forest Cafe (pictured), The Roxy Art House and the GRV. These are surely three venues that will be sorely missed.
The Forest, on Bristo Place, looks set to run for a few more weeks due to a mandatory notice period in their lease, so now’s the time to drop in. Over the years Forest has provided a multi-function space which houses a café, whole-foods restaurant, venue and the TotalKunst gallery. I must admit I was never a regular, but it did warm the heart that they were there in the background, staffed only with volunteers, providing free shows, art, and cheap, healthy food. If you feel strongly about this you should get on to their website, where they’ve launched an earnest campaign to raise a daunting £500K. If you’re not sure, drop in and have a look at what they do. This may be your last chance.
The GRV on Guthrie Street was a good old fashioned ‘dive’ in the trendiest sense of the word, and was by no means as idealistic or as well organised as Forest. I wouldn’t be surprised if this place ended up being opened again along similar lines under different ownership, as I really can’t see many options for the site. The Roxy, on the other hand, was a fantastic organisation which put on great events in the spirit of supporting new arts and providing cheap nights out. Sadly, the Roxy’s doors were closed abruptly and permanently last week and there’s no chance of a last hurrah.
On the plus side, I had the pleasure on Halloween night of attending the Wee Folk club, downstairs in the Royal Oak, where Duncan Drever played a wonderful hour and a half of quality music for an audience which seemed to consist of female German students, two old men, and me. Duncan’s brother is the well-known Scottish folk musician Kris Drever, but Kris shouldn’t rest on his laurels: Duncan is a great up-and-coming act and you can hear a couple of his songs here.