F FOR FAKE
Re: Letters page
I see that you've moved the letters page to the front of The List. Which prompts me to submit to a suspicion I have been harbouring for some time: it‘s full of made-up letters. In your last issue someone called George Anderson put his name to a snotty letter patronising Tony McKibbin over his article about the closure of The Lumiere cinema.
I think you're just being Clever. double blufting readers with phoney criticism written by yourselves. Perhaps George Anderson is actually your film editor. Miles Fielder? Why w0u|d you do this?
Mark Middleton via email
F FOR FIVE STARS Re: Film reviews Glad to see that yOur film team have come off the medication and got real about the movies they're seeing. After the ridiculous and utterly predictable proliferation of five- star reviews over the last year (Lord Of The Rings. Harry Potter. M0u/in Rouge. The Man Who Wasn’t There. Crouching Tiger and Amelie: frankly. only one of those deserved more than three starS). I‘m relieved to note that only one fi!m has been awarded the 'perfection' rating in the last two issues lAtanar/‘uat. The Fast Runner). Even that I would question. though. coming as it did from one of your five-star happy hacks. Paul Dale. Please don't turn your film section into a timer verSion of the all-too- oaSin-pleased 0. Louise Henderson Paisley
FUNNY BUSINESS
Re: Comedy Special
(issue 432)
Vince Willis seems to be about a year and a half out of date With his comments on the health of Scottish comedy. When the Stand dropped its restriction policy. to which I was opposed. and then
2 THE LIST 28 i‘t:t‘i— if. Mar 2002
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started selling Phil Kay products (a Gilded Balloon artist) it seemed pretty clear to me that things were changing in the house of the Stand. Herr Director Tommy Sheppard himself even went on record welcoming Jongleurs to Glasgow. and still the media tried to make out there was some kind of big rivalry.
I know some people have their issues with the Stand but when Mr Willis goes on to say that the venue has a ‘grip' on Scottish comedy it is insulting to independent artists like myself who play wherever, whenever. It is also insulting to James Campbell. Billy Bonkers and Reg Anderson who run smaller but equally important venues. All the above and the Stand give gigs to local artists who will not play Jongleurs for some time. Respect also to Joon Broon and Max Scott for taking comedy to Oban.
Mr Willis calls on Equity members who play the Stand (that‘s me. folks) to ‘think again'. Perhaps if he was more specific in his comments I w0uldn‘t have to defend the current healthy state of the Scottish comedy scene. I can't help thinking that Mr Willis is the one with the personal agenda. I urge him to come out of his cave. visit a few clubs and then comment again.
Sandy Nelson via email
BROUGHT TO BOOK Re: Waterstone’s
Has anyone seen what they've done to Waterstone's in Edinburgh's George Street? They've only gone and tidied it up. Walk in off the street like I did and everything's in antiseptic units. all neat and anally retentive. I couldn‘t bear it and left as quickly as I'd come in.
Don't they know that the whole point of Waterstone's is the splendid chaos of it all? I know the glory days have passed when they'd pile them wild and high. but most of the
shops (including. still. the two branches on Princes Street) have at least an echo of the anarchic ethos that distinguished the chain from every other bookshop when it burst onto the scene.
It I want bland corporate selling. I can go down to any branch of WH Smith on any station platform anywhere. Why do it in Waterstone's too? Frank Ellis via email
MODEL BEHAVIOUR Re: TV section
May | ask why there was no mention in the last TV section of The List of one of the most fantastic fly-on-the-wall documentaries I have ever seen? M TA (Model Turned Actor) was phenomenal viewing with a clearly psychotic acting coach turning a bunch of pretty young things into broken- backed thespians via some vicious gestalt therapy.
It was vital TV. Please. please do something on it. and forget the minuscule review: let's have a six-page feature. If that's the kind of space you give to pieces about saving money or going around on bikes. then surely you can spare it for TV this jaw-droppingly good.
Peter Smith Via email
SLEAZE PLEASE
Re: Gay section
I am a gay man who has recently moved to the Glasgow area and was informed that The List had a gay section on a par with Time Out magazine. Gay it may be. but in the Victorian sense of the word: never before have I seen more middle of the road dross. Were these pages really written by gays or lesbians. or interfering wannabes? At the very least. give us some sleaze.
Derek L
via email
MIND YOUR LANGUAGE
Re: Swearing
I am seriously fed up with the proliferation of swear words in almost every section of your magazine. Please remember that a good percentage of your readership is over 60 which believes there is such a thing as bad language.
Margot
Edinburgh
DID WE GET IT WRONG?
We take great trouble to be as accurate as possible but hey. we're all human and just occasionally we might get something wrong or miss something out. If so. please tell us. Email editor@list.co.uk
Did Atanarjuat really deserve the high five?
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