The Goods

Books

80 Joyce Carol Oates

Games

"t - 84 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Comics

Video/DVD

85 Dogtown and Z-Boys

Food

90 M&S’s Indian food

GO THERE THIS YEAR

FESTIVALS

Pack your bags now. If you time it right. you could spend the whole of the year going from one arts festival to the next with nary a thought of Celtic Connections. trypTic. the Edinburgh Fringe and the rest. So here to help plan your itinerary are 12 ot the more intriguing global jamborees.

JANUARY

Name The Festival in the Desert

Place Essakane. near Timbuktu. Mali, 6—8 January

Description A celebration of the Culture of the Touareg people of the Sahara desert. featuring musicians from all over Mali. guests including Robert Plant and a 'half—hour interruption for prayers'.

Airfares from £1549

FEBRUARY

Name Fantasporto 2003

Place Porto. Portugal. 21 February—1 March Description The 23rd Opono International Film Festival shows 200 new feature films on three screens. plus music videos and retrospectives. Airfares from £143

MARCH

Name Melbourne Comedy Festival

Place MerOurne. Australia, 27 March—2O April Description Last year 229,467 people paid to see 2.1 16 performances and another 1 13.307 attended free events. Ross Noble picked up a couple of awards. as he does.

Airfares from 2892

APRIL

Name World Stage Festival

Place Toronto, Canada, 3 April—4 May Description Another chance to see theatre babel's Medea. the Traverse's Outlying Islands and Theatre de Quat'Sous' Novecento all great shows. but the Lithuanian Hamlet by Eimuntas Nekrosius is worth the airfare alone.

Airfares from 9325

MAY

Name Festival de Cannes

Place Cannes. France. 14—25 May

Description Twenty films compete for the Palme (l'()r. pornographers gather on the beach and only the privileged few get into any of the hundreds of movies. but it's a star spotter's paradise.

Airfares from 5‘123

JUNE

Name Venice Biennale

Place Venice. Italy. 15 June-2 November Description The theme of this 50th international art exhibition is “Dreams and Conflicts: The Viewer‘s Dictatorship'. Francis McKee and Kay Pallister are Curating Scotland's contribution, which will return home in the winter.

Airfares from 9143

JULY

Name Just for Laughs

Place Montreal. Canada, 10—20 July

Description Nearly 2000 artists perform before 1 .5 million spectators in this 20-year-old chucklefest ~ the one that all the comics have been to just before the Edinburgh Fringe.

Airfares from $51 1

AUGUST

Name El Festival lnteriiacional de Benicassiiii Place Benicz‘issim. Spain. 8—10 August Description A staggering weekend musical line-up last year there was everyone from Belle and Sebastian to Radiohead. The headliners play around midnight. but the acts keep coming until 6am.

Airfares from £7105

SEPETMBER

Name Festival Mondial dos Theatres de Marionnettes

Place CharleViIIe Me/iei'es. France. 10 28 September

Description The 13th Worldwide Festival of Puppet Theatres is the big one on the puppet calendar. featuring hundreds of puppeteeis in the official and unofficial programme.

Airfares from $08

OCTOBER

Name WOMEX

Place Essen. Geimany. 23- 26 Octobei Description The wandering World Music Expo is dedicated to world. roots, folk. ethnic. traditional and local music of all kinds. last year it hosted 3:30

B. Krigstein, Daredevil Bullseye

“COO Excellent 0... Recommended Good .0 Flawed

O Poor

Records

83 Erasure, Andy Partridge

TV

86 Steven Spielberg

Trave

92 Romantic Scotland

Theatre babel’s Medea

artists in 40 showcases from places .is fit Burkina Faso. Afghanistan and Sit-mat. Airfares from 5‘1 14

NOVEMBER

Name Chicago Humanities l esti\.;i'

Place Chicago. USA. Start of Ni>\.eii‘.i>-.-' Description A ten-day “28108110? itiias i ' ' together novelists. scholais. Ililltlufuil‘fl. archaeolt)gists. historians. artists. tltflit""‘:"‘- playwrights. theologians. poets anti .ii;'\ ' Airfares from S‘s-if

DECEMBER

Name Edinburgh's l i()§]lll{llltl\.

Place Edinburgh. 20 [)eceiiibc' t .l.ii‘...:". Description l we hands. sticct twain; " snogging in the sheet . can compete.

Airfares from the price of .i liiit; niita (Maik l ishen

ll(>\‘.ilt?lt‘t‘it~i‘ "

THE LIST 79